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Hi guys,

Firstly, apologies that I don't have a pic to accompany this post but I will try to get one this weekend. I have a colony of L201 that have been together for about 4/5 years now. About a year ago I noticed one of the colony was fatter than the rest. It was not long after I had finally started to get spawns, so I had initially assumed it was a female with eggs. However, after a while I noticed this same fish was often in a cave on it's own, or competing with one of the other males for one of the caves, so I'm pretty sure it is male. I don't like to fiddle too much with my fish so I don't ever take them out to try get pics or sex them, but based on behaviour I'm almost certain it is male. I don't often get a clear look at it to check odontodes as the caves are amongst wood and plants, and it is always in a cave.

Anyways, a year down the line and this fish is still very much alive, but waaay fatter than the others. I don't heavily feed my fish so it can't be over eating as far as I can think. Plus the other 5 are all fairly similar sized to each other.

So I was wondering if anyone had any ideas about anything I should be concerned about, or is this guy possibly just genetically a fatty? Surely he can't be sick if he has been this way for this long?

Thanks
-matt

Hi Matt,

Without a picture it will be hard to figure out what's up, if anything is, with your fish.

I'd stick with it being a gravid female for now, it sounds like you had the fish for a while, after it had settled in and been eating it got bigger? That's typically when I've noticed females of the fish I keep.

As for the fish caving, my female hypancistrus always cave, in fact one looks so fat that she'd get stuck in the cave! So I put a couple bigger caves in!

Is the larger part starting behind the pectoral fins, going back to the vent, essentially a round belly? Does it appear to be evenly rounded on both sides?

If do I'd stick with it being a gravid female.

Hi Marc.

Thanks for the detailed response. I'll try capture it this weekend to get a proper pic but your comment about your female being so fat and getting stuck sounds similar to mine. It's really round, but not sure about the evenness as it's always hiding. I did manage to snap this attached pic today of it in a cave. It's not the best pic.

Interestingly, if this is a female I've never seen her being trapped by the male. It's the biggest fish in the colony by far, so if it had its would be easy to tell.

Thanks again, will try post better pics later this weekend.

Thanks for adding a picture, I would still go with it being a gravid female. Hopefully someone else can comment too now there is a picture.

Hard to say, but if you look at and/or post a picture of the belly then we'll see if there is any kind of reddening. If so, then it may be something more sinister. Good to check.

Jools

Looks like a female L201 Big spot to me. If the others are all the same in regards to body shape, they are probably all males.

Don't worry, just take her out with her cave and get a proper look at her. She won't get too bothered by it and will return to spawning within a few days. They are not that frail.