Swolen bellies on all my catfish?

[ErrorS]

I feed my Catfish special at night with various foods..

uh, my Striped Raphael has *always* been fat.. but I noticed tonight my two bumblebee cats are also really, really fat.

I know I'm overfeeding, that's a given. Am I hurting these fish doing this? Because of the different kinds of nocturnal bottom feeding fish my biggest feeding is at night, i have to make sure each one gets plenty. The ones I worry most about are my Rubbernose Plecos and my Dragon Goby, both of which are healthy weights at the moment.. but I really don't want to lessen the feeding.

Making special note of the amount I have to feed my Goby. He'll eat enough shrimp pellets in one sitting to sustain both the Bumblebees and the Striped Raphael for a week. If they happen to find the food first, they really go nuts

Ok, so will these fish eat until they burst? or is it possible they have some kind of stomach disease of some kind, gassy or a bacterial infection?

I'm not kidding when I say these fish are *fat*, I was shocked when I saw the Bumblebee cat tonight.

 

[Malefic23]

Not sure about the other cats, but plecos will not eat untill they burst. My pleco tank is full of bulging bellies and fat happy fish the morning after a zuchini feast. I like to keep a big gut and a thick tail on all my plecos, and I've not heard any convincing argument that it damages the fish's health. We had a long discussion on this over at pleco fanatics, and the overall consensus was, fat plecos are fine.

The only real issue is to remove leftover food before it spoils, and make sure you keep up with your water changes. A lot of food means a lot of waste and a heavy bioload burden on your filters. %50 percent a week at the least, more if needed to keep good water quality.

 

[monkey_toes]

Short-term, no, they won't eat til they burst. Catfish being scavengers, occasional large meals are very natural. Long-term, overfeeding fish presents basically the same problem as overfeeding anything else — obesity-related health problems and a shortened life span. How long has your dragon goby been in the tank? They are truly incredible fish, but in the wild they are almost always found in brackish water estuaries. Kept in fresh water, they tend to go into a long and slow decline (learned that the hard way).

 

[ErrorS]

I think I've had him for about a year.. him and the striped raphael are the oldest fish in my tank.

I originally bought him impulsively when I was setting up my Arowana tank. The Arowana got sick and died from a bad batch of feeders (went from a healthy, very hungry foot long arowana to a dead arowana overnight) but the goby continued to thrive. I neglected the aquarium, didn't do any water changes (was mad about the Arowana) and that seemed to just make him healthier. I got tired of trying to maintain that aquarium so I moved him to my 55G community.. he continued to grow until he got to the length he's at now.. at just under 1 1/2' or so (never directly measured him, he's longer than my aquarium is wide)

Though, I did have a near brackish tank in my community for a couple of months. I'd say he has spent 30% of his life in a near brackish tank (about 1.001 at most, probably 1.0008 most of the time) but he did the majority of his growing in filfthy, neglected water with super high nitrates and low oxygenation with no salt. He would sometimes go days without any filtration whatsoever.. Oddly enough, my striped rapheal (who prefers acidic water) did just fine in these enviroments.

I've changed my water so much.. right now it's the cleanest it has ever been and I'm slowly moving towards softer water at 7-9degrees or so. I've been watching him very very closely.. but they're lethargic fish anyways, it's hard to tell if it's sick in any way.
Know of any signs I can look out for since you went through the experience of (apparently) seeing one go through this slow decline?

Seems odd but I honestly believe the tank is too clean for him at the moment.

 

[monkey_toes]

Oddly enough, my striped rapheal (who prefers acidic water) did just fine in these enviroments.

Raphael cats are one of the most robust species out there. Even pet stores hardly ever seem to kill them.

I've been watching him very very closely.. but they're lethargic fish anyways, it's hard to tell if it's sick in any way.
Know of any signs I can look out for since you went through the experience of (apparently) seeing one go through this slow decline?

The first symptom was color fade. My goby went from a rich purple-blue to dull silver. Then he started to refuse food, occasionally at first, eventually most of the time. Then he started to act oddly — swimming near the surface, sitting motionlessly in the plants for hours. When he died, he was probably half the weight he had been. He was in the tank about three months before he started to slip, and the decline took another three months. The other fish in the tank were perfectly fine.

Seems odd but I honestly believe the tank is too clean for him at the moment.

I could believe that. If you live in estuarine waters, you have to be tough and able to withstand water conditions that are suboptimal.

 

[Cory Lover]

Hi,

I have the same problem as you. I have three Upside-Down Catfish and well, one of them is slim, the other one is fat, and one of them is obese! I feed my Cories about 45 minutes before I turn the lights off and most of the food is gone by then. But some how my Upside-Downers find enough food to become fat on! They seem perfectly fine, and I don't want to cut down on feeding my Cories.

Besides, fat fish are kinda cute!

Cory Lover

 

[ErrorS]

My Goby seems OK so far. You mentioned pale grey instead of purple.. he's never been very purple, at leas,t I thought. Looking close he does sort of have a purple tint to him under my 10k bulbs.

I think he'll be fine as is. if anything, I'll have an excuse to buy an aquarium just for him and maybe I'll be able to throw in some other cool brackish fish. I think he would appreciate the space right now.

and I agree with your CoryLover. I watched one of my bumblebees tonight.. he darted out from a cave as soon as I threw in food for my Goby, immediately danced around in the settled food, inhaling whatever he could. Couldn't believe how much that tiny fish took in. He is more of a round ball right now, seriously the fattest fish I have ever seen.. but seeing how healthy he was and how much energy he had, not to mention how high contrast his (already cool) colors were, I'm not going to worry about it.

A bit worried about my Raphael though. He's topped off at 4-5'' (can't really tell) and now he's growing outwards instead of in length. I've had him for almost 2 years, he should be full grown by now.