Clown Loach Pregnancies

[metalcherry]

Can someone let me know any signs that a clown loach might be pregnant.
I have three C.L's, two stick very close togehter and they have sharp points on their tails which i ahve always believed ment they were male, the other one hides so much its hard to work out what he is.
But the two which stick close together have both gained gigantic bumps on their stomachs, it has a grey tinge where the bumps are but they are fattening up but i dont overfeed my fish and all my other fish are quite healthy and a normal slim/regular size.

I posted a thread about how my fish have been overly hungry these days but i was more worried about my clowns because they practically jump out the water and skim the top just to get the food - not like there isnt enough for every one but for some reason they are quite domenating when it comes to food.

Even if i knew some signs which might help me see if they are or if they are just being moody and fat lol!

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Clown fish don't get pregnant, they are egg layers- but the chances of clown loaches breeding naturally in aquarium is pretty much 0, if yours did breed naturally then you would be one of the first fishkeepers to ever do it (people have to use lots of artificial hormones to make clown loaches breed). Female clown loaches often carry lots of eggs when they mature, but they simply don't breed in normal aquariums, so either way whether your loaches are carrying eggs or not its not something to really concern oneself about .
Diseases, parasites and various other health problems can cause fish to become abnormally bloated or have lumps under their skin though, so you need to rule this out as a possible cause for your loaches fatness.
What do you feed the clown loaches and how much on average ?

 

[mikev]

The correct word is gravid rather than pregnant.

Loach females often get gravid in aquaria. With some species this can be easily noticeable (yoyo's, striped kuhlis, confuzona); with some it is very difficult to see, this includes clowns.

OP's use of the word "bump" makes one suspect that this is a disease condition. Post a photo.

As for sexing, there is a belief out there that the males have larger tails... Not clear if this is true.