# Big belly catfishes! wats going on?



## SUGARFREEKANDEE (Nov 20, 2009)

hi.i have an albino oscar,a 4line pimeloda pictus catfish & an albino channel cat ina 29 gallon tank.the other day,i notice the 2 catfish suddenly have big round bellies that they did not have b4.then earlier today i look again,the bellies werent big anymore.now once again,a few hours later,they both have the big round bellies again. wats going on? how could the bellies blow up & deflate & get big again? this is really weird.i dont overfeed them ever & pregnant is out of the question.(at least not preggo by the oscar.LOL.)


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## Guest (Nov 21, 2009)

*fat belly catfish*

Oscars are notorious pigs when eating, especially when eating pellets etc, a lot of what they take in their mouth gets slobbered out every where, and the catfish being bottom feeders for the most part, could explan this happening, they are just filling up on leftovers from the oscar feeding


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## Blue Cray (Oct 19, 2007)

An oscar and channel cat in a 29? Holy sh*t man. In 6 months that channel wont fit in the tank and the oscar will be pushing it just as much. Channels grow to about 15" llong and fat in less than a year. Oscars grow about 12" in a year. So maybe you should rethink your fish.


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## SUGARFREEKANDEE (Nov 20, 2009)

actually,i've had both the oscar and my channeel almost a year an they are still small.about 3-1/2'' like wen i got them last year.they are very healthy,water quality is great and i feed them well.i know how big they get.i guess the catfish are just eating up the oscars mess cause as of right now,their bellies r down again.LOL.how weird.i just never saw this happen b4.:lol:


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## Blue Cray (Oct 19, 2007)

So you are telling me you have had an oscar and channel cat stay at around 3 inches for over a year? Either they are extremely stunted or you are a liar.


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## Tallonebball (Apr 6, 2009)

Yeah I gotta agree with blue cray on this one, either they are stunted or you havent had them for a year. you may not even see the stunted in them yet but they are. And if you knew how big they get you shouldn't have bought them knowing they were going to be in a 29 gallon tank.


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## DavidAl (Nov 17, 2009)

Sugarfreek,

When I read your initial post I couldn't figure out what was going on, but after reading the other post and learning of the channel's size, it's clear. We've all heard that a fish's stomach is the size of its eye. That is in no way accurate, but you get where I'm going... If a small fish indulges itself, it's going to show in the belly area more easily than if it were a big fish. Actually, it's all relevant to the size of the food.

I venture to say you're feeding generously, which is good. However, it's also bad due to your setup and choice of livestock; the two simply don't go together. Please consider re-homing your fish while they are small. Once they reach a larger size (if they get there), you're going to run into problems finding homes for them, hence why South Florida has oscars in its canals. Your other option is to replace the 29g with a 125g.

David


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## SUGARFREEKANDEE (Nov 20, 2009)

lol sorry no im not lying.why would i need to lie about fish? LOL.silly.anyway...yes i have had them since last year about this time & they have grown a little bit.just not much.i feed my fish shrimp pellets,bloodworms,cichlids food.only thing i dont feed them (well the oscar anyway) is other fish.meaning not feeder fish.is that why maybe they are ''stunted'',as u say? wells anyway,they are healthy & my setup is just fine.the tank is not crowded at all,yes i did know they get to be very big later on,& no,its not hard to find homes for them here in NY when they do get huge eventually.:fish:
well the water quality is great & the fish are healthy.bellies r down again.LOL.ok well thanks for the input everyone.take care! :fish:


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## Blue Cray (Oct 19, 2007)

troll......


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## SUGARFREEKANDEE (Nov 20, 2009)

i am a troll,because wat? why r u angry at me? did i do sumthing to u? i dont understand.wanna explain?


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

ignore the child kandee..he likes to show folks how tough he is...


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## Blue Cray (Oct 19, 2007)

John it totally makes sense you can't tell me it doesn't.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

i look at it like this blue....
as we all have seen ; there are a lot of folks that keep pets in a somewhat unorthodox manner..be it too small of a tank or mixing the wrong species...99.9% of these folks are on the up and up.maybe because they just don't know or because they just want to do what they want to do.
and while we all may agree that most certainly a much larger tank is needed ; i just think that being rude is inappropriate...
and even if she were to be a troll..an alarmed response (feeding) is the wrong thing to do...
besides..i think she is kinda cute.........except for the pink hair.....lol

oh.........one other small thing......as i have always said....if you really feel the need to demand that somebody get a larger tank ; go out and get them one....and pay for it and all of the other needed items for it...otherwise just leave them alone..

an absolute reality.........................................

nobody..........and i mean nobody.....keeps fish in an appropriate sized tank...


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## Blue Cray (Oct 19, 2007)

lohachata said:


> i look at it like this blue....
> as we all have seen ; there are a lot of folks that keep pets in a somewhat unorthodox manner..be it too small of a tank or mixing the wrong species...99.9% of these folks are on the up and up.maybe because they just don't know or because they just want to do what they want to do.
> and while we all may agree that most certainly a much larger tank is needed ; i just think that being rude is inappropriate...
> and even if she were to be a troll..an alarmed response (feeding) is the wrong thing to do...
> ...


Well I guess some people are capable of mixing up stupidity and trolling.


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## Blue Cray (Oct 19, 2007)

Oh and john you might think i'm "acting tough" but you really like to "act like you are smarter and more educated" then everyone and you seem to try and make alot of us feel sorry for you in the chat I dunno why you do it but it's weird.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

hmmmmmmmmm....well...smarter.....nope ; not even...more educated....absolutely not..
a great deal more experienced...you're darned right...not sure of what you mean about trying to make folks feel sorry for me..but i do know that i am kinda weird..at least i am not putting up a front.
but i know for a fact that i don't brag about punching people in the jaw...and i don't try to bully anybody that does conform to my ideals.


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## Blue Cray (Oct 19, 2007)

I wasnt bragging I was simply stating I lost my temper.


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## <3~Pleco~<3 (Jan 31, 2009)

Well this thread has gone slightly off topic


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

Look at all the energy that has gone into this thread that has nothing to do with the question at hand. That's feeding into the "troll" whether they are one or not. 

Good job! Keep up the games, they are interesting to watch.


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## Blue Cray (Oct 19, 2007)

This is fishforums this is the way it is here.


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## Albino_101 (Aug 14, 2008)

Blue_Cray, This is fishforums and we gotta REPRESENT, right on! LOL

My input here is that maybe the person doesn't know what type of fish she really has, as I don't think fish can stunt that badly without dying. 

My Troll-O-Meter on this user is showing a reading of about a 3 on a 1 to 10 scale, as I don't think trolls go through the trouble of posting a picture of themselves, assuming that is even the user in the picture, and secondly the situation would be somewhat believable if I knew exactly what the species of catfish they are. not even taking into account the possibility of a genetic defect in the fish, like dwarfism in humans, though extremely unlikely that both fish would have it, or maybe if those fish were bred that way, we get a lot of new animal species unique to the pet hobby through selective breeding, for example domestic cats, as most true wild cats like lions, tigers, and panthers Oh My! are pretty big while house cats are relatively small.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Show us the fish. Fish in stores are mislabeled all the time. I remember when TBS_Dave was trolling and i wanted to punch his lights out. I always assume real, but I'm a pessimist. I mean a common goldfish in a 2.5 hex, gotta be a troll, right? In a week, it won't be able to turn around. I didn't doubt it for a minute. 

The longer I keep fish, the bigger tanks I recommend. My fish grow bigger and more aggressive every year, easily outgrowing the "max size" on the signs and the web. if I put temporarily put fish in a "too big" tank I see them grow bigger, show better color, and I see behavior I never saw in the "right size" tank. I'm with L that no one keeps fish in the right size tank.


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## Albino_101 (Aug 14, 2008)

I agree, if I had the space and money I would definitely buy over sized tanks for my fish, technically fish are wild caught in rivers and lakes which have thousands of gallons of water, I honestly cant imagine a fish feeling at home in 30 gallons of swimming space long term. when the signs and web say max size that is assuming you but the recommended size tank, which most likely stunts fish growth, I wonder how big a school of 12 lemon tetras would get in a 455 gallon tank.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

Oh man 101, you gotta do it!!! I want to see the lemons in that tank. That would be beyond fun 

I like the idea of a bunch of smaller fish in a larger tank. I am going smaller in my 100 gallon rather than bigger
The Rosy Barbs and the Giant Danios are the biggest things in there. Well okay the plecos are big too. But even those are not commons. I am looking to set myself up with a school of 20-25 black neons, 15-20 cherry barbs and at least one school of something else. I can see this clearly in my mind. It will be so cool!


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