Is it possible?

[oneponygirl]

I've been gone a lot the last week and a half and only just got to do a thorough inspection of my tank that has neon tetras in it yesterday. One of my little neons is suddenly a little whale. Absolutely hugely round compared to the others. The tank is ten gallons and contains 5 neon tetras, 1 dwarf gourami, and 6 pygmy corys. So, lots of questions.

If this is a little girl with a belly full of eggs will she just hold them, will they resorb or will she be more likely to lay them.

If the latter is the most likely can I put a breeding box or net in the tank with her in it to protect them from getting eaten or would that be a futile effort for some reason?

How many eggs/babies about after how much time?

I do not have an extra tank now but I'm supposed to be buying another used ten gallon on Wednesday. Will need to clean it and cycle it after that. I had other plans for it but if I do end up with babies I will be able to move them into this tank until I have someplace for them to go (sell them or give them away).

Is there anything else that I should know?

Thanks for your help.

 

[WILDER]

Whats the ph of the tank, what do you feed her, can she maintain her balance in the water, can you see what it looks like when she goes to the toilet.

 

[IMCL85]

Just make sure you not getting dropsy tho. Because a while ago I lost two neon that have a huge tommy as well and I thought they were overfeeding or full of eggs but few days later I discover that it was dropsy indeed. Its very easy to tell if ur fish have dropsy or no just remove ur lip is u have one and observe ur neon from above and if u see she looks like a pincorn then no doubt u got dropsy.


here some info about dropsy
http/www.fishdeals.com/fish_diseases/dropsy/

 

[oneponygirl]

It doesn't look like a medical condition. No pineconing, no stringy poo, eating well and swimming normally. Her whole body is nice and round, not just her belly - i.e. she doesn't look bloated. She does have a "point" underneath her as well.

I'm not sure the ph, I haven't checked it in a while. From the tap our water is almost perfectly neutral.

They are all on tropical fish flakes with the ocassional meal of brine shrimp or blood worms and I try to feed peas about once a week and fast them the next meal. They got peas last night and didn't get breakfast. I'll give them a small meal tonight.

Her colors are bright and all the other fish are behaving and looking normal as well.

Thanks guys!

 

[WILDER]

I had a neon once with a belly that went to a point, it could be a cyst it looked weird, no saying this but just in case i will leave this article.
http/freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/neondisease.htm

 

[Lateral Line]

It is the natural state for female tetras to be deeper in the belly and rounder when viewed from above.

Breeding egglayers with any real success requires seperate breeding tanks. The eggs and new hatched fry of egglayers do not stand much of a chance in a community tank.

 

[annka5]

Also, neons eggs and fry are light sensitive -to get them to hatch you'd need to keep them in a separate breeding tank, remove parents after eggs layed, then exclude light. They'd also be teeny tiny therefore difficult to feed.
Sorry to be negative!

 

[oneponygirl]

Well, yesterday AM when I checked them the big one was a lot less big. She is now barely distinguishable from the other big one (I have two bigger tetras and three smaller, younger ones) so whatever it was has passed.

If I'd had that extra tank I would have mover her but I'm not picking it up until today.

If she did lay eggs, which I'm assuming would have been eaten by my pig of a gourami, how long would it be before it happened again I'm wondering?