My fish burst?

Question
Hello,
As you know I had 9 glofish (zebra danios) in my ten gallon tank. I fed them twice a day, with bloodworms once or twice a week and a pea every now and then. One of my orange glofish was very scrawny when I got him/her, But I noticed in the past week or so that he/she had gotten really fat. My fears were confirmed the other day when said fish died. When I fished him/her out of the tank his/her stomach was split open underneath. I noticed him/her acting sluggish that day, but I need to know if it was from over feeding or if it was a girl and she was full of eggs and none of the males were interested. If it was a girl I did see evidence that none of the males in the tank wanted anything to do with her, but I just want to make sure. I also have a lot of females in there and not too many males, when I replace the orange glofish should I make a point to secure a male?

Answer
Hi Kelley,

It may have been from dropsy, a bacterial infection. Fortunately, it's not contagious (in most cases), so your other fish won't get it. Dropsy is usually caused by bacteria, and the most obvious sign is bloating and sticking out of the scales. It was probably not pregnant, and overfeeding usually would affect ALL fish.

Breeding them is possible, you yes, you can get a male. It's hard to tell the difference, however. You cannot sell any offspring of GloFish, since they are patented, so be prepared to make extra room for the babies, or give them to a friend.

Good Luck, and Happy Fishkeeping!