Corydoras ambiacus is one of the longest known species of the enormously diverse armored catfish, which has recently been assigned to the genus Brochis in a major review of armored catfish. The species Corydoras ambiacus was formally described from the Rio Ambyiacu in Peru as early as 1872. At that time, only 5 Corydoras species were known (today there are 171 valid species, 231 have been described, plus almost as many with C or CW numbers that are not clearly identified). The description was correspondingly sparse, as there was not much to be differentiated and it is correspondingly difficult to correctly identify this species today. Corydoras grafi and Corydoras melanistius longirostris are considered synonyms.
We currently have beautiful Brochis ambiacus (that still reads very unusual, doesn’t it?) from Colombia in our stock. We will report separately on the major renaming to Corydoras. The fish correspond very well to the concept that most Cory specialists currently have for B. ambiacus. But – and this should be mentioned at the end of this topic – when the numerous dotted species from the upper Amazon are revised, it is to be expected that there will be many a name change/new description.
The care of Brochis ambiacus is simple and corresponds in all basic features to the usual (shoaling, sandy soil in places, not only feeding waste, pH and hardness as usual for drinking water). Incidentally, our males are currently in a spawning mood, as you can clearly see from the sometimes extremely long pelvic fins. Breeding B. ambiacus is considered a challenge and has not often been successful – at least not reported. The maximum length of B. ambiacus is around 6 cm.
For our customers: Brochis ambiacus has code 221704 on our stocklist. Please note that we only supply the wholesale trade.
Text & photos: Frank Schäfer
