Pregnant or just fat?

[ajmckay]

What do you think? Black Neon Tetra - I've noticed it's "largeness" for about 3-4 weeks now. It literally stays right below the autofeeder 90% of the time.

 

One of the other fishes is getting pretty large also (there are 5). Haven't changed feeding routine since like June when I put the auto feeder in. I've had these fish for probably 18-20 months.

 

 

this is 2 fish not 4

[Mariaface]

 

 

But seriously, good question.

[Elizabeth94]

They look like they are ready to pop.. If they aren't turning belly up I guess you would know it wasn't a swim bladder issue. Not sure what is up with them.

[Benny314]

Could be an infection too I'm sorry to say.

 

I lost several congo and black tetra to some internal nasty, they'd swell up around the belly area, sometimes more on one side than the other, then every so often I'd find a body in the morning and the area that was swollen was missing (big hole in the side of the fish). What ever it was it worked it's way through 6 or so of my tetra over 6 months or so, one or two every so often. Then the deaths just stopped.

 

Fingers crossed it's all ok for you.

[B.C.]

Beer belly! Stop topping off your tank with it. j.k.

Could be dropsy or constipation.

Looks more like dropsy seeing how swollen they are and that they stay near the surface.

Are the scales lifted on the fish. Can't really tell from the pics.

[ajmckay]

You know I honestly hadn't thought about dropsy - though I honestly can't say that's what it is because it seems that most cases of dropsy have swollen eyes as a symptom. This fish's eyes appear normal. The scales do not appear lifted. The "bulge" appears symmetrical, not lop-sided. The only potential symptom I can spot (other than the huge belly) is a tiny bit of redness at the base of the anal fins.

 

As for movement - it seems the fish can move quite quickly still, though generally "twitches" a bit more than the others to keep steady in the current.

[Benny314]

Could be constipated, my sail fin tang went through a phase when I first got it of really swelling up when I fed dry pellet and flake food then having a massive movement. I put it down to a change of diet in the end it didn't happen when I fed frozen. It's fine now.

[basser1]

Maybe stop feeding for a couple of days and see what happens?

[Hammerstone]

When I had my fresh tank up I had a few Rasboras like that all fat. I just treated them normally and figured they had eggs with nowhere to go. I didn't worry about it.

[B.C.]

Usually if pregnant there is a dark red or black spot by the anal fin that you see.

=)

[Weetabix7]

I'm just fat okay, cheeeezzz!!!

[fishfreak0114]

I've never seen a fish that swollen from pregnancy before but you never know. It could be dropsy though and the scales just aren't raised yet. I've had a couple fish die of it in the past. Are you able to sex the fish? If it's a male you could rule out pregnancy.

[ajmckay]

I'm just fat okay, cheeeezzz!!!

Haha!

 

Thanks everyone for the comments.

 

I'll see if I'm able to sex it. I don't recall if these guys are easy or hard to find.

 

Either way the fish is acting pretty normal (other than it seems it takes a little more effort for locomotion hehe).

 

I'll be sure to update this thread with any changes. It looks like the fish is going to explode if it gets any larger though