HELP! I have a female beta fish who is incredibly large near her head/stomach. Is she pregnant or dying?!?

Question

We took her to the petstore, and they think she's bloated, or she's pregnant. We're feeding her a small flake a day, now, she seems so hungry when we feed it to her...

If she's pregnant, and we DON'T have a male for her...what will happen to her? Will she just keep growing in size? I know males squeeze the eggs out of the females...what's gonna happen to my beta?!

Please help!

Answer 1

Bettas are egglayers, so she won't be pregnant. That doesn't mean she may not be developing eggs, however. Usually when they are preparing for spawning, they'll develop vertical stripes and get a well developed ovipositor. Check this link for example of what these look like: http://www.flippersandfins.net/faq.htm#malefemale

It doesn't sound as though you're overfeeding, although pellets developed for bettas might be a better choice nutritionally. See the photos in this link to see what a betta abdomen might look like from normal feeding and overfeeding: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070925184654AAA0OL7&r=w&pa=FZptHWf.BGRX3OFMiDRSV6ssaXKgRsOJheA3IFQWRIrGF20R6DEkq6LoLy_y0mXILg5BQvdt2vijxGWy0A--&paid=answered#TJEvXWHuVjiPdq_vEnO4CFUNkgbZREnlEBpUnTPHpU57jJZ.gPoZ

Does it look as though the betta's scales are sticking up away from the body? (see photos: http://www.fishjunkies.com/Diseases/dropsy.php http://www.fishdeals.com/fish_diseases/dropsy/ ) This is a condition called dropsy. Rather than being a disease, it's a symptom of something else being wrong. It can be something easy or hard to treat, but first you have to identify the cause. The first place to start is water quality. Is your fish in a tank or bowl? If a bowl, are you changing the water every 2-3 days? If a tank, are you changing around 25% of the volume each week? If the water quality is good, this may be an internal infection. There are recommendations for treatment in the first website above, as well as this one: http://www.fish-disease.net/diseases.htm

If this is just developing eggs, the female can deposit them without a male, but they won't be fertile.

Answer 2

This also happend to mine, unfortuantly it died but I didn't know much about fish at the time. If you have anyother fish in the same tank remove that one swollen fish right away and keep it in it's own bowl or tank. its isolation may make it better but it sounds like it may be too late if it is already that big. Someone told me it is a bacteria thatt caused it, you should look on the net for beta foroms where you can chat and post a pic, someone will be able to identify the problem and tell you how to treat it. Good luck.

Answer 3

Well you'll know if shes pregnant when she has a small little white like tube coming out a bit at the end of her stomach. And she'll have a nice round belly. And of course she'll be eating if shes pregnant. Dont freak out about not having a male she wont die she just wont have any babies without a male shes just showing that shes ready. But if you do want to breed her get a male who dosent have wuite long fins and isnt too old like over4 months. If you have any other questions just email me: [e-mail]