PlanetCatfish.com

Hi all,

I've had a bulldog pleco (Chaetostoma spp.) for a couple of years now. It's a fiesty little thing. Until recently I had never seen it eat any food, but now it is eating algae wafers at every opportunity. It is also starting to get fat.

Is it likely that my fish is gravid?

Hard to say if it is gravid, fat, or having digestive problems. Have a photo?
-Shane

Unfortunately I don't have a photo.

It's not showing any signs of ill health. Everything is normal except for its new appetitie for algae wafers and the weight gain.

hi, do you have more than one in the tank?
I dont think one would become gravid after two years unless there is a male around?

It is the only Chaetostoma in the tank. There are plenty of other plecos in there, but none of them are remotely similar to the the Chaetostoma

Do fish only become gravid if they are with others of their own species? I don't think so: I had a bristlenose pleco that became gravid on her own (unfortunately she died in a freak heater accident before I could pair her up).

Assuming she is becoming gravid -- and this is what it looks like to my inexperienced eye -- then I will set up a breeding tank for her and a few other chaetostomas. If this is the case then I need to find one or more sexually mature male Chaetostomas in London, UK. The fish I've seen in my local LFSs generally look very young, certainly qiute a bit smaller than my fish, so it wold be better to hook up with someone in London, UK, who has kept this species for a couple of years at least. Anyone on this forum keep Chaetostoma?

I don't know if this is worth mentioning, but I had let the tank and the filters get quite mucky back at the end of December and January. I did some serious cleaning in February and have been much more regular with the cleaning and water changes since then. Maybe this has triggered some kind of response in the fish.

I think you may be right.
I wish you luck finding a male. there might be someone in London but dont know how much this site is accessed, maybe put a notice up in some of your LFs as well?