The Rio Vaupés – so the Spanish spelling – or Rio Uaupes – that is the Portuguese one – is a “small” right tributary of the Rio Negro. After all, the “little one” has a length of 1,375 km! It rises in Colombia in the foothills of the Andes and forms the state border with the Brazilian state of Amazonas at a distance of about 150 km downstream from Mitú, where it flows into the Rio Negro about 40 km south of Icana. Aquaristically, it has been known for a long time that many peculiarities occur in the Rio Vaupes. Among them are also four armored catfishes, which however became known only in the last years: CW 89 (long snout, narrow dorsal band), CW91 (round snout to CW 89), CW106 (long snout, wider dorsal band and shorter snout than CW89), CW107 (round snout, wider dorsal band than CW91). They are found in Colombia, about 40 km east of Mitú, at least according to the exporters.
Unfortunately the mentioned distinguishing characteristics are not really constant. The more animals one gets to see, the more intermediate forms become recognizable, as it is known from other Rio Negro Corydoras. Especially the width of the dorsal band varies enormously. That is why we do not distinguish between CW89 and CW106 in the trade.
Now we have received particularly attractive animals, which are clearly more CW 106 because of the very broad dorsal band. Interesting is also the sexual dimorphism, the female is only indistinctly recognizable as a longnose. We are now eagerly waiting for when the first offspring will be offered and how they will look like.
For our customers: the CW 89/CW 106 have code 236105 on our stocklist. Please note that we only supply to wholesalers.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
