his member of the Callichthyidae genus has not been named to species
and as such are known in the trade as Scleromystax ‘Baianinho
II’. Scleromystax species are found in the rainforest
streams, and not in the open river areas. This genus is related
more to the Aspidoras than the Corydoras genera.
As this genera are found on the south east coast of Brazil they
will do better at lower temperatures.
In addition, Scleromystax differs
from Aspidoras in its reduced ossified portion of pectoral
spine, which is longer than half the length of the first branched
pectoral-fin ray, and in its somewhat more elongate snout. Individuals
of this genus also posses a conspicuous colouration pattern characterized
by small striated blotches all over dorsum and sides of head (less
conspicuous in Scleromystax prionotos).
There are at the present (May 2010) the
six named Scleromystax
species, S.barbatus,
S.kronei, S.lacerdai,
S.macropterus,
S.prionotos and
S. salmacis. There is also two c-numbers, this species
C112, C113
and also two CW number CW038
and CW042
waiting for a description.
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Scleromystax (C112) - eggs.
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Scleromystax (C112)
- 6 weeks old.
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The Scleromystax genera was resurrected
by taxonomists (Britto; Marcelo R. Phylogeny of the subfamily
Corydoradinae Hoedeman, 1952 (Siluriformes: Callichthyidae), with
a definition of its genera) during an ongoing study of Corydoras,
Aspidoras and Brochis in 2004. The main criteria
for resurrecting the genera was the cheek bristles on the males.
Lateral ethmoid long; contact between supraoccipital
and nuchal plate; palatine slender; odontodes on preopercular-opercular
region of males.
Males have a light brown body with reticulated
markings to the head. There is a darker band running the full
length of the body on the lateral line. Below this the body is
cream coloured. Females are more plain and tend to have the dark
band broken up in sections and the cream colour of the underside
is less defined. In the females there are also about three small
gold flecks along the lateral line.
As with most members of the Callichthyidae
they are peaceful and good additions to the larger
"cool water" aquarium set up with maybe other cool water
fish such as White Cloud Mountain Minnows and other fish that are
comfortable with a temperature around the 70°f (21.5°c)
mark.
As per the Corydoradinae
sub family with the males chasing the females and clinching in the
time honoured T-position. They will lay their eggs medium to high
up on the glass and are easily rolled off with your fingers and
placed in a small container to hatch and then when they use up their
yolk sac they can be fed very small first foods such as Liquifry
no.1 and then on to fry flake and micro worm and tablet food. I
added an airline to this container to move the water around gently.
| Sexual
differences |
The pectoral fins
are longer in the males as in the the females. They also
have bristles on the snout which are very hard to distiguish.
The males are also better marked and coloured.
|
| Feeding |
As with other members of the Corydoradinae
they relish tablet and good quality flake food with frozen bloodworm
a firm favourite. They are also keen on chopped earthworms and
other worm foods such as white worm used sparingly, and grindal
worm.
| Etymology |
Scleromystax
: From the Greek "sclero"
meaning hard and the Latin "mystax" meaning moustache.
|
| References |
Britto; Marcelo
R., Phylogeny of the
subfamily Corydoradinae Hoedeman, 1952 (Siluriformes: Callichthyidae),
with a definition of its genera. Proceedings of the Academy
of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 153: 119–154.
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| Glossary
of Terms |
Supraoccipital:
Unpaired bone at the back at the back of the skull, usually
with a crest.
Nuchal plate:
Area between the skull and dorsal
fin.
Palatine: Bone which lies laterally in
the roof of the mouth.
Odontodes: Hair - like stuctures on the
body
Preoperculum
: The anterior bone
of the opercular series, forming the border of the cheek.
Opercular :
The bony covering of the gills of
fishes.
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Top : Graham
Ramsay
Bottom: Allan James @  |
