How fat is too fat?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
It's not parasites - this is a known CB poly thing. Parasites usually make skinny polys not fat ones. ;)

I wouldn't want to separate either. Hopefully cutting down the feedings will allow you to keep her in the tank long term, and prevent her from becoming like DMD123 DMD123 ' obese Teug (or ornate? I'm blanking) who did have to be moved becasue she would not stop. That's unusual though.
 
  • Like
Reactions: clm08k, twentyleagues, Matteus and 1 other person
Hey Steve how big did you say she was? Around 10”? I’m wondering if she is maybe carrying eggs in addition to her typical plumpness. Do polys typically lay eggs even if not breeding? I know some other fish do this and the female gets quite plump just beforehand....
 
  • Like
Reactions: twentyleagues
Matteus said:
Hey Steve how big did you say she was? Around 10”? I’m wondering if she is maybe carrying eggs in addition to her typical plumpness. Do polys typically lay eggs even if not breeding? I know some other fish do this and the female gets quite plump just beforehand....
Click to expand...
Actually they can and could. I dont think it's been documented though. But just like every female no matter what species it's possible to "shed" unfertilized eggs. Although alot of fish and some reptiles and amphibians bodies just absorb them instead of getting rid of them. Resource savings.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Matteus
Without getting into a food "brand" discussion, what is the guaranteed analysis of the crude protein and crude fat in your pellets? Clearly your fish is consuming too many calories vs what it is using for day to day metabolism, growth, and overall health.

Your fish is extremely obese, and that kind of obesity in a fish will typically result in a much shortened lifespan.

I also agree with this:

In the wild these guys can often go weeks or months with out food depending on the season. They do a funny thing where they cram food into their body. If they do this on a daily basis it can definitely cause obesity which would never be good. Lots of people need to monitor the diets of their polys to make sure they don’t over eat. Some times what I do is I feed floating pellets to my other fish so the poly will miss out a few days a week on food.
Click to expand...
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: clm08k, magpie, Matteus and 1 other person
Steve_C said:
I doubt it's anything like parasites. I believe she just loves food lol. I've had her for a year and I know the guy that owns the shop I bought her from and he told me when I bought her that shes doesn't miss any meals. She's always been a big girl, just seems lately she's a tad bigger than when I got her.

Don't really want to have to remove her from the tank because she's my first poly I ever bought and that tank was set up for her originally. She gets along great with the other fish in the tank and doesn't even bother the smaller sens so I'm not really too keen on taking her out for any amount of time and chance messing up the "mood" of the tank unless it becomes a necessity to do so for her health.
Click to expand...
Maybe her metabolism is slowing down? I would try to feed all the other fish as opposed to the bichjr, but this sounds tough
 
The metabolism of all fish slows down as they mature. No different than dogs, when young one feeds a puppy food, then as they mature a maintenance diet. Or the result is a fat dog. Same if one feeds too much to the dog. That was part of the reason I asked about the crude protein/fat levels in Steve's food. But from what I can gather this fish is an overly aggressive feeder, and is simply eating far too much food. Sometimes feeding strategies can be difficult to achieve when we attempt to keep various species together in a community setting.
 
  • Like
Reactions: islandguy11, clm08k, magpie and 2 others
RD. RD. What would you think about fastening two tubes to opposite sides of the aquarium and dropping small amounts of food in one side then the other until you’ve fed all of it?
 
I've used PVC tubes in the past to target feed, but with a hyper aggressive eater, hard to say how that will play out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom