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o many of you may have heard of some of the closely related fish to Corydoras – Aspidoras, Brochis, and Scleromystax. While Brochis is no longer a valid genus and has been placed back into Corydoras, many aquarists are familiar with what Brochis look like, and as a hobby we are reluctant to adopt to science, so more likely than not, you are still seeing fish with the common name “Emerald Green Corydoras,” being called Brochis splendens, even though it is technically Corydoras splendens.

Scleromystax barbatus

The genus Aspidoras has remained relatively stable since it was first created in 1907, the one big thing that recently has changed is that we no longer consider Aspidoras pauciradiatus to be an Aspidoras, because frankly, it’s not. Corydoras pauciradiatus is much more closely related to Corydoras pygmaeus or Corydoras hastatus than any of the true Aspidoras out there. The photo I’m including along with this post is an image of what may be my all-time favorite fish. This is Scleromystax barbatus, but it wasn’t always so named.

When I was a kid first getting into aquariums, my parents bought me a very simple “Aquarium Fish” book, it had basic set up instructions, perfect for the 1970’s and early 80’s with incandescent lights, undergravel filters, and little decorative signs for your tank that said “No Fishing”. It also had colored drawings and short descriptions of many of the available aquarium fish at the time. Near the back of the book was the Catfish section, and on one of the last pages was an amazing drawing of a plated catfish with brilliant white, black and gold coloration and long flowing fins. “I have to have this fish!” I remember thinking. But unfortunately for me, that would not happen for around another 30 years!.

The drawing in my old book was labeled Corydoras barbatus “The bearded catfish”, not by the name we know it today and I hope by giving you a little history I can explain why. Believe it or not, Scleromystax barbatus was one of the first Corydoras-like fish ever known to humankind. It was discovered near the city of Rio de Janeiro around a city named Maje, in Brazil. Quoy & Gaimard were the two French naturalists who described it in 1824, to give you an idea of how long ago that was, these two were sent out on a mission to discover new animals for French science by Napoleon! In their travels they went to the home of another naturalist, the Russian Consulate to the then Portuguese colony of Brazil – Baron Langsdorff. The Baron had collected examples of animals near his farm in Brazil and among his collection was Scleromystax barbatus.

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