Really Fat Mandarin

Michelle B · Nov 21, 2023

Hello,
I have a really fat female Mandarin. She has looked like this for months. She eats pellets off the bottom when I feed. Anyone else have a fatty like this? Any suggestions?

cdemoss01 · Nov 22, 2023

Michelle B said:
Hello,
I have a really fat female Mandarin. She has looked like this for months. She eats pellets off the bottom when I feed. Anyone else have a fatty like this? Any suggestions?

Lord it looks like my cat... no i don't overfeed her she's just been like that her entire life and no shes not sick. Ok so your mandarin is quite large... you could possibly setup a small 15 gallon and put it in there for a month or two feed it smaller amounts of food but enough to keep it alive.

littlefoxx · Nov 22, 2023

Michelle B said:
Hello,
I have a really fat female Mandarin. She has looked like this for months. She eats pellets off the bottom when I feed. Anyone else have a fatty like this? Any suggestions?

Is she pregnant? Do you have a male mandarin? That would be my only thought. Ive got a fatty male but he is nowhere near this so Im thinking its not food related but I could be wrong. @Jay Hemdal @vetteguy53081 might be able to assess if its a health issue

DaJMasta · Nov 22, 2023

Never seen one that big. When they're carrying eggs they do look a bit more swollen, but again, I've never seen quite that.

If she seems to be moving around and acting alright, it may not be so bad, but maybe I would cut back on the pellets so less make it to the bottom.

littlefoxx · Nov 22, 2023

Is she captive bread? Ive got two wild ones and they have no interest in pellets or other foods, only eat podz

vetteguy53081 · Nov 22, 2023

Michelle B said:
Hello,
I have a really fat female Mandarin. She has looked like this for months. She eats pellets off the bottom when I feed. Anyone else have a fatty like this? Any suggestions?

Mandarins are eating machines and this fish is either constipated with fatty foods or eating too much

Paul B · Nov 22, 2023

Unfortunately she is egg bound and will probably die. It is very common in dragonettes and how I lose almost all my females.

The only "cure" is a cesarean, but that doesn't always go well. You can also try gently squeezing her to get the eggs out but you really can't get them all out. Sorry

They fill with eggs and can't expel them so the eggs eventually rots causing the death of the fish. I probably lost 6 of them like that.

Jay Hemdal · Nov 22, 2023

+1 with @Paul B - the mandarin is likely egg bound. The other possible diagnosis for this is "ascites". That is fluid build-up in the abdomen due to liver failure. It isn't from overfeeding, so don't cut back on the food.

There isn't any treatment for this, and it will eventually die from it, but I can't forecast how long.

Jay

PeterErc · Nov 22, 2023

Sorry to hear this news about your fish.

I have another question about the females. Is the fatality with all females? Would housing male with a female help? In your opinion are females better left at the store to die somewhere else? Thanks

Glad the experienced answered your question and put the mis information to rest. In the medical world I think they call them Quacks.

It would have been a shame if you followed other suggestions and stressed her out for no reason.

Paul B said:
Unfortunately she is egg bound and will probably die. It is very common in dragonettes and how I lose almost all my females.

The only "cure" is a cesarean, but that doesn't always go well. You can also try gently squeezing her to get the eggs out but you really can't get them all out. Sorry

They fill with eggs and can't expel them so the eggs eventually rots causing the death of the fish. I probably lost 6 of them like that.

Jay Hemdal said:
+1 with @Paul B - the mandarin is likely egg bound. The other possible diagnosis for this is "ascites". That is fluid build-up in the abdomen due to liver failure. It isn't from overfeeding, so don't cut back on the food.

There isn't any treatment for this, and it will eventually die from it, but I can't forecast how long.

Jay

Jay Hemdal · Nov 22, 2023

PeterErc said:
Sorry to hear this news about your fish.

I have another question about the females. Is the fatality with all females? Would housing male with a female help? In your opinion are females better left at the store to die somewhere else? Thanks

Glad the experienced answered your question and put the mis information to rest. In the medical world I think they call them Quacks.

It would have been a shame if you followed other suggestions and stressed her out for no reason.

In my experience with other species of fish, having a male in the same tank can *sometimes* but not always reduce the incidence of egg-binding, but only if the fish spawn and release eggs before they begin to bind. "Binding" happens when the eggs harden inside the female. Once that happens, they cannot be released.

Jay

Paul B · Nov 23, 2023

PeterErc said:
Would housing male with a female help?

Unfortunately, no. I have a male with all my spawning fish and almost always have. For some reason that type of fish doesn't always want to spawn but mandarins, like all female fish fill with eggs constantly and dragonettes seem to have some sort of defect in their design that allows this to happen as I find it "very" common and I normally keep them for their full lifespan.

(And I am surprised Jay agrees with me. Happy Thanksgiving)

I normally do a necropsy on any dead fish and for me, in all cases I find rotting eggs.

PeterErc · Nov 23, 2023

Thanks guys, that is some good info and should be a sticky somewhere.

I was unaware of this and it would be even more unfortunate for the fish if it was subject to random thoughts and ideas IMO