Damaged Possibly Pregnant Bristlenose?!

[Wolfklaw]

Hey everyone

In my tank I have one female golden bristlenose and two male brown bristlenose. One being larger than the other. This week I noticed that the females fins are damaged, as if they have been bitten. As I only have a balo shark, panda cats, guppies and mollies in the tank I am assuming it is from fighting or breeding with the males? Luckily I was setting up a second tank for 3 female swordtails arriving from my friends tank, so I moved her over to get some rest and TLC. I have melafix in the water as they look like clean bites and is no sign of fungus. However I have now noticed that she is extremely fat, I haven't seen her up close in a while so I didn't notice before. So now my next concern is I have heard the male takes care of the babies, but I don't know which male is the father! I have seen her swimming with both fish and haven't noticed a "bond" with either. What should I do?! I'm a bit cautious about putting her back with either of them due to he poor condition? Could it be possible she is not pregnant at all? I cant take any pictures as I dont have camera

 

[Ben M]

Your fish can't be pregnant, as BNs lay the eggs which are then fertilised by the male. So if the female hasn't laid any eggs then there will be no babies. Could you post a pic of the female, as it could have dropsy if it is suddenly fat.

cheers,
Ben

 

[Wolfklaw]

Sorry I am aware that bristlenoses lay eggs, I mean as in she looks like she is holding eggs? However I was unaware that the male fertilizes the eggs outside the fish, so thank you for this This is good news, im not ready for baby bristlenoses yet haha. Unfortunately I don't have a camera so I cant post pictures, but im pretty sure its not dropsy, the scales arnt sticking out, I have seen many cases of dropsy before, and she doesn't look like any I have seen so far. By fat I mean she has turned "wide" all of a sudden at her, well id call it a thorax if she was an insect XD She is still a young fish, could it be that she has reached sexual maturity over the last few weeks/month that I havnt seen her?

Thanks for your help