C. brevirostris was described from an aquarium specimen apparently exported from the Río Orinoco drainage in Venezuela, and its wider distribution is somewhat vague, usually being given as the Orinoco system plus unnamed coastal rivers in Suriname.

This represents a somewhat disjunct pattern of distribution and if correct the species is also likely to occur in Guyana.

Type locality is ‘Río Yuruari, 3 kilometers east of El Callao, 7°18’N, 61°50’W, Bolivar, Venezuela’, and this species is also known from the Rupununi River drianage in Guyana and the Courantyne/Corantijn system in Suriname.

The Yuruari, an affluent of the Río Cuyuni, an…

This species is sometimes confused any of several similar-looking fishes such as C. sychri or C. sp. C097.

While the former is a more elongate fish with a longer snout and quite easy to identify, C097 resembles C. atropersonatus more closely, despite being traded as C. sychri ‘longnose’. Its snout is longer than that of C. atropersonatus but shorter than that of C. sychri, and the dark spots on the body tend to be more well-defined and spaced out than in the other two.

Fish collected in the upper rio Maderia basin in Brazil and Bolivia have been traded under the invented names C. sp. ‘dorsalis’ and C. sp. ‘ogawae’ in the past, although are officially-considered conspecific with C. armatus.

This appears to warrant investigation since the Río Huallaga in Peru, type locality of C. armatus, and collection localities in the upper Madeira are separated by a straight-line distance of almost 2500 km.

Described from the Río Ampiyacu, a small tributary draining into the main Amazon channel in Loreto Department, northeastern Peru, with additional records from the Yavarí (Javari), Napo, Nanay, and lower Ucayali drainage basins.

All of these are Amazon tributaries, and C. ambiacus appears to occur in most or all affluents of the main Amazon channel between th…

This species is sometimes referred to as ‘false corydoras’ or ‘sixray corydoras’.

A. pauciradiatus can be distinguished from congeners by possession of 6 soft dorsal-fin rays, as opposed to 7 in other Aspidoras species, plus its distinctive colour pattern.

Aspidoras species are distinguished from the very…

X. cancila is often seen referred to as ‘freshwater garfish’, and although it does superficially resemble the true gars of the family Lepisosteidae, it’s actually a member of the Belonidae, or needlefishes, the majority of which are marine or estuarine in existence.

There are currently just two species in the genus although the probable existence of a third member has been noted by Roberts (1989) among oth…

Very similar to its congener T. decaradiatus, it can be distinguished by looking at the position of the eye, which is set much further back in decaradiatus. Also, the humeral process (long spine extending from the back of the gill plate), is longer and thinner in this species than decaradiatus. Neither are seen very often in the hobby, but are sometimes available at specialist outlets….

Very similar to its congener T. exilis, it can be distinguished by looking at the position of the eye which is set much further forward in exilis. Also, the humeral process (long spine extending from the back of the gill plate), is broader and shorter in this species than exilis. Neither are seen very often in the hobby….

Often confused with its congener, L. morrowi, the jaguar cat can be distinguished by its more attractive, brighter patterning and larger adult size. It's an ideal and good looking bottom dweller for the larger community. Previously considered a member of the Doradidae, due to the opercular spines, it has now been reclassified. It occurs over a wide range in nature, hence its apparent tolerance to wildly different water chemistry. In reality, its requirements are determined by collection loc…