Corydoras hastatus. EIGENMANN & EIGENMANN, 1888. Common Name: Tail-spot Pygmy Cory

Habitat: Has mostly been collected from marginal channels, backwaters, swamps, floodplain lakes, and smaller tributaries containing shallow, clear-to-turbid water with substrates of mud and clay. Some habitats contain no vegetation while others feature dense growths of submerged grasses, aquatic or floating plants such as Eichhornia or Pistia (see images).

Maintenance Ideally use a substrate of fine sand, although rounded gravel is an acceptable alternative provided that it is kept scrupulously clean.

Other décor is largely down to personal choice, but some cover should be provided to give the fish security, ideally in the form of driftwood roots and branches, leaf litter and live vegetation at the water surface.

Water Conditions Temperature: 20 – 26 °C pH: 6.0 – 7.5 Hardness: 36 – 215 ppm

Diet Corydoras spp. are foraging omnivores, and most will accept sinking dried foods as well as small live and frozen varieties such as chironomid larvae (bloodworm), Tubifex, etc.

C. hastatus is slightly different in that it is partially adapted to forage on pelagic zooplankton (see ‘Notes’) meaning a diet containing plenty of live Daphnia, Artemia, and suchlike is recommended.

Under no circumstances should they be expected to survive on ‘left-overs’ from other inhabitants of the aquarium or relied on to ‘clean’ the aquarium.

Behaviour and Compatibility: Peaceful and gregarious. Should be maintained in a group of at least 4-6 individuals, ideally 10 or more.

Care must be taken when selecting tankmates due to its small adult size; it does not compete well with much larger or more robust species in the confines of an aquarium.