Fat Fish! Problem? Or Greedy?

[Jon Bennett]

Hi All,

I have a few Cardinal tetras, but mainly one, That after they have fed, are looking extremely fat and bloated.

I don't know if this is because they are greedier than the other fish i have, or if they have some sort of problem.

The bloating goes down after 24 hours or so, but then as soon as i feed again, they/it bloats up straight away.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Jon

 

[Colin_T]

The fish could have a food intolerance or is taking in a lot of air when feeding. But most likely it's a female with eggs. Female fish eat more and if they have eggs, they look huge after eating a big meal.

As long as the fish is swimming normally and not floating around after feeding, I wouldn't worry too much.

If you're really concerned you can post a pic of the fish and we can look at it

 

[Jon Bennett]

Thanks Colin.

I do think it is a female, but this has been happening for a while. How long do the eggs take to be released?

 

[Colin_T]

Female fish can hold eggs indefinitely if the conditions are not right to breed. And if that happens the fish can become egg bound and will be unable to release any eggs.

You can encourage the fish to spawn by raising the temperature a few degrees and doing massive (75-80%) water changes each day for a week. This simulates rainfall and can encourage most fish to breed. Lowering the temperature can work on some species too.

How hard is your water and what is the pH of the tank?
Cardinals live and breed in soft acid water, and if your water is hard and alkaline they will be less inclined to breeding. Using water from a reverse osmosis unit, distilled water or rainwater will lower the hardness in the tank and can help get them going.

Having some peat in the filter, or driftwood in the tank can lower the pH and turn the water brown from tannins, and this can encourage the fish to breed.

Separating males and females for 4 or 5 days and then putting them back together will often get them breeding. Move the males out and leave the females where they are. Then reintroduce the males after 4 or 5 days.

 

[NickAu]

Can you post a before and after photo.

What are you feeding and how much. Some fish foods can swell in the fishes gut.

 

[Jon Bennett]

I feed flake as a staple, then treat with very fine crushed high protein pellet, and frozen daphnia. I also feed wafers for my corys, which they always get a look in at.

I feed mostly twice a day, with a small pinch of any of the foods, and 3 wafers every other day for my 6 corys.

I should mention that I have 11 cardinals, 10 rummies and 6 corys.

 

[seangee]

My cardinals and glowlights do look a bit bigger after a feed but I woudn't go so far as to call them fat or bloated. I feed NLS mini pellets as the staple because any that hit the bottom are soon hoovered up by the corys, unless the teras get there first .

The tetras are always first on the scene when I feed pellets for the corys in the evening. They are greedy little beggars so I ignore the advice to feed what they will eat in 3 minutes, and keep that down to 1 minute. I always put my fingers in the tank to alert them that its feeding time, they definitely know the routine now. That one minute rule is for the staple, I don't expect the coys to finish in a minute but I feed them just before lights out.

 

[Jon Bennett]

If i fed what my fish could eat in 3 mins, they would explode.......it is the worse advice i have ever heard.

Don't get me started on the trouble i have feeding my cory's.......i feed them 30 mins after lights out, and the tetras are still trying to steal the wafers out of their mouths!! I try and sneak it in like a ninja, but they soon get whiff of them dropping through the water.

How fast do the NLS pellets sink? i need something that drops like a lead weight.

 

[seangee]

If i fed what my fish could eat in 3 mins, they would explode.......it is the worse advice i have ever heard.

Don't get me started on the trouble i have feeding my cory's.......i feed them 30 mins after lights out, and the tetras are still trying to steal the wafers out of their mouths!! I try and sneak it in like a ninja, but they soon get whiff of them dropping through the water.

How fast do the NLS pellets sink? i need something that drops like a lead weight.

 

[seangee]

If i fed what my fish could eat in 3 mins, they would explode.......it is the worse advice i have ever heard.

Don't get me started on the trouble i have feeding my cory's.......i feed them 30 mins after lights out, and the tetras are still trying to steal the wafers out of their mouths!! I try and sneak it in like a ninja, but they soon get whiff of them dropping through the water.

How fast do the NLS pellets sink? i need something that drops like a lead weight.

Heh heh. The NLS will sink after about 30 seconds if you just chuck them in. I hold them in my fingers under the water and they start dropping staright away when I let them go.

Wouldn't stress about the corys. Their food takes a while to soften so the tetras will play with it - may even get a bit off but by the time its ready to be eaten they will have lost interest. I alternate between algae wafers, catfish pellets and shrimp pellets.

 

[Jon Bennett]

yea, I always feed that way, by holding it under the water. not much gets chance to make it to the bottom though with my greedy gannet tetras!!

 

[NickAu]

If i fed what my fish could eat in 3 mins, they would explode.......it is the worse advice i have ever heard.

Correct, Ignore anybody that gives you that advice because they do not have a clue about feeding fish.