a bit chubby King Tiger

[andywoolloo]

I bought two of these pl*cos labelled "scribbled pl*cos" last summer. They seemed to be King Tigers which I had wanted so I bought them. Since then I have come to see how hard it is to tell what most of the similar hypans are, so I never tried to ID them on here. I am keeping them no matter what they are and they are very hard to get a picture of except when I remove their wood and caves to clean throughly once a month or every few weeks. Most times all I see is tails, even tho I got dither fish. lol. I like them all the same.

Anways, so if you all can tell what they are or are not that's fine. They are pretty bad pictures I will admit. And I only took pics of the one in question. A week ago I noticed I could see his or her belly more. See the whote white of it up around his/her sides. So it drew my attention. I checked out the other and she/he is looking well fed but not plump as this one. I have been cutting back on their food but just wanted to make sure he/she doesn't look ill. If it is a she, she almost looks gravid.

Also I was wondering if she/he has worn down her sides by her side fins cause maybe the caves are too small now, or maybe thats just more belly white I see.

Tank 50 gal breeder
stealth heater kept at 80-82 degrees
Rena XP3 canister filter
Koralia powerhead
black sand substrate
anachrius
anubias barteri
crypts
amazon swords
slate, caves, driftwood,river rocks

other inhabitants
9 penguin tetras
2 clown pl*cos
2 rubbernoses ( i know I need to catch them out and move to a cooler tank but they are fast and stealth like

A 0
NI 0
NA 5 ppm
PH 6.5 (I know seems very low, I will up the substrate cleaning, it's hard with all the wood and slate and stuff, and up the water changes)
tank gets a 50% water change once a week
established since last summer sometime

feed everyday, mostly defrosted Hikari: spirulina shrimp, bloodworms, tubifex, daphnia, krill, herbivore minced

sinking food fed: hikari algae tabs, hikari tropical tabs, hikari carnivore tabs, sinking veggie rounds, sinking shrimp pellets, plus whatever falls from the tetras. They get Hikari micro pellet and verious flakes and OSI red tiny bits.

I usually feed mostly defrosted frozen tho to the bottom dwellers.

I also add some veggies in case anyone wants some and no one ever does. Except the clowns are starting to eat yams. Altho the herbivore minced disappears. sorry this is so long, if the pics are good enough is there something wrong with him or her or do I need to just cut back on feeding. I thought maybe he was primary unit in the tank so he hogged up most food.

[hotsauce48]

Looks like its a little too dark to be a king tiger,and many differrent species are labeld scribble pleco,( about 3 ) And if its chubby feed it less or have some pleco in there to help clean it up a bit.

[andywoolloo]

Thanks, but I am trying to see if someone can tell if he has a sickness or am I just over feeding.

[plec0]

from my perspective appears to be a gravid female. I have king tigers and she looks very similar and around same size . My females are gravid right now and their bellies appear to be looking same as yours. IMO you got yourself a gravid female that needs a naughty male . I may be wrong and might be a bacteria infection of some kind as well. closer up pics or top view side and bottom will seal the fate of this lovely hypan .

[andywoolloo]

thank you. I hope she is just a she who is gravid, maybe my other tiger is a male?

I will try to get better pics along with the less food given.

[Jon]

To be honest, the papilla looks engorged, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Receptive females ready to lay are similarly textured.

[andywoolloo]

thanks.

Well, here's hoping her partner is indeed a male then. I will try to get pictures. Funny I always thought this one in these pics was the male and the smaller other one the female. Looking at them from the top down the one in these pics in this thread is longer and bigger the other is shorter and slimmer.

[drpleco]

I had a female king tiger (who now looks just like your fish) that had a classic V shaped body and appeared male. Once she filled with eggs (as yours looks to have done) there was no mistaking her. Other fish of mine have been easier to sex, but this one had me confused until the end.

Hopefully you can get her breeding!

[andywoolloo]

thank you.

I know I have asked this question before in one of my BN threads, but I do not believe it was ever really determined, and I have searched the internet and cannot find anything. Do they reabsorb the eggs or expel them in the off chance my other tiger is also a female and I cannot locate a male?

[plec0]

concur with drgold. My females are gravid and was awaiting for others to chime in on their opinions. Just keep her fed and happy and maybe do a nice cool water change and might see some magic happen My first spawn from my king tigers yielded only 14 eggs. All were infertile but my 2nd spawn the male kicked out 7 eggs out of 12 and all survived except 3. Ive had 6 spawns from my king tigers over the past year and they are a joy to watch grow.

[andywoolloo]

yes I have seen pics on line of the tiger eggs and fry!! Maybe I will get lucky and the other tiger will be a male. thanl you all, again!

[andywoolloo]

I think I found my egg reabsortion answer in this thread, ty to drgold's 7th post down in this thread.

http://www.planetcatfish.com/forum/view ... os#p132866

[andywoolloo]

sorry to resurrect this thread but I saved a baby pl*co out of the canister filter today on the King tiger tank.

It was about 1/2 inch and had a striped tail and big eyes and was lite in colour.

So either my tigers are male and female or maybe my clowns did it? or the sterbai cory? but it looked like a little pl*co.

I know, I didn't take a picture , I was stressed out what to do with him and I had him in a cup of tank water and was looking at him and trying to decide should he go in the BN grow out fry tank or back in the tiger tank? I put him back in the tiger tank. I was in a hurry to finish his filter and tubing and I can't believe I didn't snap a picture.

I thought if he was a tiger he would be more stripey and colourful. he was pale and yellowish and had big eyes and stripes on his tail. and faint stripes on his body.

I wonder where the rest went? I wonder if it was even a pl*co. I am pretty sure, unless cory babies look similar. I have never had any of those, just eggs on the glass.

[L number Banana]

Oo, this is exciting!
I'm not sure which one I hope it is, they're all beauties
Keep up posted and best wishes for frisky fishes.

[andywoolloo]

I am very excited. I wish I'd thought straighter and put him in a net breeder. I was so
discombobulated to see him swirling towards the drain and then saving him. My heart was racing
and he was looking at me with those big eyes.

I saw him a few hours later swimming in the right side of the tank and he went
in the java ferns when he saw me.

I think I am fairly certain he is a pleco. I have been searching online
for king tiger and clown fry pictures.

[Fantasticfins]

Congrats!

L-66 fry. Hope this helps.

[andywoolloo]

Thank you. Looks like second pic from bottom but no egg sac.
Do you think it's ok he is back in the tank?

I hope he makes it. Big eyes!!!

[andywoolloo]

K, well disregard my excitement.

it's a baby sterbai. I saw it up close in front of the tank right now. Definitely a sterbai pup. Pup? kitten? anyways, on the bright side I was stressed out that I'd lost a whole batch of tiger babies cept one. At least that's not true.

Altho a baby sterbai is cool. I guess he survived by being sucked up into the canister. Since I only clean it once a month about unknown how long he has been in there, if the whole month or not. He is trying to school with the big ones but they are too fast, altho he is quite zippy.