Pregnant Peacock Gudgeon

So I picked up 4 amono shrimp and two peacock gudgeons to add to my ten gallon planted. I noticed yesterday that one of the gudgeons has a huge yellow belly and the other was flairing up around it. I’m assuming it was pregnant because this morning I found the yellow stomach was no longer there and the two gudgeons had made a small cave under one of my logs. I also found two of my shrimp dead and one of my oto cats had some marks on him. Do y’all think the male gudgeon killed my shrimp and hurt my oto? Also what should I do if these babies hatch. I’m not prepared to raise the fish and I can’t even get the two gudgeons to eat flake, pellet, and freeze dried blood worms. I bought them for their cool colors and now I’m deciding if I should return them.

 

So I picked up 4 amono shrimp and two peacock gudgeons to add to my ten gallon planted. I noticed yesterday that one of the gudgeons has a huge yellow belly and the other was flairing up around it. I’m assuming it was pregnant because this morning I found the yellow stomach was no longer there and the two gudgeons had made a small cave under one of my logs. I also found two of my shrimp dead and one of my oto cats had some marks on him. Do y’all think the male gudgeon killed my shrimp and hurt my oto? Also what should I do if these babies hatch. I’m not prepared to raise the fish and I can’t even get the two gudgeons to eat flake, pellet, and freeze dried blood worms. I bought them for their cool colors and now I’m deciding if I should return them.

Pictures of the belly please. I kept a handful of peacock gudgeons and all the females have yellow bellies. The males will have a very distinctive hump on their head. Its more of a bulky shape than females. I had mine in a community setting with cories and betta and they were very peaceful and fun to keep. I hope you have a good lid! They are really good jumpers. I lost more than one to a 2 inch hole in my lid. Try frozen bloodworms. That's all mine would eat other than live black worms.

 

I don't think they are pregnant, due to the fact they lay eggs. Quoted from Liveaquaria,
"When ready to spawn, these egg-layers will clean out a selected spawning site in rockwork, cave, PVC pipes, flowerpots, and other niches. Once the eggs are laid, the male Peacock Gudgeon will defend the eggs until they hatch."

 

I don't think they are pregnant, due to the fact they lay eggs. Quoted from Liveaquaria,
"When ready to spawn, these egg-layers will clean out a selected spawning site in rockwork, cave, PVC pipes, flowerpots, and other niches. Once the eggs are laid, the male Peacock Gudgeon will defend the eggs until they hatch."

A bloated stomach could still mean a female is holding eggs. Typically with female fish one that is near releasing eggs will appear abnormally bloated. The fact that they have been hiding together in a "cave" could still mean they are spawning, although I can't comment on if they get aggressive during spawning because I have no experience breeding gudgeons, just keeping them. But outside breeding behavior they are very peaceful fish, but are very predatory. I wouldn't blame them on your bottom feeders wounds but I would suspect them with the shrimp. I've never kept them with shrimp but I could see them feasting on them.

 

So I’ve found that the make is always around the cave now and the female is wayyyyyy skinnier. But what happened to my oto??? I noticed this today and I’ve had no problem before adding the peacocks.

 

What's your water parameters? What kind of filter? What kind of substrate? It's possible your gudgeons laid eggs and the otto went exploring in the cave and the Male got defensive....but first I would look at other possible ways of injury. First I would look at the water. Second I would see if the otto got stuck to your filter intake. If those both are false leads I would consider the roughness of the substrate considering ottos are bottom feeders.
Edit: do you have any ornaments with holes or somewhere the otto got stuck in? Too many times on here I see threads where peoples fish got stuck in plastic tank ornaments and tore their bodies up trying to get out.

 

What's your water parameters? What kind of filter? What kind of substrate? It's possible your gudgeons laid eggs and the otto went exploring in the cave and the Male got defensive....but first I would look at other possible ways of injury. First I would look at the water. Second I would see if the otto got stuck to your filter intake. If those both are false leads I would consider the roughness of the substrate considering ottos are bottom feeders.
Edit: do you have any ornaments with holes or somewhere the otto got stuck in? Too many times on here I see threads where peoples fish got stuck in plastic tank ornaments and tore their bodies up trying to get out.

Ive had the oto cats in here for about a month now with no problems until after adding the gudgeons. I did a water test today and showed 0 across the board even though I haven't done a water change in almost a week now (doing a change later tonight). The substrate is carib sea eco gravel and there are no sharp decore. Today I found my oto cat dead. Should I return the gudgeons? I plan on adding a crayfish and CPDs soon.

 

What species of crayfish?

Depending on species it will and CAN easily take down 99% of a tanks population.

 

What species of crayfish?

Depending on species it will and CAN easily take down 99% of a tanks population.

Just a dwarf crayfish. Should’ve mentioned that. But I noticed today my other oto now has red marks on him.... I don’t understand what is going on. I don’t want him to die like the other one dead. Who is doing this. Tank mates: make+female gudgeons nerite snails and amono shrimp.

 

Sometimes the otos come from shop like that.

A dwarf cray would be fine but it can and still kill some tankmates.

 

Sometimes the otos come from shop like that.

A dwarf cray would be fine but it can and still kill some tankmates.

Ive had the otos for almost 2 months now. Is it normal for them to just get these red marks and die?

 

Depending on how they are caught, how they are treated in whole salers and shop and acclimation. I brought in a group of 6 otos for my other 2 and only one has died, but it had the red blotch under it's fin too.