Fat fish? With Eggs? sick?

[tmpadmin]

I was just staring at my tank and the fish inside. I notied one of my neon's blue stripe was a far different shade of blue than the rest - much nicer actually. Anyway, amazed by the color I followed the fist and noticed it was fatter than the rest. At first I was worried, then though the fish is swimming fine, eating fine and doesn't have any signs of sickness. Could this fish be with eggs? Or am I looking at a potential issue?

 

[Jericho]

It may not be a neon, could be a cardinal tetra. They look similar, but different.

 

[tmpadmin]

This is definately a neon. I noticed something weird just now. The fish is angled down swimming around the tank (calmly) but jutting down about 1/4 inch, kind of like bopping. Here are some pictures - there is a bulge on the fish's "belly".

Fish 1

Fish 2 Showes orientation

Fish 3 Best one!

 

[Holly9937]

You might try posting this in general freshwater too. I'm interested to see if you get any responses. I've had ongoing issues with my neons for many many months, and this is one of the things that seems not right with them. They get the same kind of "lump" every once and a while. Still not sure why

 

[OrionGirl]

At a guess, this is an egg laden female. The movement and such could be her efforts at getting a male to notice her--breeding fish typically are much brighter in color than their normal state. If she's still eating, and not showing any signs of distress, I wouldn't worry a whole lot, just monitor her.

 

[tmpadmin]

The fish eats fine, and swims normally most of the time. Today the lump is gone and there is no difference between that one and the rest, except for the different blue stripe. I'll keep watching.

 

[Holly9937]

I thought neons were pretty difficult to breed in captivity? Or are they not really "breeding" b/c they won't successfully have the egss?

 

[OrionGirl]

Neons are almost all captive bred these days. It's not that it's hard, it's just a matter of scale--we don't keep them in ponds, mostly. Neons are egg scatterers--the female scatters eggs around, with the male following along fertilizing them. In community setups, the eggs are eaten almost immediately. With Amazon fish, the pH is also crucial for successful spawns--the fish can adapt to a variety of conditions, but eggs seldom can.