Help!! Sun catfish seems to be pregnant

[joaquin1127]

Hello, I have two sun catfish and I noticed these past two days that one has a big belly bigger than usual, is that a sign that she is going to have babies, what should I do? I have different type of fish, do I need to take them out?
the following are the different fish I have.
1 gray bichir
2 red pacu
2 pictus cats
1 pleco
1 cory
2 gold gouramie
2 blue gouramie
1 painted parrot
2 mystery snails
They are all in a 46 gallon tank, pH 6.2, temp 82-86

[thatmagicguy]

Hi. I hate common names. I am assuming you have Horabagrus brachysoma, this is the fish that is usually sold as the sun catfish.

You said you have a 46 gallon tank. The sun catfish gets a foot and a half, 18 inches at least, in the wild. I would assume that they breed at half that size, how big are yours?

I think it is more likely you are seeing a distended belly due to a big meal. This species is particularly prone to gorging itself, and if you are feeding pellets to your fish this one no doubt just got a big meal.

But, you never know, you may have a gravid female, but with so little information to go on it is hard to say anything for sure.

Bill