neon tetra pregnant?

[Danii]

I can't tell if my neon tetra is pregnant she seem to have larger belly than the others

 

[Danii]

More pics

 

[thebluespirit]

I think those are cardinal tetra. looks pregnant to me but I've never bree them before.

 

[Samzter]

I think those are cardinal tetra. looks pregnant to me but I've never bree them before.

The can't get pregnant. They can hold eggs. It's is very difficult to breed them. They're very picky on parameters. It could be bloat or dropsy. If I were you check your parameters.

 

[butterfly_koi]

The can't get pregnant. They can hold eggs. It's is very difficult to breed them. They're very picky on parameters. It could be bloat or dropsy. If I were you check your parameters.

With all due respect you can't just jump to the conclusion that it's bloat or dropsy. You don't want to scare members right of the bat.
Even though it can be difficult to breed tetras in an aquarium that does not mean that she is not carrying eggs. I have Emperors that will grow larger with eggs and never breed.
And just because it can be difficult to breed them doesn't mean it can't be done, how else do you think that we get all of the fish that most of us own? They sure are not all wild caught.

 

[Samzter]

With all due respect you can't just jump to the conclusion that it's bloat or dropsy. You don't want to scare members right of the bat.
Even though it can be difficult to breed tetras in an aquarium that does not mean that she is not carrying eggs. I have Emperors that will grow larger with eggs and never breed.
And just because it can be difficult to breed them doesn't mean it can't be done, how else do you think that we get all of the fish that most of us own? They sure are not all wild caught.

I did say it could be holding eggs, and I never said it was impossible for them to breed. I said it was difficult. And I never jumped to the conclusion that it was bloat or dropsy. I said it may be. I was giving them options on what it could be.

 

[Calypso77]

With all due respect you can't just jump to the conclusion that it's bloat or dropsy. You don't want to scare members right of the bat.
Even though it can be difficult to breed tetras in an aquarium that does not mean that she is not carrying eggs. I have Emperors that will grow larger with eggs and never breed.
And just because it can be difficult to breed them doesn't mean it can't be done, how else do you think that we get all of the fish that most of us own? They sure are not all wild caught.

She never said anything wrong. She never jumped to conclusions at all she was just giving opinions as to what all it could be. That is what this forum is all about, helping members out the best we can. I would be glad to know of all these possible things it could be.

 

[Samzter]

She never said anything wrong. She never jumped to conclusions at all she was just giving opinions as to what all it could be. That is what this forum is all about, helping members out the best we can. I would be glad to know of all these possible things it could be.

I'm a he lol! Don't worry about it yeah I want jumping to conclusions I was just giving options of what it could be. Plus I don't want to say oh yeah it's defiantly pregnant when really it might be ill.

 

[thebluespirit]

It's alright I've made that mistake MANY MANY times! Lol.

I think your message just came across sounding like it was more likely to be be illness than a fish having eggs.

Just to clarify for dani that the reason tetra don't get pregnant as such is that their eggs are fertilized after they are layed. So they don't have little baby fish inside them so technically don't get pregnant unlike guppies and other livebearers.

 

[butterfly_koi]

I did say it could be holding eggs, and I never said it was impossible for them to breed. I said it was difficult. And I never jumped to the conclusion that it was bloat or dropsy. I said it may be. I was giving them options on what it could be.

By advising someone to check water levels is giving someone the thought that something could be wrong. And I was not being rude at all with my reply and I know very well what this forum is all about. I was just stating the fact that your answer came off as if it is impossible to breed tetras and that the fish were sick. Instead of jumping ahead of ourselves and stating that it could be dropsy why not ask if there are any signs or symptoms present first? It could be nothing at all.
Do I know for sure that she is holding? No, heck for all I know it could be a male but for the death of potential argument I am respectively waking away from this thread, to the OP, best of luck.
IMO you could throw a PM to Andy Sager and find out a little more information about the breeding of tetras.

 

[Samzter]

By advising someone to check water levels is giving someone the thought that something could be wrong. And I was not being rude at all with my reply and I know very well what this forum is all about. I was just stating the fact that your answer came off as if it is impossible to breed tetras and that the fish were sick. Instead of jumping ahead of ourselves and stating that it could be dropsy why not ask if there are any signs or symptoms present first? It could be nothing at all.
Do I know for sure that she is holding? No, heck for all I know it could be a male but for the death of potential argument I am respectively waking away from this thread, to the OP, best of luck.
IMO you could throw a PM to Andy Sager and find out a little more information about the breeding of tetras.

I only asked about the parameters because the tetra would need it to be in the low range of the pH scale for them to breed. Also if the parameters were off the 0ppm range then we could of addressed the problem sooner rather than later if there was one.

 

[absolutangel04]

Please stay on topic everybody.

Dropsy is accompanied by a pine-coning look of the scales. To rule out bloat, just skip a day or 2 of feeding and see if anything changes. As has been stated, female fish will sometimes develop full looking bellies if they are full of eggs. Whether or not those eggs will ever be fertilized is a whole different story.

 

[Andy Sager]

By advising someone to check water levels is giving someone the thought that something could be wrong. And I was not being rude at all with my reply and I know very well what this forum is all about. I was just stating the fact that your answer came off as if it is impossible to breed tetras and that the fish were sick. Instead of jumping ahead of ourselves and stating that it could be dropsy why not ask if there are any signs or symptoms present first? It could be nothing at all.
Do I know for sure that she is holding? No, heck for all I know it could be a male but for the death of potential argument I am respectively waking away from this thread, to the OP, best of luck.
IMO you could throw a PM to Andy Sager and find out a little more information about the breeding of tetras.

Thanks for the nod butterfly but I believe all the points that I would have made, have been made. Only livebearing fish can be pregnant so at best, this fish is "carrying eggs" or the term is gravid.

This is some other info to keep in mind:

If this was a disease, typically, when a fish is sick with bloat or dropsey, they will not be acting "normal" but I have to say that based on the pics, this is not a sick fish. I will say. tho, that routine checks of the water chemistry should be done anyway so if any fish starts to change in appearance and you do not do routine checks of the water, you should do so to confirm that water chemistry is not an issue.

As for type, I believe the poster who said these are cardinals may be correct. The main difference between Cardinals and Neons is that cardinals are more elongated than Neons and their red stripe goes from gill to tail as opposed to a Neon whose red stripe is only halfway through the body. These look to me, from the pictures, as elongated fish with full red stripes so they would be cardinals in my book. (I am using the characteristics of wild caught fish so if these are tanks raised, this method might not be acurate anymore. I would then be using the body shape comparison.)

As for breeding: Cardinals, Neons and all egg laying fish can be holding eggs without breeding for their entire mature lifetime so if you are not trying to breed them, don't be concerned about it. HOWEVER, Cardinals have been bred commercially for quite some time, just as Neons have, in the Far East so they are not impossible to breed. In fact, many breeders from around the world have bred them. The common themes with breeding them are soft water and a low PH. If you are trying to breed these fish and they are in a community tank that differ from these water parameters, I'd use a separate tank as the lower PH levels might harm some of your other fish (I say this precautously as I don't know what other fish you have in the tank.)

As for sexing Cardinals, it's usually only confirmed when the female fills up with eggs. Young/ immature females look exactly like males so when you are trying to breed them, you want to make sure you pair a "fat one" with a "skinny one" if you hope to have any success.

If you have any further questions regarding breeding these fish, feel free to PM me.

 

[Danii]

Thanks for raising all the possible issues on my cardinal tetra. I think she is well as she swims around and doesn't show any sign that she has dropsy aside from her large tummy but I will keep an eye on her everyday. I will also test my parameter to make sure my fish are safe and happy. Thank you guys you all been really helpful x