Cory cat - pregnant? Fat? Bloat?

[corykitty]

I apologize in advance for not having a photo yet; these guys are just so fast!

So, I noticed my bronze cory's belly is a little bigger than usual. The difference is minimal; it's just a bump between its front fins. I immediately thought OH GOD BLOAT. DEATH. DISEASE. But then I wondered if it's possible that it's a she and has eggs.

I observed it closely - it's definitely the biggest of the three corys, both in length and thickness which I've heard is characteristic of a female cory. Its scales are flat so I'm not guessing dropsy. I don't overfeed so I don't think it could be anything related to that. Is that the normal place to see a bulge if the cory has eggs?

Tank parameters are good - 0 ammonia, nitrites, nitrates. Well planted, substrate is a smooth, larger sand (not fine like regular sugar, more like the size of raw sugar you can get at coffee shops and the like). I feed them Omega One slow sinking omnivore pellets. They share the tank with a single, docile male molly, two cobalt gobies, and an unknown number of ghost shrimp that eat so insanely fast that I don't worry much about the cats eating too much because the shrimp absolutely decimate the food before anyone else!

So, catfish knowledgeable people. Does this sound like a possible cory cat in heat? I'll do my best to get a photo but I don't know how successful I will be.

If anyone has a good, confirmed reference photo of an eggy cory, I could confirm if the placement of the egg bump on that cory was the same as mine.

Edit to add: This picture shows a cory whose belly looks similar to my cory's. The bump is in the same place on my cory, near the front of the body. I've never kept cories before so I have no idea about things like this with them, apologizes if it's one of those things that seems crazy obvious to you, like if it's just chubby.

[mnemenoi]

It appears to be normal, as long as there are no signs of discomfort or bizarre behavior I would assume it was a swollen female or just a well fed corydoras. Bronze cories are one of the easier species and far more happy in our harder higher Ph water. There are quite a few folks on the box here that have bred them in Houston tap water, so I certainly think its possible and likely given time and probably a bit larger a tank in the future. I say keep doing what your doing and eventually you'll see a small collection on eggs that will confirm your suspicions.

[DoubleDutch]

Female indeed !!! Mine are even fatter hahaha. Btw : they don't have scales. When / if dropsy/bloated their eyes will start bulging aso.

[Fancyfish]

It's spring and all my corys are going wild spawning and the females all look fat and sassy. So I think that's what's going on with your fish as well.

[corykitty]

Thanks tons, folks! She's (guessing it's a she) definitely the ruler of the little cory clan of my tank, so I guess maybe she's the matriarch supreme. I'm going to be moving them all to a much larger tank hopefully soon and maybe I'll have baby cories when that happens.