Well, we opened her up this morning and there were indeed eggs inside. So at least I know she was pregnant, despite anything else. We found the yellowy-orange eggs (quite a large mass of them) and then there were other darker, smaller objects that came out of Ther with the body fluid that initially drained out when we made the incision. We're not sure what they are (we looked at it all under the microscope), but they're also round, and gray with very apparent dark gray nuclei. They never moved and didn't appear to have anything to move WITH, so possibly not parasites. Well, I am happy to know that my catfish bred at least since it's apparently rare to see them breed or for them to breed in captivity, and I'm very sorry to see her go. Honestly, when we got the catfish, I wasn't that into them in particular (all catfish) and didn't know if I would like them very much, but as time went by I got attached and now I LOVE them! And I look forward to more in the future when we get our bigger tank.

(In case you read this forum line and not my "hello" topic, I'm copying this to here as well) - Well, I'm sad to report that my catfish died while I was at work today. I of course considered the possibility that the bulge was in fact a tumor or bacteria or something, but I still thought she was pregnant. And maybe she was after all, and it was coincidence that she died of something else while pregnant. I checked on her at lunch and she was "listing", so I wondered if she was on the way out. sad.gif So right now she's living in the fridge, and I'm taking her to work tomorrow to open her up and see for sure what was inside her (I'm a nurse at a vet's office smile.gif). Here's another question too then, there are these tiny things floating all over my tank. We've cleaned the tank thoroughly, changed plants (fake) and other objects (rocks, etc, all fake), and they're still there. They're too small to know for sure if they move of their own accord, but I'm thinking they must be some sort of bacteria/organism/parasite? They're a relatively recent addition, and now there are more than ever. I just wonder if it had anything to do with the catfish's death. The other fish seem okay and don't have any growths/fungus on them.

Well, I'm sad to report that my catfish died while I was at work today. I of course considered the possibility that the bulge was in fact a tumor or bacteria or something, but I still thought she was pregnant. And maybe she was after all, and it was coincidence that she died of something else while pregnant. I checked on her at lunch and she was "listing", so I wondered if she was on the way out. So right now she's living in the fridge, and I'm taking her to work tomorrow to open her up and see for sure what was inside her (I'm a nurse at a vet's office ). Here's another question too then, there are these tiny things floating all over my tank. We've cleaned the tank thoroughly, changed plants (fake) and other objects (rocks, etc, all fake), and they're still there. They're too small to know for sure if they move of their own accord, but I'm thinking they must be some sort of bacteria/organism/parasite? They're a relatively recent addition, and now there are more than ever. I just wonder if it had anything to do with the catfish's death. The other fish seem okay and don't have any growths/fungus on them.

Thanks for the info -

Here are two pictures of my pregnant catfish from today. You can really see the bulge...and one of my dalmatian platies lurking above in the second picture. When we got the bloodworms and other food at Petsmart last night we asked about how long their gestation period is, and the staff wasn't specifically sure about the catfish, but said most fish are 4-6 weeks. So I just started counting 4 weeks from yesterday, and we'll see what happens (I'm sure it'll be less than that ).

Thanks Allan -

My husband and I are about to go to Petsmart, so we'll look into these different foods. We were already going to get bloodworms for sure, and have considered getting them before. Once in a while my catfish do swim up to the top to grab some flakes, but other than that like I said they only eat the algae wafers. How strange! I knew they were predatory so I wondered why they didn't like anything else. I hope they'll like some of the new food we get. I'm sure they've been eating bunches of guppy fry as well, as one of my females had 5 batches that we know of, recently, all in a row, while she was alive (she died about a week ago). Speaking which, do you know how long bumblebee catfish are supposed to live? We've had ours for about a year. The female guppy I just mentioned, as well as our female dalmatian platy, have also been with us that long. I'm not sure what any of their life spans are supposed to be.

Wolfeyes