Opinions on my chubby neon please

[Trillianne]

Day before yesterday... so Thursday afternoon I went to the lfs and picked up 5 neons. I wasn't too picky on which particular fish (no that one!) just that they were not itty bitty.

On Friday morning I noticed that one of the 5 is a bit rounder in the belly and has a distorted blue line. I was thinking it was either a piggy or somehow I've ended up with a pregnant neon.

This morning it looks the same. So today was "pea day." I know she/it has eaten some of the peas, but it looks about the same to me this afternoon.

Here's a couple pictures of the particular neon in question. Sorry about the quality of the photos:
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All the fish seem very healthy and are swimming around like they are happy including this little butterball.

If she is super constipated would I be better separating her from the main tank and feeding her peas again? Feed her some other "prunes for fish" food? or leave it be in the main tank and let nature take its course?

Are there other diseases that would make a fish appear healthy with a tubby belly?

If you think its a soon to be momma... would it be wise to separate her to a darkened tank to see if she lays eggs or just leave her in the main tank and see what happens you think?

I'm kind of leaning toward "leave it in the main tank and see what happens next" since I do not think there is a high likelihood of having fry hatch should she lay eggs due to the higher than optimal ph I have presently.

[korith]

Looks like it is carrying, very unlikely any of the eggs will survive. Neon tetra eggs are sensitive to light, and hard to breed. Ideally you'd want to remove the neons after the eggs are dropped, as well as making sure the tank is in complete darkness. Some more info about this in the neon article on this site.

[Trillianne]

I did read the article, but having not seen a pregnant neon before, I figured I'd ask for a second opinion. :ssmile:

Without a suitable egg tank available, I think I'll just let her lay them in the main tank and not worry about the eggs.

[kel]

I have no advice to add here.... I just wanted to say that at first glance I thought the title of your thread was "Opinions on my chubby husband please" lol... had a good chuckle, thx lol.... ok sorry for the interuption.... carry on :22:

[Trillianne]

I have no advice to add here.... I just wanted to say that at first glance I thought the title of your thread was "Opinions on my chubby husband please" lol... had a good chuckle, thx lol.... ok sorry for the interuption.... carry on :22:

Hmm... I think I'll save that question for ChubbyHubby Community. :shappy:

This morning she actually seems even rounder. So she's got to be really close.

[Bristley]

I think leaving her in and letting nature take its course is probably for the best. If you don't have something prepared and aren't really interested in breeding her then you're probably doing the right thing.

[Tetris]

I've had a chubby harlequin rasbora. Was told constipation, if it's bad, can take a really long time to clear up.

But I gave it a heavy laxative diet for a good month or two and it never cleared up for me, and I decided to just ignore it.

Few months later the fish is still chubby but seems happy and healthy as any of the other fish in there.

Personally I have no idea what's wrong with it if it's not constipation, but it doesn't seem to be getting worse, or better, regardless of what I do or don't do, and nothing's ever been sick in that tank, so what else can I say.