A Friend

[dobbygolem]

My dads workmate keeps tropical fish, and he asked my dad to ask me how his "tiger catfish" is getting pregnant. He only has one of them, he has a pleco (doesnt know which kind) and he has an angelfish. He describes it as getting really fat and i said "dropsy?" But he said this has happened once before and it had lots of little babies. He said it had babies about 3 years after he got it, and three years on from that (now) it's doing it again. The babies from last time were eaten though. I am pretty stumped though. I dont know what tiger catfish it is. Maybe tiger barb... and he just said pleco, and he didnt know what kind that was.

Are there any "tiger catfish" that look different when male from female? Im thinking maybe the pleco and tiger catfish are male and female of a certain species that look very similar.

 

[dobbygolem]

Bumpity bump

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Can you describe the "tiger catfish" or plec in a bit more detail? Its imposible for plecs to spawn without another plec in the tank of the oposite gender to fertilise the eggs, does he have more than one? The only catfish i can think of that could go under the name of "tiger catfish" are;

Tiger shovelnose;

http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/pimel...udopl/329_F.PHP

Tiger ''Peckoltia'';

http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/loric...naque/735_F.PHP

Or maybe some other reletavely common striped catfish/plecs like;

Clown plec;

http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/loric...naque/734_F.PHP

Striped raphael;

http/www.planetcatfish.com/catelog/dorad...tydor/166_F.PHP

Etc...Look anything like your friends fish? I take it that is was the tiger catfish that spawned and not the plec?

 

[dobbygolem]

He just got back to me, after searching and thought it weas probably either the zebra/candy stripe loach. (Brotia Striata)

He told me that this morning he had to bury it. I told him it might have been dropsy, and have given him an explanation of it, so hopefully it wont happen again. He only had one of them, Yes, it was the tiger catfish that spawned. But i would still like to keep this thread going, because as i said before, this fish has spawned and actually had fry in the tank with no other loach present! I would really like to find out how this happened, and im thinking that the only was it could have happened is that candy stripe loaches are shy (are they?) And when he did see one, another one was hiding somewhere? And he has had two all along, without realising? I know this is unlikely, since he has had this fish for 6 years, but... Its all i can think of!

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

What is the total fish stocking of his tank? As far as i know, botia striata are egg layers, meaning the female lays the eggs and then the male fertilises them- if he only had one botia striata in the tank, its simply imposible that it could have succesfully spawned and had fry as the eggs would have been infertile- on top of that, botia striata breeding has so far been unreported in the aquarium(that doesn't mean its not posible, just no one has acheived and reported it yet).
Its far more likely that another fish spawned in the tank and your friend mistook the other fish's fry for botia striata fry, what sort of fish does/did he have and how many?

 

[dobbygolem]

He HAD 1 angelfish, 1 "pleco" (He doesn't know which kind) and 1 zebra loach

He HAS 1 angelfish, 1 "pleco" (He doesn't know which kind)

So it couldn't really have been any of the other fish... I really want to get to the bottom of this!