Help with ID of new catfish

[Gatorgann]

Hello All;

I have 2 new cory type catfish that I believe were misidentified when I purchased them. One was labeled as Hoplisoma melini and the other was labeled as Hoplisoma punctatum. Any help with the ID would be appreciated.

[Jools]

I'd go with

Corydoras simulatus

for the longer one, but I would like to see a shot with a straight body / caudal fin as there are other things it might be.



Cheers,

Jools

[bekateen]

I'd agree with the C. simulatus ID. For the other fish, it appears to have a straight snout, which would imply a Brochis(sc3) species; for that, I think there are a few prospects, all similar:

• Brochis(sc3) ambiacus
• Brochis(sc3) delphax
• Brochis(sc3) sp(cw057)
• Brochis(sc3) sp(cw082)
• Brochis(sc3) sp(cw099)

Conversely, as @Jools noted, the image doesn't give a great view of the body, so it could be a weird angle of a Hoplosoma, in which case the best choices would be :

• Hoplisoma brevirostre
• Hoplisoma melanistium

I'm inclined towards B. delphax or B. ambiacus myself, but again, more photos would be helpful.

Cheers,
Eric

[Gatorgann]

Thanks for the help so far. I will post some better pictures if I can get them to cooperate.

[Gatorgann]

A couple of additional pictures of my unknown cats.

[naturalart]

I agree with Eric, the spotted one looks like Brochis delphax.

[naturalart]

The arch-striped fish might be CW112, C016 or C100.

[Jools]

The arch-striped fish might be

CW112

,

C016

or

C100

.

Given the head profile, I think the arch-striped fish is a

Corydoras

,

CW112

and

C100

are

Hoplisoma

.

I'm not aware of

C016

exports in years, maybe more than a decade. It also has a clear dorsal fin and clear barring on the caudal fin, which the fish in question does not (it has black blotch in the dorsal and the arc extends onto the lower caudal lobe). However,

Corydoras simulatus

is a highly variable species that is, by a distance, the common Corydoras exported from the region. Given both the tail pattern and the statistics, I'd stick with the original ID.

But the tail pattern does bother me. I did consider

Corydoras fowleri

and

Corydoras semiaquilus

too. But the black colouration in the dorsal (few Corydoras have solid blotch pigmentation in the dorsal) didn't chime for me. Statistically, it is very unlikely to be the former.

Hope that helps,

Jools