fry with swolen stomachs

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anonboy

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Dec 12, 2011
Messages
5
About 2 weeks ago I noticed one of my female swordtails acting strange, she was hiding at the bottom of the community tank,, on closer inspection I saw what I thought was fin rot, I have never had a fish with this before, I asked the guy in the local fishshop about it and he said it may not be fin rot it may just have been that the males were giving her a hard time,, he suggested that I seperate her for a while and add aquarium salt to her water so thats what I did, she improved greatly,, became alot livlier and started eating properly but her tail and fins are not repaired so I decided to keep her in her own tank for another couple of weeks,, this morning when I checked on her I was very surprised to find 13 fry in the tank with her and 2 dead ones but they are no ordinary fry,, each one has a large swolen stomach,, I have never seen this before,, I have gogled it but can find v little info,, anyone have any idea what may have caused it? perhaps they were born prematurely? I didnt expect them to live but they look and act just like any other fry and some of them are quite lively? anyone know what it is and if there is any hope for them ? could it have been caused by the salt? :ermm:
 
when mollies are born, they look like they have swolen stomachs (in my experiences, anyway) and always grow up to look normal. since both are livebearers, i figure they aren't much different.
i would wait 4 weeks, and see if they start to slim down a little.
another possibility is that you have a balloon deformity brood.

have you seperated the fry from the mother? the fry should be by themselves until they are 3/4cm long. at this size, other community fish shouldn't attack them.
however this experience turns out, i hope the brood makes it! :)

P.S. livebearers will spawn every 4-6weeks, so keep an eye on her!
 
Are these your first fry? Fry always have fat little bellys, because they still have their yolk sac attached. That will see them through their first days. Is the sac what you're referring to?
 
i have had platty fry before and they have never had these yolk sac attached but they seem to be gone now! thanks anyway,, does this just happen with some fish?
 
yea have them all seperated from their mother and they are doing fine now thanks
 
yeah, i dont think this is anything to worry about. like i said, all my molly babies looked fat, and grew out of it. the same should happen for you :)
 
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