Thanks Karsten, and I agree with your thoughts. I hope Ian Fuller doesn't mind me quoting one paragraph from Corydorasworld abou C121: "The transparent scute behind the operculum is unique amongst Corydoradinae. Offspring up to 15 mm SL do not show this transparency. Some populations of F1's ar...

Sorry, here are the pics:

Any thoughts on the ID of these?
Currently on sale at Aqualife Leyland, UK.
They’re advertised as Cory
burgessi. But I keep and breed burgessi and none of mine gave the clear patch by the gills - that’s a trait of C121.
Thanks,
Paul

Can you provide more hiding places and decor to break up territories in the pond?

Are they newly imported? Some look a bit rough, and it may be best to give them some time to recover and settle in before trying to sex them.
Having said that, I’d say the top one is a healthy female, based on head and body shape.

Back in March I put a 1” Pseuda L427 in my big community tank, which has several other plecs and bottom-feeding cichlids. In 6 months it has grown to 3” and is now challenging the 6” L233 and the 4” L397 for food. So I wouldn’t worry too much about them going hungry in a busy tank.

Here's a quick snap of two of mine, making fancy shapes out of a home-grown yellow courgette. They love their fresh organic veggies.
Forgive the photo-bombing Brachyrhamdia...

Please can you tell us a bit more about your setup, tank size, maintenance regime, water parameters, water flow rate, what you're feeding, how long you've had the fish, etc.

It depends on the type of algae too. They're not that interested in hairy algae.
In my experience, Hypoptopoma ('giant oto') are excellent algae eaters on glass, wood and plants, but they don't keep on top of hair algae.

In my experience, Panaqolus will strip algae off wood quite effectively. They won't necessarily eat the algae, they're more interested in the wood underneath. So you would need to siphon up the remains (and the pleco poo). Panaqolus are also a suitable size for the tank, and would be fine with those...

Fins crossed for you, Eric! I hope you see some more action soon.
Cheers,
Paul

Great find :) They certainly resemble my H. cf. guianense, which were also imported from Peru. I agree with Eric, a better photo of the caudal fin would help to confirm their identity. Mine have proven to be excellent algae eaters and I haven't lost any over the two years I've had them, so in my exp...

My adult Cories enjoy these foods just as much as the fry do.

I'd say most are male, but the one in the third picture is female. I'm judging on body shape and this can depend on how well fed they are, so I may be wrong.

I managed to get some slightly better photos of my Pseudacanthicus sp(l427) It's now about 2.5" long having grown well since I bought it at 1" in March this year. It eats Repashy gel cubes, Tetra Prima and (defrosted) frozen prawns, sometimes challenging its larger tankmate a 6" Hypos...

Excellent. It's in my diary already.

I'd say the most important thing is LOTS of wood and other hiding places.
I use a lot of oak and beech wood collected from local woods and parks.

I'm going to hazard a guess that the one in the middle is male and the one on the right is female. The difference in body shape is subtle but since you've had these for a while and have presumably fed/treated them all the same I think there is a meaningful difference there.

I got my head screwed up by all of this a couple of years back. A really important thing to remember is that 'Nature' does not recognise the concept of a species. 'Species' is an artificial invention by humans in an attempt to describe nature. It is useful, but it is over-simplified. The concept is ...

C.rabauti and C.zygatus can be told apart by the colour patterns of their fry. Best start conditioning them for breeding!

Thanks again. I think the IBC would work well for me. For domestic usage a black one is recommended to prevent algae growth, black ones are a little bit more expensive and I guess algae isn't such a bad thing for fish usage - i certainly have plenty in my tanks!

Thanks!
I do have a couple of outdoor troughs in a sunny place which have a good population of daphnia in the warmer months - they are used as fish food. I guess the rain can't be too bad then.
Cheers,
Paul

Many thanks Shane. Perhaps I'm over-thinking it! Using some activated carbon is a good idea to solve pollution worries.

Many thanks for your thoughts. You're right, I'm a bit west of Manchester and the wind normally blows from the west, so the main sources of pollution are likely to be in the Liverpool area (including Warrington and Runcorn). There's a fair bit of heavy industry including oil/chemical plants in the a...

I'm considering setting up a system to harvest rainwater for fish tank use. My tap water is pretty good but I do use a lot of it for the fish so considering alternatives. After a moderate amount of online research and coming up with lots of advice on rainwater harvesting for toilet flushing or warmt...

Phenacogrammus aurantiacus 'lefini'
So you are correct!

Sorry for the delay in posting these, but I've been away. These photos were taken before the tank lights came on, but with a little diffuse natural light from a window a few feet away. Picture quality not so good in the gloom, but they are true colours in natural light. The small pale fish still has...

Congratulations Jac!
I hope it turns out well and you can tell us all about it at a future CSG convention

Thanks Shane. When the tank lights are off (but with some ambient natural light from a window so I can see) the colour difference remains - most are dark and the pale one is pale (and slightly yellowish). I have some photos. I'll try some more experiments next week as I'm about to go away for a long...

I might be rapidly over-run! I'm oddly enjoying the slow breeding rate and low survival percentage of my as I have too many tanks already! My other Cory species are not playing at all...