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My tetra looks like a tuna


Hobbit
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I’m pretty sure cardinal/neon tetras aren’t supposed to be this... round. 😆 Any advice on putting fish on a weight loss program?

One problem is I have yo-yo loaches, who prefer to eat over the course of ~30 minutes. So after eating their hikari micro pellets, the tetras and gouramis go nibble on the loach pellets and gobble up any mess the loaches spew as they’re eating.

The two tetras pictured here are my only full size ones. There are also eight smaller, newer tetras that I just added about a month ago, and for a while I was loading them up on bbs because they were so skinny. Now those guys are already starting to get little tummies so I’m not so worried about them starving. They’re still probably just 1/3 the size of the big ones though.

Should I start fasting them every other or third day? Should I give the loaches fewer pellets while I’m trying to get the tetras to lose some chub? Or should I just let them feast their little hearts out and not worry about it?

 

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I have a couple Cardinals that look like that! I assume they are either females (that get more round) or they're like me and enjoy a little extra food. I fast the tank every couple Sundays and really don't worry about chubby fish.

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7 hours ago, Colu said:

They could carry eggs that why they look plump

I agree. Tetras spawn pretty much nonstop and the females tend to get a bit round when they're ready to lay eggs. The eggs are too small to be easily noticeable. Chances are these are females who are carrying eggs and spawning regularly.

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Okay good. You’re all making me feel much better. I wonder if they might be hanging on to more eggs because there aren’t any mature males in the tank right now. Back when some of their siblings were still around, I did actually see a tetra drop an egg one time. So neat that I was right there there when it happened! Maybe once the little tetras grow up the ladies will slim down.

In the meantime I’ll keep indulging them with bbs. 😊

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I might just be fooling myself but I feed my loaches just before all the lights go out hoping that the daytime fish go to sleep while the loaches get to eat in peace.  Is there any truth to that?  I can’t tell because the lights are out!😅

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