So, back to my original question… can my fish be pregnant without a mate? 
~A
Andrea your catfish absolutlely can not have children without having a male to fertilize her eggs. She may, however, be about to lay non-fertile eggs, in which case they will probably be eaten up by her and all other tankmates before you even notice them. If she suddenly “looses weight”, that’s why.
Could Whiskers be a Pictus or Pim catfish? It’s hard to tell from the photo, but that tail marking looks rather like the one on my 8-inch-long (not counting about another 7 inches of whiskers) Pictus cat monster, affectionately dubbed Hoover.
(If it is a pictus, don’t get a big tank or Whiskers will fill it!)
Hoover has never had offspring on his or her own in the 10 years I’ve had him/her. However, you may only want to feed Whiskers 1 Nutrafin or whatever tablet a day or every other day … a reliable source told me many years ago that they only need to eat an amount equal to the size of one of their eyes, and it’s worked for us so far.
Also, if Whiskers looks pregnant … are any of your other fish missing? A pictus will do a wonderful job removing dead fish and their bellies will get really big when they do that.
Hope that wasn’t too creepy …
cat. (the person, not the fish)
Oh, duh – I forgot. The best way to tell if Whiskers is one of those pictus or pim cats is if it looks like he/she has skin as opposed to scales.
Quote @ Cathy
(If it is a pictus, don’t get a big tank or Whiskers will fill it!)
By all means DO get a larger tank. Smaller tanks stunt fish, which is unhealthy for their inner organs. Of course, they don’t grow as large as they can, but they die sooner, too. Many fish that have longer lifespans (such as goldfish, who can live for decades with at least ten gallons per fish) die stunted within a year or two in bowls or 1 gallon tanks, because they’re simply too small.
Fish need lots of water, and lots of space. There’s no two ways around it.
Okay, you caught me.
Hoover’s so large because … in a fit of something or other, I got him and his little cichlid pals a 75-gallon tank. Of course, the cichlids are now the size of small Oscars themselves … but I have no more room for tanks! So I guess in the immortal lines from ‘The Meaning of Life’ … BRING ME A BUCKET! 
I read a book once in which a mad scientist was making rectangular goldfish. The idea was to eventually use the same methods to make sardine packing more economical of space…
The method ought to amuse everyone here. Essentially, he discovered that goldfish don’t just grow to suit the size of tank they are in, but the size of tank they THINK they are in. So, he surrounded the very small tanks on all sides with underwater pictures of a lake and let the fish grow to fill the tanks…
I think this book (Hoboken Chicken Emergency by Daniel Pinkwater) is the inspiration for bonsai kitten (www.bonsaikitten.com, if it is still around).
No, I don’t have anything useful to add. If it had been about angelfish or goldfish or bettas, I might have been useful. Instead, I was silly.
-Patrick
Andrea,
At the risk of contributing to the ongoing drift of this thread, I would like to say …
Daniel Pinkwater is one of my favorite people in the whole world. He has a show, Chinwag Theater, that’s broadcast on public radio here, where he engages in some of the most delightful goofy banter I’ve ever heard and reads from his thoroughly delightful children’s books.
Best wishes,
Jerry
I’ve never heard of him, but it’s got chickens in the title and fish as part of the subject so I’ll forgive it the Hoboken; I’m all over it. (Now, Ho-ho-kus would have made it a sure winner). Thanks for the recommendations! When the weather clears, I’ll be sure to read it to Hoover in his new digs in the farm pond. Perhaps it would deserve a thread of its own?
Cathy, Whiskers totally looks like s/he has skin rather than scales… I’ve always thought that! 
I will go look for pics on the web. Thanks for the tip!!
Best,
Andrea