The "Peppered Catfish", "Corydoras paleatus" is also called "Peppered Cory," "Peppered Corydoras", and "Peppered Cory Cat". This peaceful fish is a harmless scavenger.
The only fish it eats are ones already dead. It is an omnivore and
will eat most types of food. By nature it is a bottom feeding fish but
it will eat at the surface at times. This fish comes from the warmer
parts of South America. In an aquarium
this fish will rarely get longer than two and a half inches (six
centimetres) although in larger water bodies it has been known to get close to
four inches (ten centimetres.) Temperature The Peppered Catfish is a ‘tropical’ fish although its low temperature
tolerance is much better than most tropicals. It does not seem to be
able to take high temperatures well, and could be in trouble if the
water temperature
gets over thirty degrees C (eighty five degrees F.). In a normal house
it can be kept without a heater, but I would not recommend it as a pond
fish except in areas which never get cold weather. Certainly not anywhere in South Australia
Water The Peppered Catfish
is not very fussy about its water chemistry. I would suggest a Ph of 7
(Neutral), definitely avoiding extremes of acidity or alkalinity. The
hardness of the water does not seem to matter to this versatile fish.
A clean tank is definitely better than a dirty one. Make sure the water you use for your fish has had the Chlorine or Chloramine removed before it is added to the aquarium with your fish. Breathing Like many Corydoras Catfish, the Peppered Catfish can swallow air and extract the oxygen with its intestines. It is normal to occasionally see a Corydoras Catfish
suddenly shoot to the surface where it presumably takes a quick gulp of
air, and returning to the bottom. If it does this a lot, it can be an
indication of something wrong, such as the aquarium being short of Oxygen. Companions The Peppered Catfish
can be kept without others of its kind, but does interact if given a
chance. Some people recommend six in a tank together, but this would
only be practical in a larger tank. There are many other fish which
are suitable companions for this catfish. I would avoid extremely aggressive fish and very large ones, but most common aquarium fish should be all right. This includes all the Tetras, nearly all the Barbs, Danios, White Clouds, peaceful dwarf cichlids, Angel Fish, Discus, Fighting Fish, Australian Rainbow Fish, other Corydoras Catfish, most loaches and Goldfish. Uses Apart from its interest and beauty in its own right the Peppered Catfish is often kept as a scavenger. It is one of the fish that can be used as a scavenger
in either tropical or coldwater aquariums (As long as they are not too
cold!) They will eat uneaten food on the bottom, but not fish waste.
Also, it is always important not to overfeed your fish, even with an
efficient scavenger in the tank. They are not specialized for eating algae and do not do the job of an algae eating fish like a Bristle nose catfish. Breeding Peppered Catfish are sometimes stimulated to spawn by a drop in temperature.
It has been reported that a simultaneous drop in barometric pressure
helps. It is a good idea to condition the potential breeders with meaty
foods including things like Earthworms, Tubifex Worms or Daphnia. One
male and one female is the minimum requirement for breeding. They are
not communal breeders requiring a school to breed, but some people
prefer two or three males for one female. The female will clean surfaces such as a section of the aquarium
glass or a leaf of a plant. The male may rub against the female’s
head. She will lay her eggs into a ‘basket’ made with her fins, and
the male will fertilize them. The female will attach the eggs to
places she has cleaned. After a while the process is repeated and
continues until the female has laid all her eggs. This can be over two
hundred. The eggs should hatch in about six days. Well fed Peppered Catfish
do not usually eat their babies. At first the babies will eat mainly
the protozoan organisms in the tank, but will soon be able to eat fry
foods.
This Fact Sheet is also published at Associated Content, and many other articles by Steve Challis
are on the same site.
Steve Challis Invitation to Link:
If any page of this website is relevant to your site, please feel free to link to our site.
Peppered Catfish.Corydoras paleatus
Photo by Rcfernandes
Peppered Catfish
I, Marrabbio2 [GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html), CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/) or CC-BY-SA-2.5-2.0-1.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5-2.0-1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
