Albino cory catfish has huge swollen belly

Hi! I got 4 albino cory catfish about a week ago. They are in a 20 gallon long cycled tank with 1 rubber pleco, 5 glowlight tetras and a male betta. They seem to be very active. Water parameters are 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 5 nitrate and at 78°. This morning I noticed my largest cory has a large bulge in its belly. Since they are generally light pink, it shows through as almost a grayish color. I have dealt with sickness in other fish, but never these guys. Could it be a she and maybe pregnant? Or is she bloated or sick? Any advice would be super helpful!!

 

It is possible she is filled with eggs or maybe she just had a big meal. If it is eggs you can prompt her to lay them by doing a water change with slightly cooler water. 78 is slightly warmer than I would be comfortable with for these corys. I try to keep mine at about 75.

It gets much warmer than that during the summer and they don't seem to be harmed by it. Most of mine have lived through 6 summers with me so far. During the summer and warmer water I seldom see eggs but as soon as the weather cools my little girls get busy sticking eggs to everything almost daily.

 

Oh wow. Thanks for responding! I kind of got these guys on whim after researching basic care needs. I keep it at 78 mostly because I have a betta in there too. I am currently treating the whole tank for ick since they all moved in together at the same time and it seems my betta has it. Once that clears up I'll lower the temp a bit. So far the little fatso is still just being her usual crackhead self eating anything she can find and hopping all over. I hadn't even thought about her having eggs as I just got them about a week ago. I read that they will just eat all the eggs? I'm guessing my tetras will eat them too, because they eat literally EVERYTHING. Anything else I should do? I just did a water change this morning, but I can do another one with colder water. How long do they hold onto eggs? She looked normal last night. I now have SO MANY QUESTIONS since I'm used to bettas and tetras. Off to google I go

 

Yes, all the fish in the tank will feast on cory eggs. Even the one that lays them will get her share.

Since you just got corys you may not be aware that they are not vegetarians so their main food shouldn't be veggie based such as algae wafers. They need a meatier diet such as shrimp pellets. My little guys and girls also get Hikari sinking wafers for bottom feeders. BTW: I have WAY more corys in my tank than I should have so I make sure when I feed my other fish I feed enough for some to get to the bottom so my corys also get flakes, crisps or granules. In other words what ever I feed my other fish.

Occasionally I soak freeze dried blood worms and tubifex worms for them. I don't feed this very often since it is just a treat for them. I use my turkey baster when feeding this so I can squirt it right down to them.

 

I feed a whole bunch of different foods to all of them. They get tropical flakes, pellets, frozen and freeze dried bloodworms, brine shrimp and various kinds of bug bites. I also have 2 kinds of wafers for my pleco but I have no idea if he is eating them or the others are. I like to give them all choices hahaha.

 

Think what you is its filled stomach.
They have a skute under it that is more pronounced by some fish.
Eggs show on a different place (along the sides of the belly)
Think it is a wellfed female

 

Think what you is its filled stomach.
They have a skute under it that is more pronounced by some fish.
Eggs show on a different place (along the sides of the belly)
Think it is a wellfed female

Thanks!! It looks like the bulge has gone down completely in the last 2 days. These guys eat EVERYTHING! I know I probably fed too much trying to get my pleco to eat, and these guys just vacuum up anything they can find. Good to know I just have a little fatty fish haha.