Prego Pleco

Wycco

Wycco

Eat more pine trees
Apr 19, 2009
1,882
1
0
48
34^N 81^W
Real Name
Kim Jong Il
Yes... I know Pregnant isn't the correct term- but Prego Pleco has a nice ring to it.

My Bulldog Pleco, Fluffy, is full of eggs. It looks like her ventral area is widening... and I can definately see orangey looking eggs through the skin of her swelling belly. (at least they look orange through her skin).

She is the only Pleco in the tank so I'm assuming the eggs are infertile. I just want to make 100% sure that is the case before I dismiss the chances of the pitter splatter of tiny fins and prepare for them.

I know some species can store sperm for long periods of time. Is the Pleco one of these species? I've had her about a month

Am I correct in assuming the eggs must be infertile?
 
Pictures of Fluffy's belly.

Harder to make out the eggs on this picture than it is in real life.

IMG_0689.JPG IMG_0690.JPG
 
The eggs would be infertile anyway even if there were a thousand males in there - they are not fertilised until they are laid. That's one of the reasons that "pregnant" is such a misleading term. Fish are not birds; they do not mate and lay fertilised eggs. They lay eggs and release sperm at the same time.

So no they can't store sperm because it never enters the female's body. It's only livebearers that do that.
 
Gotcha!

The only fish I've had spawn were live-bearers...

... over and over and over and...

With them- you can get all females but if they've been with a male in the last 3 months you can still end up with young!
 
Don't I know it.

This is why I so dislike people using "pregnant" of egglayers swollen with eggs - it misleads people into thinking that fertile eggs develop in the female and are then laid. This is extremely rare in fish; some rays and dogfish do it, but not aquarium fish.
 
I'm tempted to throw a male in with her- but it probably wouldn't calm in time to mate with her - that and I think I've read Bulldogs can be a mite bit territorial towards other Bulldogs... and I'm not positive I could identify a male.
 
Even though they are infertile--you must be doing something right! She really likes your water!!! Your pictures show Fluffy is quite striking!!!
 
Thank you... she also has beautifull markings on her back that you really can't see from the belly shot. :) I'll have to try and catch her when she's on the driftwood instead of the glass. It's hard to photo her from the other side when she's in the bubbles- all you see is a darkish blob under some bubbles- and if I turn them off she hides in her cave and waits for me to turn them on again.

Being a fish from flowing waters she loves the bubbles and the current it makes. I've been tempted to get a power head and put it near the bottom somewhere so she can have more water movement.

I was excited she had eggs- it does show that she must be content and healthy to be producing eggs. She's one of the more shy fish I've ever kept- but she seems to tolerate me reaching in to change the Zucchini clip now without rushing into hiding like she did when I first got her.

I've never actually witnessed her eating anything other than biofilm and wood so until she produced eggs I've been worried about how healthy she really is (although the veggies keep disappearing at night- but I don't know how much of that is her and how much is eaten by snails).
 
Oh yeah! A small fluval or duetto would be very appreciated then!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom