pregnancy in fish

Question
hi i have a question about my tin foil barbs one of them has a lump on the undercarage its not a groth it just large and its on the inside how would i determin if she is pregnant..thank you


Answer
Hi Patti;

Barbs are egglayers. There must be a male or several males present for an egglaying fish to spawn. They are fertilized by the male(s) as they are laid and hatch in a few days. Tinfoils get over a foot long so you would need at least a 125 gallon tank and several fish in a group in order to breed. They have not been known to breed in smaller aquariums. If you have a female full of eggs and she won't or can't spawn, she will probably just re-absorb the eggs into her body. Feed plenty of veggies to help avoid constipation in a a gravid (full of eggs) female. Romaine lettuce, green beans, cucumber slices, squash slices, shredded cooked carrots are all good choices. Feed veggies several times a week.

Here are some profile pages about tinfoils;

http://www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/Fishindx/tinfoil.htm
http://fish.mongabay.com/species/Puntius_schwanenfeldi.html
http://animal-world.com/encyclo/fresh/cyprinids/tinfoilbarb.php
http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Minnows,%20Tinfoil%20Barbs.htm

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins