Pregnant Melanarus Wrasse...but how?

Mark Teitelman · Sep 30, 2020

Hi all...so I've had this lovely Melanarus Wrasse for about 3 years now. Noticed about 2 weeks ago that she had gotten incredibly fat...or PREGGO...there is another wrasse in the tank, a Mystery Wrasse...but I didn't know that those 2 would mate...the other inhabitants are 2 clowns, a springeri damsel, midas blenny, Starry blenny, banggai, flame hawk, and a yellow assessor...did my two wrasses have quarantine fish sex? Attached a short movie file at this link:

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CCauthers · Sep 30, 2020

I have no idea how to help you, but following for sure

fishguy242 · Sep 30, 2020

very interesting..^^

CCauthers · Sep 30, 2020

maybe @evolved has some idea of whats going on

Mark Teitelman · Sep 30, 2020

Perhaps it's an immaculate fish-ception

Jon Warner · Sep 30, 2020

Wrasse are broadcast spawners... so... I don't think so. At least not in the Molly/Guppy meaning of the word.

Maritimer · Sep 30, 2020

Jon has the right of it ...

Wrasse are egglayers, and in their case fertilization is external. If your wrasse is female, she may have built up an ovary-full of eggs, and would be waiting for a male to swim along to make a spawning run. We're not going up a river like a salmon here, but we are going _up_ - up, away from the reef, up, toward the surface, up, as quickly as we can swim and then - together - at the peak of the rise - she releases eggs, he a cloud of sperm, and both descend back toward the reef.

Other possibilities - for either male or female - could include internal parasites in large numbers, or ... maybe cut back on the feeding just a bit?!

~B.

vetteguy53081 · Sep 30, 2020

Any missing shrimp or inverts?

Mark Teitelman · Sep 30, 2020

Thanks all...I suppose it's possible she's just quite fat, but I don't feed THAT much...just a couple cubes once a day...she seems very happy and healthy, always out and about. Kind of like my chocolate Lab, who never met a piece of food she didn't try to inhale...

evolved · Oct 1, 2020

Maritimer said:
Jon has the right of it ...

Wrasse are egglayers, and in their case fertilization is external. If your wrasse is female, she may have built up an ovary-full of eggs, and would be waiting for a male to swim along to make a spawning run. We're not going up a river like a salmon here, but we are going _up_ - up, away from the reef, up, toward the surface, up, as quickly as we can swim and then - together - at the peak of the rise - she releases eggs, he a cloud of sperm, and both descend back toward the reef.

Other possibilities - for either male or female - could include internal parasites in large numbers, or ... maybe cut back on the feeding just a bit?!

~B.

Right. Definitely not pregnant, as that's not possible. Could be egg bound, but this presents as a male to me.

Therefore, the possibilities here are likely either a bowel obstruction, or internal parasites.

OrionN · Oct 1, 2020

I think that wrasse is gut bind. I don't think she will do well unless it resolve. I feed my fish a lot and mine never get that huge of a stomach. This is the max mine get and then poop come out every morning without fail.

Normally she look like this mid day

Mark Teitelman · Oct 1, 2020

Hmmmm. Any advice on treatment? It still eats heartily every day. I only feed once.

Zionas · Oct 2, 2020

All hail the Virgin Halichoeres!

mort · Oct 2, 2020

You could try feeding brineshrimp or bloodworm if you can't get brine. Brine is a good food to help with constipation so it's worth feeding only that for a few days to see if it improves.

CCauthers · Oct 2, 2020

I think skinned boiled peas helps with constipation as well

OrionN · Oct 2, 2020

@Paul B may have suggestions.

Paul B · Oct 7, 2020

I can't see that video, (My old wooden computer won't let me) But I feel (without seeing it) that it is not pregnant but egg bound.
All female fish in the sea are pregnant all the time but they are a lot healthier than most fish in a tank. To have one pregnant in a tank you should feed the proper foods which most people don't.
If it is very fat, and not laying eggs, and eggbound, which I think it is, the cure is not something you want to know about. I will tell you anyway but it is a Cesarean.

I would not do that because there is a chance it, or She could be pregnant or constipated.
Fish Cesarean often do not end up well because by the time you do it, the fish is very fat meaning the eggs started to rot which will infect the rest of the fish and doesn't usually end up well.

It is fairly common in fish as they are not designed very well in that area. Imagine a woman having a thousand babies every couple of weeks. Then imagine paying for all that college.

One of my old mandarins was egg bound after hatching our many babies over many years. Then something happened and she couldn't release her eggs even though she had a really good looking male there. I couldn't save her.

I would just leave that fish alone and see what happens. She could just be constipated and get better on her own. If not, there isn't mush you could do.