Loaches Online Forum

1 of my 5 yoyo loaches has got very fat and seems to not be as active as the others. i was under the impresion that they do not breed in captivity is this correct or could she be preagnent? any advice appreated as im going on hoilday on saturday and im a bit concerned.

some photos of the loach

You have a quite gravid (filled with eggs) female there.
No, there seems to be no accounts of yoyos breeding spontaneously in an aquarium. They are being bred via hormones in some places.

She likely will be fine, just uncomfortable. How big/old is she and your other yoyos? I had one a while back and tried a number of things to see if I could induce spawning with no luck. She didn't seem to suffer from being 'fat.' But it sure would be cool if you had better luck than I did.

oh cool hope something interesting happens now, i have got 5 that i have had for about 6 months and 1 for about 2 months so 6 in total this one is about 2-2 1/2 inches and 2 of the others are very simliar size with the other 3 being slighty smaller. i have just been observing them and 1 of the others is swelling in the same area, nowhere near as much as this 1 though. if she was to lay eggs they would prop be eaten by the others dont u think??

and yes she does look very uncomfortable and she is breathing quite fast

if you have had or know anyone who has a tank with breeding going on it
from other egglayers
try to get some water from that tank
and add it to yours

theres been some successful breeding of red bellied piranhas that way

Do all of the yoyos show the reticulated pattern that's developing on this one, or do a couple still have the 'yo yo' pattern? The yoyo pattern is seen on immature fish. As they mature they get more and more of a reticulated pattern.

I don't think you'll get her to drop the eggs, and if you do, it sounds like with the size they are the males won't be able to fertilize them (that's if you have some males ).

for now, just keep an eye out, don't over feed, and keep up the water quality. Here's a thread from the archives on gravid yoyos:
http://aquaweb.pair.com/forums/archives ... view=45107

If she doesn't drop the eggs, how long will she be uncomfortable? Will she absorb them? Just curious...

i was just thinking the same thing
'what happens if she doesnt drop the eggs'

just thought i would let u know that i have just come home and found this loach dead floating near the top. i took her out and her belly was quite red. im just wondering if it may have been a diesease not that she was full of eggs? dropsy maybe? anyway r.i.p my little loach.

did you do an autopsy? Not to sound callous or anything, it might be a good idea to find out what caused the swelling in her abdomen if you can...

So sorry, millergti20.

hi i had never thought of doing an autopsy and have never done 1 before, so as i still had her i did and found in her stomach what looked like lots of little white eggs in some fluild stuff. so it does seem she was carrying.

thats sad! sorry to hear!

Well, now we know why she was fat.
Keep an eye on the tank since we don't know yet why she died. I've had a fish live gravid for over a year without stress. Wonder what the redness was?