The black shadow rat is a kind of rat fish with a variety of body patterns, which can be divided into I, II, III, IV, V type, etc. according to different origin sources, and can also be distinguished into green type, black type, classic type and other types. However, since most of the time of export does not indicate its origin information, it is difficult to classify according to the distribution of origin. In addition, their probable kinship with the Buddha rat is also enjoyable...
The author | Frank Schafer
Translated | Flair Wang
Corydoras fowleri related species I have been breeding for decades. When I started working at Aqualog and Aquarium Glaser more than 20 years ago, no one had ever seen a living version of the fish. We had just finished Aqualog's "All Corydoras" and were preparing Aqualog News, and when the first episode came out, it was bilingual and newspaper- and it was so exciting!
Weitzman, SH于1964所绘制的佛利率鼠（Corydoras fowleri）插图。 One new species and two redescriptions of catfishes of the South American callichthyid genus Corydoras . Proceedings of the United States National Museum v. 116 (no.3498): 115-126
A big, expensive fish! That was in July 1996. My good friend Frank. Frank Teigler took a picture of it, and then I put the precious individual in front of my camera. Of course, we treat each fish with caution, but we rarely treat a fish with such a high standard. At the time, Japan was paying a lot for this rare ratfish.
This is the first Foley rat imported into Europe, pictured by Frank. Frank Teigler's Aqualog.de ©
A picture of the same fish, this time it was Aqualog.de I took ©
Soon after, in August, more individuals arrived. This time there were 15 of them. During this time, I corresponded with Han Nijssen of the Amsterdam Museum, who was then an authority on the catfish, and he expressed doubts about whether the individuals imported from Peru at the time really matched the Fori rat described by Böhlke. Unfortunately, the breeder Karl. Karl Lang died too early, capturing 4 of the 15 freshly imported individuals and soon succeeding in their first breeding. Dieter. Dieter Bork for Carl. Lang's descendants took photographs, thus recording for the first time the body color changes associated with the ongenesis of the species.
Top left to right: 3, 6 and 8 week old juveniles. The picture below is Karl. One © of the breeding individuals of Karl Lang Aqualog.de
The knowledge gained from this is of great help in the classification of unknown ratfish imported later. Some time before the follicle was imported, an 8 cm long ratfish known as "Black Peru" was imported. This fish is called the Black Shadow Mouse (C. semiaquilus), very closely related to the Buddha's rat. There are at least two different types of "Peruvian black", and later imported Follos have also proved to be very different in form. In 1997, Warren. Warren E. Burgess called this variant Corydoras coriatae.
Wild Fowl juvenile; with the shadow rat (C. spp.) semiaquilus) similar Aqualog.de ©
What is a "real" Buddha rat? Like the Buddha rat and the black shadow rat, just because their body color characteristics are different, but obviously still in the transition period of the speciation stage, is it really meaningful to distinguish them into different fish species?
Commercial imports of the Foli rat, the shadow rat, the Corriti rat and the "Peruvian shadow rat" all come from Peru and are well known to originate from the area around Pebas and the entrance to the Rio Ucayali River, one of the two main sources of the Amazon River. However, it should not be underestimated that the small tributaries of the Ukayari and Amazon rivers in Peru are actually as large as the Main or Neckar rivers in Germany. Of course, different species can develop relatively small sizes.
The sample originally described by the Follsa rat, the so-called holotype, came from near Pevas and was collected by Wiliam G. Scherer in a place called Caño del Chancho. Pebas is located in Amazon. Today, the regular model specimen of the Foley rat is almost completely gone, but in 1964, when I was born, it still had a little color, which Stanley Weitzman depicted in his description of the shadow rat. I don't see any significant difference from the Peruvian imported Follus. What about the Shadow Mouse? It was first collected in Brazil's Igarapé Preto, a jungle stream that flows into the Brazilian state of Amazonas a blackwater tributary of the Rio Solimoes (the name given to the upper Amazon). Thus, the species described are found in the Amazon rivers of Peru and Brazil, and the fish exported only come from the inlet of the Ucayali River in Peru. This is a large area.
In 2013, the Foli rat origin variant © Aqualog.de imported
Close-ups © of individuals imported in 2013 Aqualog.de
Recently, many new origin variants have been imported; one is said to be from the Rio Blanco (also part of the Ucayali River system) and the other from Colombia! The collection point is "Mitu". Mitu is a small town on the Rio Vaupés river in Venezuela, later known in Brazil as the Uaupés. The Uopes River flows into Brazil's Rio Negro and is therefore part of the Amazon River.
All variants associated with the Follic/Shadow Rat are precious and rare, although they are all easily bred in aquariums. The number of variants like Mitu or Blanco River is still very small.
Corydoras cf. from the Rio Blanco River. semiaquilus）© Aqualog.de
A small variant of the Peruvian shadow rat Corydoras semiaquilus Black Peru, known as the Huanta © Aqualog.de
These species are certainly new species to be described, and systematic taxonomy has not yet been clarified. We still know very little about the distribution of these fish; we know nothing about their life in the wild. Hans-Georges. Hans-Georg Evers gives the best instructions in Amazon Magazine Issue 32 (November/December 2010), page 77: "In a complete rainforest, narrow rivers with clear water. The species is well disguised by its camouflage and spends most of the year living among deciduous leaves, moving calmly, and once a fish is spotted, it can be easily caught with a small hand net." Evers suspected that the Furdi rats inhabited black water, and therefore suspected that the model origin of the Corriti rats was "Rio Aguaytia", because the river was black water. In general, given the enormous variability of the Follus, Evers considers the species to be ineffective.
Is Corydoras coriatae a valid species? © Aqualog.de
Individual close-ups © from the Rio Vaupes Aqualog.de
Of course, much research remains to be done on this family of fingerlings. Therefore, these beautiful ratfish may stay with me for many years. I'm looking forward to it!
PS: This article first appeared in Bookazine No.2, which also included Carl. Lang's breeding report.
This article is reproduced from Must Fish, translator FlairWang, thanks!
Original source|https://www.aqualog.de/blog/die-panzerwelse-der-corydoras-fowleri-gruppe/