What condition does a female betta (chinese fighting fish) possess when her stomach apears overly bloated?

Question

As she may be pregnant.

Answer 1

she could just be pregnant, nothing else.

Answer 2

She's not "pregnant". Bettas are egg layers, not livebearers. She could have eggs. You weren't specific if there were any other symptoms. As already stated, if her scales are sticking out it could be dropsy. If she's bloated and sinking or floating on her side, you are probably feeding her too much and she is bloated. Aquarium salt or epsom salt and cutting off food for a couple days then limiting the amount you feed her could help in that case.

Answer 3

MagicMan is probably right - she might be carrying eggs (not pregnant, as betta are not livebearers their eggs are fertilized external of the body) or she could have dropsy (as MM said - look at her scales, does she look like a pine-cone?) or the possibility exists that she is a bit over-fed.

If she's carrying eggs and there's no male to fertilize / squeeze them from her she'll eventually dispense them due to the over-load of pressure, at which point they will either become detrius or food for another fish.

Dropsy untreated is practically always deadly.

Over-feeding can be curbed.

All simple things to take care of.

Answer 4

It could be that she is full of eggs however, if her scales are standing out from her body in the bloated area she is suffering from a condition called dropsy. Dropsy is actually the symptom of any one of several internal bacterial infections. I would suggest treating her with Furanace or Maracyn TC if this appears to be the case.

MM

Answer 5

I once had a betta. It ended up dying, so i'm probably not one to be asking. It might be pregnant though. One of mine seemed overly bloated, then, the next day, it died. I hope that's not the case with yours though.

Answer 6

This condition... I'm not too familiar with it. I've never really seen it before. It might be pregnancy...

Answer 7

pregancy is the only thing I can think of