With the vast knowledge that abounds on our beloved Chiff board, I figured someone here might know the answer to this… 
I have some type of catfish in my inherited fish tank (I wish I could be specific as to what kind of catfish, but I really don’t know), and my question is this: can catfish reproduce in captivity without having a mate?? I swear my fish looks like it’s pregnant, but there’s only one of its kind in there!! 
Any thoughts?
Best,
Andrea
To my knowledge, all aquariam fish need two to reproduce (now snails are a different story…).
Some livebearing fish (mollies, guppies, swordtails, etc) can give birth without a male, but this is because they can store sperm from previous matings for months without actually giving birth, so sometimes you have a female livebearer who seems to get pregnant out of nowhere, but catfish are egglayers.
Cories are sometimes called catfish. They’re small (under a couple inches) and they’re also social fish and you need at least 3 to keep them properly. Pleco’s are also sometimes called catfish, and they’re usually dark and kind of large, sometimes called “algae eaters” although they need more than algae to thrive..
Then there are catfish catfish…but they vary a lot more in appearance…
What size and color is it? I’m sure some of us here could help you find out what kind of fish you have if you describe it’s appearance.
Hey Cran… here’s a pic of Whiskers:
It’s not the clearest, but you can probably get a decent idea. You can’t see in the picture, but he/she has rather long whiskers, hence the name. 
There are four whiskers on the top, erm, lip(?), and four on the bottom-- on each set, two whiskers are long with two shorter whiskers in between. When I described it to the pet store clerk, she said it was some type of catfish.
Best,
Andrea
I’ve seen that fish before though I don’t know the name right off. Definately not a pleco. There are a lot of fish geeks on C&F though so somebody should know.
http://www.planetcatfish.com has an “ID my catfish” Forum, too.
I long for the days of having 7 tanks in each room with a different type of fish in each one.
A word of warning, most pet store employs are on crack. Don’t rely on them to do anything but sell you stuff. They’re not paid for their accuracy. They’d tell you pine and cedar are fine for small animals, even though they’re not. They contain toxic phenols that kill them over time (credible labs around the world only use aspen or paper-based litter).
I’m rambling. Sorry.
Normally I would agree with you (did I say that?? 
) but this particular clerk seems to know her stuff, and has been pretty reliable in dispensing good information… so, I’m happy to say there are still some good employees out there.
~A
Is it a family-owned store? Many such stores are at least mildly knowledgable in what they do. It’s usually the chain stores (PetCo, PETsMART, PetLand, etc) that don’t know anything. You can’t really blame them, though, because they’re paid minimum wage. You can’t expect them to go through a training class or anything. But these are living animals and I believe there should be at least SOME familiarity with the sentient beings you’re in charge of. I could go on for hours and hours on this subject but I will restrain myself. 
I know fish are conscious at least, but I’d call it a stretch to call them sentient…
I would give it the name Coryodorus. I have not seen that variety, but maybe with that name you could come up with a site that will give you more infor than the four that came up in my IN search. One site said that there are many varieties including those with stripes.
One other possibility is that of Loaches. They have whiskers too.
Why not catch the bugger, put it in a dish with a sealable lid and take it down for ID? If you leave an inch or so of air space it will be fine for the trip.
Of course fish are sentient. The stores also sell and abuse mammals, birds, reptiles, etc.
Thanks for the ident help, Steven… of course, I still don’t know if my fish managed immaculate conception or not. Maybe he/she is just trying out for the role of Santa for the big Fish Tank Yule Production, and has fattened up to make it more convincing.
Walden, that origami fish is just too cool!!
Andrea
The term “sentient” refers to something which is both aware of itself and aware of others (aka at least very basic empathy).
Humans are sentient. Dolphins and whales are arguably sentient, the great apes are sentient. Things like fish and cockroaches aren’t sentient. Cats and dogs might be sentient, but it’s hard to tell. I’d like to give them the benifit of the doubt though.
Fish can feel pain, they are CONSCIOUS, yes, but not sentient. I’m not saying your pet stores have the right to abuse them, because of course they don’t have the right to abuse anything, but that’s beside the point.
All serious aquarists know that if you name your fish, they will die. So it really doesn’t make any difference what kind of fish this is. It’s got a name, therefore it’s doomed.
That said, it is cory shaped and might be a panda cory. Here’s more catfish pictures than you would ever want – www.planetcatfish.com.
Or you could post your picture here and see if anyone can ID it –http://communitytank.aaquaria.com/ These folks are the fishy equivalent of C and F; or at least they used to be. I haven’t been there for a while.
Was just thinking about the fact that my dog can recognize me from a stranger, and not only that, knows various people, and treats each differently.
Another beast that seems rather recognizant is birds, especially some species, such as the parrots.
Fish are sentient.
Main Entry: sen·tient
Pronunciation: 'sen(t)-sh(E-)&nt, 'sen-tE-&nt
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin sentient-, sentiens, present participle of sentire to perceive, feel
Date: 1632
1 : responsive to or conscious of sense impressions
2 : AWARE
3 : finely sensitive in perception or feeling
fine fine, fish are sentient according to your definition and not to mine.
Edit: nope, wait, I take that back. I don’t think fish are truly AWARE of anything, insofar as that they aren’t merely responding to stimuli in their environment such as my compter is responding to me hitting keys by displaying letters on the screen. Would you argue that this crappy pentium III Dell PC is sentient?
“My definition” comes directly from Merriam-Webster Dictionary.
Merriam-Webster isn’t the be-all-end-all of the English language, like it or not. I think many definitions found in dictionaries of all publiciations are innaccurate or incomplete, including that one.
Now, now, TSam and Cran… no debating sentience on my thread. 
Next thing you know we’ll be back on plants and stones and I’m just not up to it today.
~A
I’d swear my car is sentient.
Oops. Sorry, Aderyn_Du.
