Is my Cory Catfish Bloated, Fat, or Pregnant?

[NoisyMime]

I have a 10-gallon aquarium, freshwater, with a nerite snail, a red swordtail, and an albino cory catfish. The water quality is fairly pristine (if I do say so myself), although it is extremely hard. The GH is around 150-180. My problem is that the cory has a huge bulge in its belly, towards the front of its body. I've had it for around 10 months now, and it has had no other cory companions. So, is it pregnant with unfertilised eggs or something? Is it bloated or sick? I've been feeding it 3/4 to 1 algae wafer every other day, so is it just fat? Please answer soon, as my cory is nearly too bloated to move.

It was hiding when I put up this thread, so I couldn't get a good photo. If you need one, please just ask.

 

[V227]

Algae wafers are used more to feed Plecos rather than Cory cats. Feeding your lone Cory as much as one or nearly one whole wafer every other day is probably way too much.
I keep a few green cories in my display tank and are a big part of my cleanup crew. All they eat are a few left over omega 1 flakes that manage to sink to the bottom during daily feedings. They do just fine.
Hope this helps.

 

[Coursair]

I feed my Cories, Omega One Color Flakes, OO Shrimp Pellets, Frozen Bloodworms, etc...

I feed my Farlowella 1/2 an Algae Wafer every other day. My Cories like to nibble on it as well, so she has to shove them out of the way.

FYI Swordtails can hit 5-6" they are very active. I recommend 30g minimum for them. Usually 3-4 females per male.

Cories are social fish. Albino C aeneus get decent size, 3" esp the females. A group of 6 or more would appreciate floor space. A 40Breeder or a 55g
30g is recommended Min.

http://m.liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=830+2855+953&pcatid=953
Live Aquaria says 2" max. They are wrong. I've seen larger adults.

https://www.planetcatfish.com/common/species.php?species_id=51

Please research your fish and think about a bigger tank or rethink your stocking. They are not good choices long term.

10g stock ?
A Betta

Or Nano Fish.

Celestial Pearl Danios ( I had 7)
Corydoras habrosus ( stay 1")

 

[NoisyMime]

Okay, thanks for the tips. I'll stop feeding it the algae wafers, and hopefully, it will lose some weight. I'll also pick it up a companion from the store. I might remove some of the decorations in the tank to give the swordtail and cory room to swim around a bit. Thank you!

 

[V227]

Sounds like a good plan.

 

[splattered]

I don't "feed" my pandas anything but they're clean-up for an SAP so they eat mostly freeze dried krill crumbs or crab/snail carcasses. Also I have 7 and think 10 would be better but I don't wanna mix species as I want them to school together

 

[splattered]

There's nothing as satisfying as watching a big shoal of cories piling up on each other. They look so happy. You'll see a big difference in behavior with 6 or more