Corydoras · armoured catfish

Hoplisoma sp. CW219

Undescribed form

CW219

IUCNNOT EVALUATED
NEnot on the EX–LC scale
CARESNOT LISTED
Scientific size2 in5 cm length
Temperature75–81 °F24–27 °C
pH6–7.2neutral
Depthnot recorded
DietPresumed benthic micro-omnivore (Corydoradinae); no species-specific data
BreedingUnknown; no captive records for this undescribed form
Sexual dimorphismMinimalNo dimorphism data published for this undescribed form
PhotographsSee photosGoogle Images →
For the aquarist

Replicate this biotopei

Target water

Temperature75.2–80.6 °F
pH6–7.2near neutral

Recommended tank

Standard aquarium20-gallon “long”30 × 12 × 13 in · 20 gal (76 L) · for a group of six or more

Aquascape & setup

Warm, soft to moderately soft water on the gentle side of neutral, in keeping with its lowland-river home. Keep it clean and steady — corys are sensitive to accumulated nitrate and to sudden swings.

Soft, fine sand is non-negotiable: corys feed by sifting substrate through their gills, and sharp or coarse gravel wears their barbels down to stubs. Driftwood, roots, leaf litter and some shade complete a river-margin look, with plenty of open sandy floor to work over.

Community & care

Corydoras are shoaling fish — keep six or more of the same species; a lone or paired cory is a stressed one. They are utterly peaceful bottom-dwellers and belong only with calm, similarly-sized community fish — small tetras, rasboras, pencilfish, dwarf cichlids and the like — never with anything large or boisterous enough to bully a slow-moving fish working the floor.

Hybridization watchi

Soft sand, not graveli

Hoplisoma sp. CW219 is a Corydoradinae catfish the hobby knows by number rather than name. Ian Fuller (corydorasworld.com) catalogued it as CW219, and it has never been formally described — so it carries a code where a species would carry a binomial. Wild stock reaches the trade from Colombia. Current classification puts it in the Hoplisoma lineage of the 2024 Corydoradinae revision.

What's in the name

Hoplisoma sp. CW219hoh-plih-SOH-mah, code "CW219"

Hoplisoma
  • hoplonGreekshield / armour
  • somaGreekbody — i.e. armoured body, the bony plates of the cory
"CW219"
  • CW219catalog code (informal)a corydorasworld.com catalog number (Ian Fuller) assigned to this undescribed Corydoradinae form; it substitutes for a Latin epithet until the species is formally described

Taxonomy & naming

This is a coded, undescribed form rather than a named species. Ian Fuller (corydorasworld.com) assigned it CW219; the CW system exists precisely so aquarists can talk about Corydoradinae that science has not yet formally described. Hoplisoma is the largest Corydoradinae lineage genus (the bulk of the traditional round-snouted 'Corydoras'), split off in the 2024 Dias, Tencatt et al. revision. If it is one day described, CW219 will give way to the binomial. Until then no authority or type material stands behind the name.

Morphology

Because CW219 is undescribed, its diagnostic characters are not on record. Trade sources put its adult length at roughly 2 in. In general shape it is a typical Hoplisoma-lineage cory: armoured flanks, a rounded snout with sensory barbels, and serrated fin spines. Exactly how it is told apart from its close relatives is the kind of detail a formal description would settle.

Habitat

Field data for CW219 come from exporters and aquarists, not surveys. Its recorded collection locality is the headwaters of the Rio Vaupés near Calamar, Colombia. As a Corydoradinae it can be expected on soft-bottomed margins of Neotropical streams and rivers, but no measured habitat parameters — temperature, pH, flow — have been recorded for this form specifically.

Feeding

Nothing has been published on what CW219 eats. Like other cories it is built to sift the substrate for tiny invertebrates and organic particles, and keepers feed it as they would any Hoplisoma — sinking pellets, frozen and live micro-foods — but no diet has been documented for the code itself.

Mating

No courtship or spawning has been documented for CW219 specifically. Corydoradinae generally spawn in the classic T-position, the female holding a small clutch of eggs in her cupped pelvic fins while the male fertilises them; whether this form has been bred at all is simply not on record.

Breeding

There are no captive-breeding records for CW219. Clutch size, where the eggs are laid, and how the fry develop are all undocumented for this undescribed form. Keepers who spawn related Hoplisoma forms lean on cool water changes as a trigger, but nothing specific has been reported here.

In the aquarium

Hoplisoma sp. CW219 turns up only as the odd wild import and mainly interests keepers who track Corydoradinae by their codes. Ordinary Hoplisoma care fits it — soft sand, clean well-oxygenated water, a shoal of six or more, and peaceful company. The maintenance range ScotCat gives is roughly 75–81 °F and pH 6.0–7.2 — aquarium guidance rather than field data. It is a wild fish, not a line-bred strain, so what circulates under the code is collected stock.

Conservation

Hoplisoma sp. CW219 has not been assessed by the IUCN Red List; as an undescribed form it has no formal status. With its range and numbers unrecorded, its real situation is unknown. Narrow-range Corydoradinae can be exposed to habitat change and collection pressure, which is reason enough to keep coded forms like this one on the radar.

Also from the the headwaters of the Rio Vaupés near Calamar

Sources

  1. Corydoras World (Ian Fuller) — Hoplisoma sp. CW219 (CW-number registry)
  2. ScotCat — CW219 factsheet

Last reviewed 2026-07-04.

How to cite

Aquarist Atlas (2026). Hoplisoma sp. CW219. Aquarist Atlas.https://www.aquaristatlas.com/corydoras/hoplisoma-sp-cw219/

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