# Baby Fronts Floating



## plug (Nov 10, 2013)

I don't understand why everytime I have a new group of front babies, they all look good to start and then after a couple of days, some just stay floating at the top with bloated bellies. This happens with every clutch, and I always lose at least 3 or so as they eventually just die

what could be causing this each time?


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## plug (Nov 10, 2013)

Here is a picture of them from the top
They all have bloated bellies and are upside down
If anyone has any ideas of what I can do, please let me know as I have some of these with every batch of babies


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## noddy (Nov 20, 2006)

I don't know much about fronts but I have heard that they sometimes gulp in air that needs to be surgically removed from adults.
Is it possible that your fry are doing that?


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## plug (Nov 10, 2013)

I am not sure
They all were fib when stripped, but then some started floating upside down with bloated bellies

I may grab one and maybe see if I can pierce the bloated belly

otherwise they all eventually die each time

this is very frustrating


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## noddy (Nov 20, 2006)

plug said:


> I am not sure
> They all were fib when stripped, but then some started floating upside down with bloated bellies
> 
> I may grab one and maybe see if I can pierce the bloated belly
> ...


there's a video on youtube of somebody letting the air out of an adult. I can't embed the link.


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## plug (Nov 10, 2013)

I saw that video, and it was on a large front
These are tiny fry, so it would be near impossible to try this

Not sure what my options from here are....


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

Possibly a stupid question, but tough to tell from the picture. Are these fry free swimming, then become bloated? Because it looks as if they still have their yolk sack, but that may just be the picture.


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## plug (Nov 10, 2013)

The fish are all at the top of the surface of the water
They are all upside down and they swim that way on the surface, spinning round and round. If it wasnt so sad it would be funny

It is not the egg sac as they were all gone when I stripped them
It is like their bellies are bloated with air or something, but they are so small, it is very difficult to try and pop them free of the air or whatever is in there

:-?


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## noddy (Nov 20, 2006)

Even if you did manage to get the air out, I think they would just keep doing it.
I have a cyp that gulps air every time I feed them and she swims vertically until she burps it out .
She never takes in any food and is just wasting away. I sometimes grab her and open her mouth to let the air out, but she just does it again, straight away.


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## plug (Nov 10, 2013)

So I grabbed 2 of the babies and took a needle and popped the bubble on their bellies and deflated them
They are able to swim down now but still struggle to stay down, and are constantly fighting to stay down nose first

will see what happens from here


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

Are these free swimming fry?

Where are they eating? Is the food floating at the surface, or is it eaten suspended, or off the bottom? What are they eating?


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## plug (Nov 10, 2013)

They are free swimming fry
I stripped the female and all the babies were developed and the egg sac was pretty well gone
I started feeding them a couple of days after they were stripped and was feeding them Hikari First Bites, and always sinking the food and they would eat it at the bottom or as it was sinking
I have since switched to Omega One Cichlid Flakes and crush them up as the fry are already too big to keep eating the first bites

It is the same scenario always with all my Front babies...there would always be a 3 or 4 that after a couple of days would be floating upside down at the surface with a bloated belly. Usually its been only 3 or 4, but this time its 7


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

If the fish are feeding off the bottom, or suspended and not on the surface, my only conclusion is that these are Darwin's rejects, and the best thing to do, is either nothing, or feed them to the parents.


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## plug (Nov 10, 2013)

I agree
This is what I have been doing before
Some stay alive for weeks and they actually swim around on the surface looking for food and I actually drop some at the surface for them, but they eventually all die, or I just feed them to my other fish

Its too bad because this time there were 7 of them


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

..and sometimes we have to be brutal... but when I've had a greater than acceptable number of deformities, or unhealthy fry, I've stopped using the parents as breeders. I wouldn't want to continue breeding fish, that were genetically weak.


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