Swordtail always very thin...?

secuono

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Aug 12, 2009
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VA, USA
There should be a livebearer thread section...
Any who!
My male Red Wag Swordtail has always been very thin, no concave gut, but everything thin. Platy have a round body, do Swordtails also have that or no?
I have had him for 3-4 months now, never seen him with a full tummy. He also spits out all the food he takes in, slow moving, slow reaction, slow to getting food. He has always been like this, no physical damage to him. I have never seen him eat, even with all the time I have watched him, nothing, no flakes or worms. I'm guessing he is living off the food dust on leaves.
Is this normal, I mean, it is for him I guess, but what about other Swordtails?
Any way to get him to eat better??
I had a Pineapple Swordtail male before, he was a pig, but fairly thin too.
:feedback:


Here is a pic of him.
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Here is a pic of my gorgeous Pineapple, I need to find another one! You can see he is round and has definitively eaten.
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Here is my RW Swordtail.
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Any chance the other fish are preventing him from eating well? Perhaps he is at the bottom of the hierarchy? Livebearers are usually not that way, but I'm sure it's not unheard of.
Could also be an age thing. A lot of fish are very 'thin' looking, then fill out when they mature. Perhaps he just hasn't hit maturity yet.
It is also possibly that he has some sort of neurological issue, as you said he seems kinda 'slow'. This could likely be a result of inbreeding, or could have been caused by some environmental factor when he was younger. This could be impacting his ability to feed.

You could place him in a breeder net, and try to feed him directly, or move him to another tank. This might tell you if the issue is him being picked on.
If it's an age thing, time will tell.
If it is neurological or physical, there is nothing you can do.

Hope that helps.
 
He has no problem going into a feeding frenzy group, and I put food in accross the tank to even it out. Some sink and fish spread out, he is not picked on, no one bothers him or other fish.
He had his sword when I got him, so he is not too young.
 
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