Female Betta problem

Sovran

Sovran

I come to you at night
Mar 5, 2007
110
0
0
61
PA
I purchased a female betta (one of 5) online, and she arrived safely about 10 days ago. I noticed when she arrived that her belly looked fairly round, but you had to look closely to notice it. Since then, her belly has extended to look as if she has swallowed a whole pea. Being completely ignorant, I am assuming that she is full of eggs, but my daughter (Nottingham on this forum), thinks that either she has a tumor or is just plain fat. The fish is in my community tank, and none of the other fish look like this. Unfortunately I can't post a photo yet, as I haven't got down the art of photographing one fish (however, I am a whiz a capturing blurs!)
Any suggestions would be gratefully received.
 
No -all her scales are fine, she is eating well and is very active. In fact, everything looks completely normal except for her "bulge". She looks pregnant. Could it be eggs? My water parameters in a 28 gallon bowfront are:
Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 10
Ph 20
 
She could be constipated. This will happen sometimes when bettas are fed a diet that is too high in protein. Try giving her a blanched pea, just squeeze it out of the skin and see if she will eat it.
 
oops - didn't even notice that - Ph 6.8 - sorry. I am trying to isolate her to give her a pea of her own. Smart fish that - sigh
 
If she refuses the pea, you can also try feeding things like waterfleas and brine shrimp. The exoskeletons are just as good as fiber. Sometimes carnivorous fish will refuse vegetable foods like peas.

So the rest of her body is fairly slender, but the area around her pelvic fins is bulged out? Sounds like she's egg-laden and it's nothing to worry about. She was probably conditioned to be ready for breeding when she arrived, or she may have gotten into a 'spawning mood' when she acclimated to your aquarium. I honestly doubt she is bloated or ill.

If she has an overall stocky body and a bulge that recedes back toward her tail instead of looking like she swallowed a pea that's resting just behind her pectoral fins, then she is fat. :P

Normal Female Betta: http://z.about.com/d/freshaquarium/1/0/R/S/betta04G.jpg

Chubby Female Betta: Note that she is a stockier body-type to begin with, but pay attention to the slope of the roundess in her belly. http://www.bollmoraakvarieklubb.org/images/m_fisk/betta splendens female.JPG

Gravid (egg-laden) Female Betta: Note how she's really big and round, but it drops off toward her tail quite drastically. Here's two views, front and side. http://www.wetwebmedia.com/MiscFishPIX/betta1.jpg
http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwbettasct&1177337435

I've had females who literally looked like they had swallowed a small marble! They were bulging at the front and looked like they were fit to burst... but it was just eggs.

Though I should add that with stockier females, it's harder to tell if they are egg-laden or just fat. The more slender varieties of females tend to make these changes in their bodies alarmingly obvious!! ^__^;;
 
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Kyohti (and everyone else) - thank you for your response. Looking at your pictures, it seems she is egg laden. Hmmm - what now? Will she just reabsorb them? Lay them? Anything I can do to help?
 
She won't spawn without a male...and believe me, betta breeding isn't worth the hassle unless you have the time, money, and patience! So she might go ahead and reabsorb the eggs. Some females are just naturally 'well-endowed' though, and might stay round-bellied without the fuss and preparation most need to be breeding-fit. Regardless, I'm sure you'll love her, big belly or not! ^__^;
 
I doubt its a disease as well, but I would definately keep an eye on her to make sure she doesnt pinecone out.

Have you got a pic of her, she sounds lovely..

Blue
 
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