Taxonomy & naming
Corydoras pinheiroi was described in 1995 by Bernd Dinkelmeyer, who named it for Mario Pinheiro, manager of the aquarium-fish exporter Trop Rio in Rio de Janeiro, who provided the holotype. The species belongs to the family Callichthyidae, subfamily Corydoradinae, and was placed — as essentially all cory cats were — in Corydoras Lacépède, 1803. In the hobby it had already been circulating under the collection code C025.
The 2024 revision by Dias, Tencatt and colleagues broke Corydoras into several lineages on molecular grounds. The long-bodied, high-finned, multi-rayed 'green' corys were returned to the resurrected genus Brochis, and C. pinheiroi falls there: the current valid combination is Brochis pinheiroi. We keep 'Corydoras pinheiroi' as the heading because that is the name still used in the hobby and most literature, while noting the Brochis placement; FishBase already lists the species under Brochis.
Morphology
This is a comparatively large, deep-bodied cory, reaching about 2–2.5 in in standard length, with females the larger sex. The hallmark of its lineage is the dorsal fin: where most corys carry seven or eight dorsal rays, the Brochis-type 'green' corys have a notably taller, longer-based dorsal with more rays, giving them a sail-like profile.
The body wears the usual cory armour — two rows of overlapping bony scutes down each flank and a hard helmeted head — and three pairs of barbels fringe the downturned mouth. The colouration is the muted, iridescent green-bronze typical of the group rather than a bold pattern. As in all corys, the dorsal, pectoral and adipose fins each carry a stiff leading spine.
Habitat
Corydoras pinheiroi is endemic to a small area on the right bank of a tributary near Guajará-Mirim, in eastern Rondônia, Brazil — part of the western Amazon (upper Madeira) basin near the Bolivian border. It is a fish of clear, well-oxygenated streams that flow over sand with leaf litter and submerged wood.
Reported aquarium parameters reflect those origins: temperatures of about 77–82 °F, a slightly acidic to neutral pH of roughly 6.0–7.2, and soft to moderately soft water (around 3–15 °dH). Surface turbulence and flow matter to it, as it favours well-oxygenated water — a reminder that, like many clear-stream corys, it is less a still-backwater fish than the ubiquitous bronze cory. It is a facultative air-breather, gulping surface air and absorbing oxygen through a vascularised hindgut.
Feeding
Corydoras pinheiroi is a benthic omnivore and detritivore like its relatives. It works the stream bottom, sifting sand and fine gravel with its snout and barbels to take small invertebrates, insect larvae, worms and organic detritus, expelling cleaned sand through the gills. In the aquarium it takes sinking dried foods together with small live and frozen items such as bloodworm, brine shrimp and chopped earthworm; a varied diet keeps it in good health.
Mating
The spawning of C. pinheiroi has not been documented in detail, but corys share a conserved courtship. A ready female cleans a spawning site — a leaf, stone or the aquarium glass — and the group becomes active; a male takes up the 'T-position' at right angles to her head, and a few adhesive eggs are clasped in a basket formed by her pelvic fins and pressed onto the cleaned surface. The sequence repeats, a few eggs at a time, until the clutch is complete. The deep-bodied 'green' corys are expected to follow this same pattern.
Breeding
No captive-breeding data exist for Corydoras pinheiroi, which is rarely kept. If it follows its relatives, spawning would likely be triggered by a cool, large water change mimicking the rainy season; the adhesive eggs would receive no parental care (adults readily eat their own spawn, so eggs or parents must be separated); and eggs would hatch in roughly three to four days, with fry taking microworm and baby brine shrimp nauplii once the yolk sac is absorbed.
In the aquarium
Corydoras pinheiroi is very rare in the trade and has little established aquarium history, but general husbandry for the larger 'green' corys applies. Keep it in a shoal of six or more over soft sand — coarse gravel erodes the barbels — with smooth rocks and bogwood for shelter and some thick planting. Because it comes from clear, well-oxygenated streams, give it good flow and strong filtration with surface turbulence rather than warm, still water. It is a peaceful community fish best kept with calm tankmates of similar temperament. As always, the fin spines can snag in a net (a cup is safer), and a stressed cory can release skin toxins that are dangerous in the small volume of a transport bag.
Conservation
Corydoras pinheiroi is listed by the IUCN as Data Deficient (2020) — there is not enough information to judge its risk of extinction. That is unsurprising for a narrow-range endemic known from a small area near Guajará-Mirim: its true distribution and population are poorly documented. The wider pressures on western-Amazon headwaters — deforestation, agriculture and the prospect of further damming on the Madeira system — could degrade the clear streams it needs, and its restricted range makes it inherently sensitive. Because it is so seldom collected, trade is not a significant pressure; the priority is better field data so its status can be properly assessed.