Golden corridor: breeding, maintenance and care

The huge selection of decorative fish for the aquarium is striking in its variety. Among the many species and colors, everyone can find something suitable for themselves. In this article we will look at one of the interesting aquarium catfish - the golden corridor. Let's analyze the features of keeping and caring for this bright and interesting fish.

The golden corridor is a small catfish of a bright color that remains in the memory for a long time. With its variegated color, it resembles a goldfish. It is native to South America, Reservoir Venezuela, Cara boba state. This catfish lives in Lake Valencia and the surrounding waters with clean, cool water. The lifespan in an aquarium is 5-6 years, depending on the conditions of keeping.

This catfish belongs to the family of armored catfish due to the coverage of the entire body with bony plates arranged in 2 rows. These plates resemble parquet laid on the floor. This structure gave this catfish the second name "shell catfish". The described catfish is unpretentious in care and has a high survival rate. It is suitable for beginners, but can also often be found among experienced aquarists. This species has intestinal respiration and sometimes rises to the surface for a breath of fresh air.

The golden corridor is a small fish. Females grow no more than 7 cm in length, males 5–6 cm in length. Distinguishing a female from a male is easy - females look larger and fuller, males slimmer. The dorsal fin is rounded in females, and pointed in males. The corridors differ in their color. On store shelves, you can find these fish in bronze, green, white (albino) and black.

To maintain the golden corridor, an aquarium from 50 liters with a weekly water change of up to 30% is suitable. The mandatory requirements for the design of a home reservoir will be as follows:

• availability of free space for swimming;
• the presence of snags, grottoes, heaps of stones in which this fish can hide and rest;
• sand or pebbles without sharp edges are well suited as a soil so that the catfish does not hurt its antennae about them.

It is desirable to maintain stable water parameters, and the level of nitrates should be at a minimum. Otherwise, as mentioned earlier, this catfish is unpretentious both in care and in feeding. It eats all kinds of feed - be it live options, flakes, pellets or bottom catfish tablets. He prefers to pick up food from the bottom, which allows him to be referred to the aquarium bottom orderly.

To ensure a comfortable environment, you will need good aeration, filtration and a lid on the aquarium with access to air. If you notice that the catfish are constantly floating up to breathe, this means that there is not enough oxygen in the water. The water temperature should be from +22 to +26 degrees. They cannot tolerate the salt content of the aquarium.

Golden catfish is very calm and peaceful. It gets along with all kinds of peaceful fish and even shrimp (in most cases). Neighbors should be similar in size. Do not settle such a kid with large cichlids - they will not allow him to live normally, but will constantly drive him around the aquarium.

All barbs, except for cherry ones, are the worst enemies for the golden corridor. The fact is that the barbus is a very playful fish that lives in the middle layers of the water, while the catfish is slow and is at the bottom. Although this catfish is called a carapace catfish, its dorsal fin has no protection and is an excellent target for the barbus. Having torn it to shreds, the catfish will die after a while.

These fish become capable of breeding at the age of 1 year. In breeding, they are simple. For successful spawning, at least 2 males are required for 1 female. By purchasing a flock of 5–8 adolescent individuals, which are poorly distinguishable by sex, you can count on a high probability of the presence of a male and a female.

These fish can spawn in the general aquarium, but to preserve the offspring, the correct solution would be to allocate a separate spawning box with a volume of at least 100 liters, with good air blowing and filtration, which creates a weak flow. For spawning, it is advisable to plant a flock consisting of 2-3 males and 1 female. A larger number of fish is also allowed, the main thing is the predominance of males.

Before planting in the spawning grounds, males and females must be divided into different aquariums and fed with live food. A signal for spawning will be a decrease in water temperature by 2-3 degrees (as in the rainy season). Lowering the temperature pressure can increase the chances of successful spawning. At the beginning of spawning, females begin to move faster around the aquarium (as if in search), and males will begin to chase them.

When the couple is ready for the process, the individuals take a position that resembles the letter "T". The female rests her head on the male's belly and begins to spawn, while the male releases milk at this time. With the help of fins, the female moves the fertilized eggs to the nearest, suitable place.

The female lays several eggs on leaves of plants, stones, glass of the aquarium. Up to 200 eggs can be obtained from 1 female. It all depends on the size, conditions of detention and age. Spawning can take place for 2 days and all this time the parents need to be fed. Hunger can cause individuals to start eating eggs.

At the end of spawning, the parents must be removed. When your catfish have spawned in a common aquarium, it is best to remove the eggs in a separate reservoir with water from the common one, along with the substrate to which it is glued. The main thing is the presence of aeration and filtration in the tank. If the caviar is glued to the glass, it can be cut with a blade, only this process should be as careful as possible to preserve the integrity of the eggs. After 3-5 days of constant air blowing, larvae appear, and after another day the fry will swim. You can start feeding them with egg yolk, ciliates, and starter feed for spawning fish fry.

As a rule, most pet stores do not care very much about the condition of the fish. Before buying, carefully inspect the purchased individual. A healthy fish must meet the following requirements:

• be active;
• swim confidently;
• not have any defects on the mustache;
• have healthy, undamaged gills that do not have inflammation.

It should be noted that brown spots indicate the presence of a fungal infection. The fish should not have any foreign spots, as well as on other inhabitants in the pet store (infections are transmitted to fish by airborne droplets), if 1 aquarium is infected, all are infected. The belly of the golden corridor should not be sunken - this indicates that the fish suffers from worms.

But even such a careful choice will not save you from unforeseen fish diseases. When you bring the purchased fish home (the type of corridor can be any - not only golden, but also veiled, panda, milini or other), do not plant it in a common aquarium, moreover, do not pour someone else's water into your tanks. It is advisable to keep the individual itself in quarantine in another room for at least 10 days.

After the expiration of the allotted time, if no visible changes appear on the catfish, do not rush to transplant it into the main aquarium, but plant one fish from a common reservoir in the quarantine. This is done because the catfish itself may not be sick, but be a carrier of the disease. This simple procedure will help determine if a disease is present without infecting your entire aquarium. This procedure applies to all types of fish that you wish to place in your tank.

For information on how to breed the golden corridor, see the next video.