my fish has got fat.....

[kojackscat]

Is it pregnant or poorly? Seems to have happened during the course of the day. I dont think it looked so pot bellied this morning.

Ta

[kojackscat]

I forgot to add. I have always fed them flakes, but at the weekend I got two new fish. One looks v ill, so I was recommended giving them brineshrimp with garlic. They had some bloodworm on Wednesday and the brine shrimp Thursday and today. Could this change of food be the problem?

[TreeSparrow]

Don't feed bloodworms, they're just full of fat. Brine shrimp are good though.

The fish is normal. It's a female cherry barb and they get full of eggs when mature. I've kept them for years (group of 20) and my females look like sumo wrestlers.

What size is your tank and what else is in there?

[TreeSparrow]

Also, if you have an ill fish, hero up with regular water changes to help stop it spreading to the other fish. Water quality is your friend.

What are the symptoms of the ill fish?

[kojackscat]

The ill one is a female Siamese fighting fish. It's spent all the time since I got it hiding by the filter, and it has shrunk to about half its original size. It was floating vertically, head down on Thursday.
I have a 60 litre tank. For ages its only had 4 cherry barbs in. On Sunday I got two female fighting fish and 6 neon tetras.
The ill fish looked it by Monday morning, and two of the cherry barbs bloated up like this yesterday.

[TreeSparrow]

Do lots of regular water changes. I think you're fully stocked, if not over stocked now for the adult size of the fish. You've effectively doubled the bioload (waste) in the tank without giving the filter a chance to culture more bacteria to deal with the increased waste. Regular water changes will keep them safe whilst things adjust.