Hello all and help?

[pattona5]

Hey everyone,
I'm new to the whole aquarium thing and have a question. I have a rosy barb that has gotten quite fat. Her scales are not raised and she doesn't have a pinecone shape. There is also no dark spot on her belly. I'm not sure if she's pregnant or fat. She seems to be eating fine and moving around well. Any suggestions?
Thanks

 

[Lupin]

:welcome: to AC!

Do you have pictures of the fish? Is it pooping? Rosy barbs are egg scatterers, not livebearers so you will not find gravid spots in there.

I'll move this thread to the proper forum so you get more responses. If your fish is found to have health issues, then this may be moved to Freshwater Illnesses/Diseases section for better diagnosis to the problem.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask!:thumbsup:

 

[LeahK]

Hi pattona5! Welcome to AC.
One day, over 5 months ago, one of my nine rosy barbs just swelled up and stayed that way. If it makes you feel any better, there were never any further complications. She still seems just fine, other than being really fat. Like you say, her scales do not pinecone. She's swims normally, and she eats and poops normally, which leads me to rule out either a swim bladder issue or a digestion issue.
When this first happened, I got really worried and did some research online, and I began to think that she was "egg bound." As I learned, barbs swell up when they are carrying eggs. And, if the conditions are not right for the barb to lay the eggs, then the eggs will be reabsorbed back into the body. Sometimes, for whatever reason, the eggs are not reabsorbed, and this can cause health problems. And, there's no cure. So, after reading this, I waited and watched, but nothing else ever happened.
Even though enough time has passed that I'm not so worried about her anymore, I'm still not sure exactly what's going on, so I'll be interested to see what kinds of responses you get.

 

[angyles]

I had a similar experience with one of my females. out of 3 females, one of them was FAT, about twice as fat as the others. She lived like this for a very long time, never any problems at all. Every once in a while I would find a random egg somewhere in the tank and I jsut assumed they were from here (no idea honestly) and then it would get eaten.

No worries, it's normal

 

[jm1212]

she might just be getting the better part of the meals

 

[Marinemom]

Welcome to Aquaria Central. Maybe she just like to eat. There may be some underlying health issue but if she is eating normally and swimming around like she doesn't have a care in the world, then just keep an eye on here to see how she progresses. I am sure that she is fine.

Marinemom

 

[pattona5]

Thanks for the responses everyone. So far she still seems to be fine and I wasn't sure if there would be a gravid spot. Since there isn't supposed to be, I won't worry until I see her acting strangely. Have a great day!