P.maccus gravid w/no male?

All posts regarding the care and breeding of these catfishes from South America.
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L number Banana
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P.maccus gravid w/no male?

Post by L number Banana »

Is that possible or does there need to be a male present to kick-start the process?
An embarrassingly dumb question but it's just never come up before :?: Everyone else in the whole tank is in the mood so maybe 'she's' just going with the flow?
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Re: P.maccus gravid w/no male?

Post by Lornek8 »

Female P. maccus will develop eggs with no males present as eggs are fertilized upon laying and is not a prerequisite to egg development. With that said, P. maccus have a tendency to get rather portly whcih does not necessarily mean its holding eggs or even necessarily a female.
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Re: P.maccus gravid w/no male?

Post by MatsP »

Indeed both of those statements apply: Female plecos will build up eggs in the hope that they will meet a male to mate with at some point in the future. If none is available, the eggs will end up being re-absorbed by the fish, so there is no harm in this.

They also tend to be fairly "round" in body-shape naturally if there is plenty of food and the water is clean.

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Re: P.maccus gravid w/no male?

Post by L number Banana »

Thanks for the info, that makes sense and I suppose means Pmac is comfortable...or just fat :)

I usually get a good ventral look at him/her at night before I go to bed as that's the only time it goes on the glass. Last night it's belly was lighter and the usual belly pattern was definitely stretched a bit.
He/she's frequently out on the sand in the evening and I didn't see anything different from that view.

There was a awful lot missing from the carrot piece I put in the tank, so it's certainly possible that Pmac really likes carrots!

Thank you :thumbsup:
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