PlanetCatfish.com

Hi there!
I have two Paynes Catfish(Mochokiella paynei)and for a looong time, they have been sitting in their own spot in the tank. But for the last couple of weeks i haven't seen any of them. But then today I saw one of them, and it is really really fat. Now i'm wondering if it is sick or if it is pregnant?

But i dont know if they lay eggs and them fertilize them or if they give birth to live fry? I find it really hard to get any info anywhere about these little buddies.

I managed to get a couple of pictures of it, you can get an idea of how fat it is even though the pictures ain't the best.

it is very fat. Sorry i cant help you. Cool looking fish.

These fish will be egg layers, not livebearers.

The fish in the pic looks a little fat but not overly so compared to some i've seen. How big are they? (SL in mm).

It does appear perfectly healthy and probably is becoming gravid although spawning is not detailed anywhere.
If you wanted to have a dedicated spawning attempt, you could set something up like Birger has for his Microsynodontis (do a forum search or search Birger's posts).