I Think I Have A Pregnant Black Tail Tetra

so.. just notice one of my tetra being really plump. They are thin fish so the one stands out a lot. Can it be pregnant? I have 4 total (all adopted) but I have had them for a year and this is the first time I've noticed the one like this or any of them. Two are smaller then the other two so now worked they are males.

So what are the chances it (she) is pregnant ? What should I do to make her comfortable to lay her spawn? Should I move her into another tank being I have others in same tank?
I read if she's not comfortable to lay her eggs, she'll absorb them, is that correct?

I just went through this with my Platy and saved two fry and watching them grow so happy about that but man, that was just two weeks ago so I'm worried now I have to deal with the
Tetra.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated

 

Tetras are egg layers, meaning they do not get pregnant as that implies the eggs inside are fertilized. The male and female need to be together and spawn for fertile eggs. Problem is, egg layer are much harder to raise than livebearers as the fry are so tiny and usually only eat microscopic live foods. But before you even get to the fry stage you need to have the male and female moved to a separate tank for spawning as the eggs will be scattered all over the tank and eaten or sucked up shortly after being laid.

I suggest you research the species in question and find out the specifics on how to breed them if that's what you want to do. Or you could just do nothing and let nature take its course. Perhaps they will spawn in the tank and any eggs will be eaten before they even hatch, and that's perfectly fine. You don't want to try and raise all the fry, been there done that. It's a lot of work and takes at least one spare tank completely with sponge filter and heater. It's no problem if you choose to do nothing, it won't make you a terrible person to just let it be. If I tried to raise all the fry my fish produce I'd be overrun and the fry would end up stunted due to over crowding.

 

Thanks you so much for the advice

 

Do you have a pic of the plump fish?

I have a school of lemon tetras that spawn in my tank. Started with 7 now have 14 after breeding. Never saw a really "plump" one, even the females stayed trim when scattering eggs. Had a rasbora that got super plump that I thought had eggs, but turns out it was parasites and or constipation.

 

Okay so if parasites, what do I do? Now I'm worried the rest will get them. What are signs to look for in the tank or with the other fish?
Thank you for responding

 

Do you have a pic of the plump fish?

I have a school of lemon tetras that spawn in my tank. Started with 7 now have 14 after breeding. Never saw a really "plump" one, even the females stayed trim when scattering eggs. Had a rasbora that got super plump that I thought had eggs, but turns out it was parasites and or constipation.

Do you have a pic of the plump fish?

I have a school of lemon tetras that spawn in my tank. Started with 7 now have 14 after breeding. Never saw a really "plump" one, even the females stayed trim when scattering eggs. Had a rasbora that got super plump that I thought had eggs, but turns out it was parasites and or constipation.

Okay so if parasites, what do I do? Now I'm worried the rest will get them. What are signs to look for in the tank or with the other fish?
Thank you for responding

 

Here is a picture. Fish in question is the middle one.

 

Here is a picture. Fish in question is the middle one.

What does it poop look like? Is it long and white? Long and clearish? Is it constipated?

I wouldn't rush to medicate just yet.

It's hard to tell in that photo how bloated it is . Can you take a few more from different angles? My rasbora was very "obese" .. yours, I can't really tell given the angle and lighting.

 

BTW, I never noticed my lemon tetras being "heavy" with eggs, like I mentioned earlier. However I did notice the males displaying and jockeying for alpha male status. They would try to cast long shadows to males below... It freaked me out. I thought they were dying, they were hovering at 45 degrees to parallel to the substrate , (I thought it was a swim bladder issue) then suddenly would swooped down like a fighter jets and ram the other male. I didnt know what was going on until I Googled it. It reminds me of two bucks ramming each other with their antlers. I was like, oh that's cool . A few weeks later I found some fry in my sump. I never saw them spawn.. probably spawned at night. My cardinal tetras have scattered eggs as well, their eggs are so small they look like tiny air bubbles or specs of dust.

Is there any courting or mating behavior going on? Or alpha male positioning going on?

 

BTW, I never noticed my lemon tetras being "heavy" with eggs, like I mentioned earlier. However I did notice the males displaying and jockeying for alpha male status. They would try to cast long shadows to males below... It freaked me out. I thought they were dying, they were hovering at 45 degrees to parallel to the substrate , (I thought it was a swim bladder issue) then suddenly would swooped down like a fighter jets and ram the other male. I didnt know what was going on until I Googled it. It reminds me of two bucks ramming each other with their antlers. I was like, oh that's cool . A few weeks later I found some fry in my sump. I never saw them spawn.. probably spawned at night. My cardinal tetras have scattered eggs as well, their eggs are so small they look like tiny air bubbles or specs of dust.

Is there any courting or mating behavior going on? Or alpha male positioning going on?

Hi. I have 4 and they all hang out together . The fatty seems to be off on it's own at times now. Getting so big that I barely see the black stripes on the side. More silver now. How log do the tetra go before laying the eggs? I can't see the poop because I'm working all day and feed at night. I cut back on feeding as well but it seems to be getting fatter. I have a platy that just had fry and she got really plump at the bottom area too so that was my first thought was that this one was going to lay eggs.
Should I move all the tetra to a smaller tank and see what happens because or just the one? I don't know how to tell which ones are males and females. I adopted them so don't know a lot about them. I don't think the one "fatty" is eating though. Is that a bad sign?

 

The Platy is a livebearer, so it doesn't lay eggs but instead gives birth to live fry... That's why it gets chubby. Tetras scatter eggs, they don't nearly as rotund as livebearers.

Fish that aren't eating is usually a bad sign. If you have a QT or hospital tank I would move it over and start medicating... The question is , what is wrong with the fish so you can medicate properly? Not sure what to tell you . Maybe others have suggestions. Moving the fish to it's own tank will let you see it's poop more easily (if bare bottom tank).

 

To be clear, only move the one sick tetra at this point into the hospital tank