Too skinny?

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Sinister-Kisses

Aimara
MFK Member
Jan 19, 2022
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Rogue is a marbled fenestratus I've had since January. Right from day one in the store, it was skinny - but otherwise very active and friendly so I figured I'd take the chance and bought it. In QT when I got it home, it had a dose of PraziPro - probably 2 or 3, I don't remember exactly, but I usually do a couple doses in quick succession. I also made sure to feed it epsom salt soaked food for 5 or 6 days days in case of hex. Since then it's been given another Prazi round about 1.5 months ago and another 5 days of epsom food. It has always seemed otherwise healthy - eats like a damn pig, growing well (was about 2" when I bought it, now about 7"), poop looks healthy and I've never actually seen any worms. But I've had it for 6 months now and it still seems too skinny to me - especially considering how much it eats. I can't seem to fatten it up. I thought I'd get a second opinion - I know fish are like dogs, people are so used to seeing overweight fish that a healthy, normal size seems skinny, so I'm wondering if I'm suffering that biased eyesight. I do have levamisole I can try - which I haven't at all yet because I'm not convinced it's needed without any visual worm evidence. Thoughts?


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Agree with Midwater.
To me it looks very healthy, as opposed to many of the obese, overfed cichlids normally seen.
I kept the riverine fenestratus variant back in the early 90s, in tanks with a lot of current, so they were getting constant exercise, and they were very similar in shape.
 
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Totally unrelated but there r 2 ob fenestratus going around the real one from catemaco n the questionable one..
 
Your fish looks a little skinny to me too SK, but maybe that is because he is very young and still in the rapid growth stage of life. Similar to a teenage human who eats like a horse but remains skinny as a rail until they reach their twenties and their metabolism greatly slows down. If your fish is active, growing, and colorful, I would avoid adding any additional medicine. Just the usual regular water change routine. Great looking fish by the way, what size tank is it in and does it have any tankmates?
 
Thanks all. I'll just carry on as usual and stop worrying lol. It's currently in a 5ft, 120gal with no tank mates. It was originally in the 8ft tank growing up with the heterospila, but starting killing off tetras in that tank a couple months ago so I pulled it to this tank. Tried to add a few SAE a couple weeks ago and two promptly "vanished" so guess it's destined to be solitary now.
 
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Rogue is a marbled fenestratus I've had since January. Right from day one in the store, it was skinny - but otherwise very active and friendly so I figured I'd take the chance and bought it. In QT when I got it home, it had a dose of PraziPro - probably 2 or 3, I don't remember exactly, but I usually do a couple doses in quick succession. I also made sure to feed it epsom salt soaked food for 5 or 6 days days in case of hex. Since then it's been given another Prazi round about 1.5 months ago and another 5 days of epsom food. It has always seemed otherwise healthy - eats like a damn pig, growing well (was about 2" when I bought it, now about 7"), poop looks healthy and I've never actually seen any worms. But I've had it for 6 months now and it still seems too skinny to me - especially considering how much it eats. I can't seem to fatten it up. I thought I'd get a second opinion - I know fish are like dogs, people are so used to seeing overweight fish that a healthy, normal size seems skinny, so I'm wondering if I'm suffering that biased eyesight. I do have levamisole I can try - which I haven't at all yet because I'm not convinced it's needed without any visual worm evidence. Thoughts?


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Stunning markings and color.
 
Yes I'm super happy with the way it's colouring. Originally I had ordered a group of 6 and had them shipped - but ended up with all 6 being basically pure white and not at all what I wanted in a marbled fen. I eventually sold them all off. This one I hand picked myself when I was physically in the storefront of the same supplier so I knew I was getting one that actually had the blotches.
 
Agree with Midwater.
To me it looks very healthy, as opposed to many of the obese, overfed cichlids normally seen.
I kept the riverine fenestratus variant back in the early 90s, in tanks with a lot of current, so they were getting constant exercise, and they were very similar in shape.
I agree with this. I see literally tens of thousands of wild fish a year, probabaly a thousand in a month..
wild fish are not these fat, thick, perfect finned fish we see on out tanks. They look ... well, wild.. skinny & a little tattered.
we tend to over feed them and keep them bulky. Your fish looks great.
 
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Thanks...I figured that was probably the case which is why I came looking for outside opinions. I'm so used to my beefy Midas and the like that a skinny fish makes me a bit paranoid 😂
 
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