brownmct
03-11-2004, 11:33 PM
:( i have a kenyi african chichlid and it is swimmg on its side and is breathing heavy. is my fish going to die or is it in labor? also how do i distinguish my male and feamle?
mome rath
03-12-2004, 1:12 AM
Your fish is not "in labor."
Hopefully someone else will have something more informative to say; I can't give you any indication as to how serious a problem this is, but it sounds like something that needs to be addressed as soon as possible.
Edit: Also, from an AC article on Kenyis:
"Males are yellow with faint bars crossing the body vertically. Males also have egg-spot(s) on the anal fin. Females are purple with blue-black bars going vertical."
Bustedthumb
03-12-2004, 12:29 PM
I would say that, before anything, you need to find out what your water conditions are like. Ammonia, ph, etc. etc. There could be dozens of reasons why the fish is hurting. Was it just added to the tank? What are the other tank-mates? Is there any signs of physical damage to the fish? Did you recently add anything new to the tank? Like a new piece of driftwood, plants or other decorations? The list of questions goes on and on.
It does sound serious though, fish don't normally swim on their sides. The odds are that by time we narrow this down a bit, the fish will have already expired.