My clown pleco doesn't look right

[luver_of_fish]

First of all, I honestly don't think too much of the tank information will help here with tthis possible problem. I have noticed my clown pleco looking this way for quitre some time now, but have never been able to get a good picture until today.
Secondly, I just completely redid this entire tank today, so I will give some of the information I have for now and can post more readings tomorrow if needed.

1. Water parameters
a) Temerature range. 78
b) pH.
c) GH.
d) KH
e)Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite, levels.
f) Water change frequency I have to admit I was terrible about doing water changes in the old tank. I probably did about a 25% water change every 4 - 6 weeks
(Most LFS's will check your water and give a list of readings).

2. Tank set up
a) Size. 40 gallon
10 MONb) Substrate. It was play sand, I have changed to an EcoComplete topped with gravel
c) Filtration. It was an Aqua Clear 70 and a Penguin 550 Powerhead filter with a sponge prefilter. It is now a Penguin BioWheel 150 with the Penguin powerhed filter. I hope to add a small Whisper filter soon from my 10 gallon tank, but when I redid this tank and combined it with inhabitants (plants and fish) from a 10 gallon NPT I found about 10 babies and so they are still in a 10 gallon tank until they get a little bigger.
d) Furnishings. A sandstone type rock with drilled holes, two pieces of driftwood. I used to have 4 pieces of driftwood, but the tank was just to crowded.
e) Other tank mates. One BN pleco, 2 female swords, 1 rainbow shark, 1 green laser cory, 2 black kuli loaches, 1 clown oach, 4 black-skirted tetras, 1 glass fish, 4 neons and 2 guppies.
f) How long has it been set-up? Previously about 7 months, now only a few hours
g) When was the last new fish added? The neons and guppies were the only fish I added from my 10 gallon NPT tank. I have had the 10 gallon setrup for about 9 or 10 months.
h) Foods used and frequency? Omega One tropical flakes, Omega One sinking shrimp pellets twice per day. Omega One veggie rounds 1 each night

3. Symptoms / Problem description The clown pleco seems fine he doesn't act sick or anything. He just looks like a fat little buggar. He reminds me of a lime he is so round. I have seen several pictures of clown plecos and he just doesn't look like any I've seen. Could he be overweight?

4. Action taken (if any) none

5. Medications used (if any) Just finished up a round of Parasite Clear to treat one of my black-skirted tetra

I am having problems for some reason writing this, the screen where I am writting keeps disappearing and I can't see what I am typing so I hope it all looks OK.

Here are a couple pictures I got of him today.

[DJ-don]

have you been overfeeding him? it looks awfully fat for a "him"

[MatsP]

A picture of the tail section would tell us if it's a "him" or "her", but it looks like a female to me, and if so, you just need to find a male, and she should get thinner all of a sudden, and you'll have little tiny copies of them in a couple of weeks after that. Having said that, I've got a female that looks just like that, and she's been in the male's cave, but nothing happens. Not sure what I'm doing wrong.

But as a summary, I believe you have a gravid female, and that there's nothing wrong with your fish. And don't worry if you can't find a male, they do absorb the eggs if they do not mate, not like some other egg-laying creatures (typically snakes and lizards) that get "egg-bound" and can become very ill if they do not lay eggs.

--
Mats

[luver_of_fish]

Thank you for the replies. I posted the same information at http://www.plecofanatics.com and was given the same information about my clown pleco probably being a gravid female. This information is nice to know. I will have to think about getting a male, but we will have to see. Thanks again.

[MatsP]

Thank you for the replies. I posted the same information at http://www.plecofanatics.com and was given the same information about my clown pleco probably being a gravid female. This information is nice to know. I will have to think about getting a male, but we will have to see. Thanks again.

You are lucky - at least half the time someone posts on two forums, they get completely different answers, that are in part contradictory, and leads to more confusion than progress.

--
Mats

[Proteus]

very cute little girl you got there! doing something right to make her that gravid!

[nvcichlids]

looks identicle to one of my females, too bad now it seems like the male is no longer interested on my end.

[luver_of_fish]

very cute little girl you got there! doing something right to make her that gravid!

Thanks, that is good to know and makes me feel better.