overweight fish?

[Elle2]

Is it possible for a fish to eat too much and simply get fat? My platies are huge.. they look like they are about to burst. My female is obviously pregnant but she has been before and she was never this big.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

They shouldn't get "Too Big". Could lead to health problems. Even if the fish keep begging, don't keep feeding. Only feed what they will eat in 3-4 minutes.

 

[BrianNY]

Lonewolfblue is correct. Fish are oportunistic and eat whenever food is available. The leading cause of problems for novice fish keepers is overfeeding. Much better to underfeed than overfeed.

 

[SeymourFRESH]

i'm having the same problem, only it's one fish in particular that's been overfed. it's a yo yo loach i have, and it is a completely hog. i'm trying to figure out how to feed the rest of my tank without feeding the biggen. i could seperate it into QT but it'd be too much of a pain to catch.

i could always stop feeding the tank, but i think i might have internal parasites, so i need to get them medicated food. ah well

 

[tropicfishman]

maybe a feeder ring would work

 

[JustOneMore20]

only it's one fish in particular that's been overfed. it's a yo yo loach i have

I have a yoyo loach that is very fat. I can't tell if it is overeating, since there are 4 of them and 8 cories. It is alot bigger than the other 3. I guess it could be bigger because its female...maybe. But, it is huge. I only feed about 4-5 shrimp pellets a night and 1 algae wafer for my BN. I can't tell that it is eating everything...it doesn't seem like it is (by watching).
Oh and the tank is 55g, so there is alot of room for it to scavenge for food.

 

[Elmware2000]

Sounds like the male has been keeping busy. Any signs of eggs? You'll probably know eventually when you go to feed the fish and see a bunch of frys swimming in there.

 

[SeymourFRESH]

see i thought maybe it could be pregnant, but i heard that loaches have never been bred in captivity...or maybe that's just clown loaches

 

[JustOneMore20]

see i thought maybe it could be pregnant, but i heard that loaches have never been bred in captivity

That's what I've heard too. I didn't think yoyos breed in capativity...or atleast without work. I think my fat one is female, but I'm not sure about eggs. Mine has been fat for awhile....how long would it take for her to drop/have eggs.

 

[SeymourFRESH]

i have no idea lol...mine has been quite plump for awhile too, and my other one is skinnier

 

[hc8719]

my red wag platy's are always kinda chunky...either there made that way, or they are the only fish smart enough to go to the top to pick off some flakes, and be pigs.

for the most part, fish unless they dont have enough swimming room, dont get fat

as the great jerry seinfeld once said in stand up -- "you know how fish stay so thin...because they eat fish!"

 

[tropicfishman]

I never noticed it until I looked at this post, but my tiger barbs are quite large, like bigger than 50 cent pieces, I think a diet is in store for my fishies lol maybe a little tredmill lol

 

[hc8719]

ive actually been feeding my fish an extra meal to promote growth, mainly for my kissing gourami's which are only a bit more than an inch currently