# Is this a fat fish or a bloated fish?



## compuatic (Mar 29, 2012)

*** been feeding NLS twice a day for the last week and noticed this today after the feeding. Most fish are like this not just this one. All seem very active and happy. Is this me overfeeding or are they bloated fish? i am using NLS cichlid formula, will this food cause bloatiness?


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## DanniGirl (Jan 25, 2007)

Assuming they're eating fine and their feces look normal, the culprit may be overfeeding. :wink:

Overfeeding will cause a fish to look bloated. Cut back on the feedings to once a day.


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## nmcichlid-aholic (Mar 23, 2011)

Overfeeding will cause your fish to look bloated because their bellies are full, and this will go away as the food is digested and excreted, But, overfeeding can also cause the disease Bloat, in which case the full belly look doesn't go awsy, and they will have white or clear stringy feces and will eventually refuse food that you offer. Try to only feed as much as they will eat in 20-30 seconds at each feeding - even if they act like they are still hungry. These fish would eat 24/7 if you let them!


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## ws812 (Apr 17, 2009)

Don't feed them for a couple days and you'll know for sure what it is.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Sometimes a female getting ready to spawn will look rounded like that. The test, as mentioned, is are they eating?


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## compuatic (Mar 29, 2012)

Yes, everyone is eating like it's their last meal. This picture was after a feeding yesterday evening. This morning all the fish were bunched up again as soon as i approached the tank thinking it's feeding time.

The only reason i feed twice now is because all the demasoni's are 3/4 to 1 inch in size and they seem to find it a little challenging to fight for food with the 1.5-2 inch acei and yellow labs.


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## Mudkicker (Apr 2, 2003)

Your fish are pretty small, what size are the pellets? Switch to a flake food for a while and see how it goes. Def do not feed them for a few days as already mentioned.


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## compuatic (Mar 29, 2012)

i'm using 1mm nls pellets


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## Mudkicker (Apr 2, 2003)

compuatic said:


> i'm using 1mm nls pellets


The 1mm is pretty small. I personally don't like feeding pellets to small fish. I also find that when you feed a flake in a tank with various sizes and various aggressions, the flakes break up enough so that even the smallest guy in your tank will get to eat.


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

Mudkicker said:


> compuatic said:
> 
> 
> > i'm using 1mm nls pellets
> ...


I actually went the opposite direction with great success. I switched from the 1mm to 2mm mainly because my albino eureka read with his orange eyes was having a hard time locating the 1mm food before the other fish gobbled it up. So I switched to the 2mm and he finds it easier and it fills them faster and even the smallest fish has no issues. Even if my 1" fish only found one he would be in good shape. I will never go back to 1mm. This works in my case but may not work for everybody so take it with a grain of salt....


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## Sidius (Mar 3, 2012)

13razorbackfan said:


> Mudkicker said:
> 
> 
> > compuatic said:
> ...


Which NLS 2mm are you feeding? I use the 1mm cichlid formula but I haven't seen a 2mm cichlid formula from NLS. I checked their website to be sure but haven't noticed one.


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## 13razorbackfan (Sep 28, 2011)

Sidius said:


> Which NLS 2mm are you feeding? I use the 1mm cichlid formula but I haven't seen a 2mm cichlid formula from NLS. I checked their website to be sure but haven't noticed one.


Yeah...it is 2mm medium fish formula. It is basically the same as the 1mm but a bit more protein. It has a picture of a african cichlid and a saltwater fish on the front. They are tough to find but my local petco is now stocking them.


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## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

Looks like a real young fish I would not worry about it too much as they can process a lot of food, but you probably should cut back on the food. Not necessarily to once a day but cut the amount in half. I feed my fry up to 4 times a day but only what they can eat in about 30 seconds...


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