# Pike cichlid looking a little funny



## rday (Mar 10, 2003)

does this look strange? does this pike look like its belly is giant? it couldn't be eggs could it? this pike is the bigger than the rest so i assumed it was the dominant male.


----------



## smb (Jun 1, 2003)

The belly does look a little big, but not too big where I would worry if it just ate.

What size is it and how big of a tank is it, what other fish are in with it, what and how often do you feed it, and what are your husbandry practices?


----------



## Innes (Jan 13, 2003)

although I'm not too familiar with pike cichlids, to me it looks like a female, and not a male, I think this because of its dorsal and anal fins.

as for its stomich, I couldn't say as it could have just ate a lot


----------



## rday (Mar 10, 2003)

In a 125 gallon its 2 Oscars, 3 Firemouths, 3 Gourami and 5 pikes. My plan was to see if I could get 2 of the pikes to pair and then sell the other 3 once everyone started getting big. I was told that it is extremely difficult to get pikes to breed in captivity, so I was just figuring on keeping the two that had the best color... Anyway, the pikes range from about 4" to 6" and this one is either the biggest or the 2nd biggest. I have not been doing anything to encourage breeding, because I have just set up the tank about a month ago and I've just been working on getting the water perfect and everything. As far as feeding, this pic was taken a good 4 hours after the last feeding which was not all that big. I feed staple pellets twice a day and color pellets twice a day and some minnows once a week. If they do spawn, it will be one of the times where it has nothing to do with what I'm doing, they just did it themselves, because I haven't been doing anything special!


----------

