is this cichlid pregnant?

[evelyn4get]

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[toddnbecka]

Looks like a Malawi mbuna of some sort, more likely bloated than gravid. Try feeding it some cooked or canned peas to help clear its digestive tract.

[fishoholic20]

Thats malwai blaot need to sort it out asap or else it will die!

[kaybee]

Agreed, that fish (a type of mbuna) is bloated.

Mbuna's (and most other types of mouthbrooding african cichlids) give no indication that they internally have lots of eggs in them. The mbuna 'equivalent' of pregnancy is a mouthful of eggs and developing fry.

The bloat (also known as the Malawi Bloat) is commonly the result of an inappropriate diet and is often fatal. What are you feeding this fish?

If you have a fully cycled hospital tank I recommend relocating it there. If you do not have a hospital tank it will have to be treated in the tank that it is in.

Treatment:

- Dissolve ordinary epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) and add to the tank (1.5 to 2 tablespoons per 10gal of aquarium volume).

- Fast this fish for 3 or 4 days.

If there are no improvements within 4 days try medications (such as metronidazole or Clout).

Prevention: Most mbuna's have herbivorous-orientated dietary requirements and do best with a veggie-based diet that has a protein percentage of no more than 40%. Avoid meaty diets (bloodworms, shrimp, etc) and high-protein diets (45%+ protein percentage content should be avoided).

[evelyn4get]

thank you all the only thing diiff in the tank is a new aglea eater someone gave us. he is around 7/8 inces long. we started putting algea tabs in for him i think think other fish were getting to the tabs first. she does seem to be smaller today i would hate to lose her she is our smallest.

[toddnbecka]

Regarding diet for mbuna's, I've found that NLS Cichlid or General Purpose formula pellets are fine for them, as well as my L-204 Panaques, BN pleco's, L-333's and L-10a's, and other African and SA cichlids. Very convenient to be able to feed the same food to everything from Synodontis catfish to silver dollars w/out any diet-related problems.
I currently have 4 Pseudotropheus williamsi sharing a 75 with a group of 10 ruby red peacocks and a number of BN pleco's. Started with 6, but 2 of them have been killed off by the dominant male after they matured. Their staple diet is NLS 1mm Cichlid pellets, the same thing I feed to all my other fish. I also toss in some spirulina or brine shrimp flake occasionally, canned green beans for the pleco's, and frozen bloodworms for the others.

[evelyn4get]

yes the same diet for the cichlids .. the pellets and vary the others but i have not feed the green beans or peas i suppse ill start ty all very much.

[evelyn4get]

ok update on the cichlid she was bloated for about three days then she was just fine, we did nothing. a few days later she stopped eating food . we now have at least one very healthy fry in the tank. thank you all for your input:)
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