Fat WCMM, Should I Worry?

Author Topic: Fat WCMM, should I worry?  (Read 6595 times) 11 replies

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Offline TrenchyLs

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Fat WCMM, should I worry?
« on: May 07, 2017, 11:07:49 AM »
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Morning all.

I have 8 WCMM in my tank and a few of them (3 I think, but they are a bit too active to count properly!) are quite fat in comparison to the rest.

A bit of Google says they are most likely perfectly healthy females.  Unfortunately I don't have room for another tank and the other fish I have really wouldn't like the temp drop required to get the Minnows spawning.

My only experience of anything that lays eggs is reptiles and they get egg-bound if they don't lay which can be fatal.  The Internet is full of info on how to get Minnows spawning, but nary a whisper about what happens if you don't, so I'm wondering if I'm risking long-term health issues if my WCMM don't spawn?

Thanks

Offline Littlefish

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Re: Fat WCMM, should I worry?
« Reply #1 on: May 07, 2017, 11:55:24 AM »
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It's all good, as far as I'm aware.
My WCMM are the same and have been so since last year. The females are still rounder, nobody has spawned in the temperate tank (thankfully as I don't really have room for much more), and everyone is eating and acting as normal.
I don't think fish get egg bound like reptiles, and I think a lot of female fish are more rotund than the males.
I'm sure one of the more experienced keepers will provide some more detailed information if there is anything you need to keep an eye on, but no long term health issues if fish don't spawn.

By the way, what reptiles do you have? If you want to post pics and give some info in the "other pets" section that would be great.  8)

Offline TrenchyLs

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Re: Fat WCMM, should I worry?
« Reply #2 on: May 07, 2017, 12:28:56 PM »
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I kind of assumed that was the case since there was nothing specific online but it never hurts to check!

No reptiles myself, but my ex-girlfriend was mad about them!  She had a proper menagerie:
Bearded Dragon
Mountain Horned something-or-other
An absolutely awesome (and surprisingly social) Yemen Chameleon
A huge tank with 3 Mississippi Map Turtles and 3 Axolotls (White Albino, Golden Albino and Melanoid)

When went our separate ways she was eyeing up another Beardy and like you, the axolotl bug had well and truly bitten her so I wouldn't be surprised if she had more by now!

Offline Sue

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Re: Fat WCMM, should I worry?
« Reply #3 on: May 07, 2017, 04:27:50 PM »
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To be honest, if they do spawn you are very unlikely to be inundated with wcmm. The eggs will be eaten almost as soon as they are laid, and if any fall into somewhere inaccessible, the fry will be eaten as soon as they swim out into the open as egg layer fry are very tiny. If you want to breed them you have to do things like spawning them in a nursery tank then remove the adults as soon as they've spawned and raise the fry separately until they are big enough to avoid being eaten.
My rice fish and peacock gudgeons spawn all the time and I don't have baby fish in the tank. Well, except for 4 juvenile rice fish and the only reason I have them is that I moved a plant with eggs in it (didn't know they were there) into my betta's tank and he is so old he didn't bother with them. I'm not even sure he could see them.

Offline TrenchyLs

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Re: Fat WCMM, should I worry?
« Reply #4 on: May 07, 2017, 05:19:57 PM »
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If, by some chance they do spawn then the consequences are all part of the big circle of life!  (Does that sound a little callous?)

As long as the girls aren't going to have problems with not spawning then anything else can be dealt with as it arises.

Offline Sue

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Re: Fat WCMM, should I worry?
« Reply #5 on: May 07, 2017, 05:33:55 PM »
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I forgot to mention that the water being warmer than the minnows prefer won't stop them spawning ......

Offline TrenchyLs

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Re: Fat WCMM, should I worry?
« Reply #6 on: May 07, 2017, 07:39:56 PM »
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Really?

Well, if they do spawn then the rest of the fish are getting a treat (especially the Dwarf Gourami that seem to try eating absolutely anything that goes in the tank!)

Offline Sue

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Re: Fat WCMM, should I worry?
« Reply #7 on: May 07, 2017, 07:48:53 PM »
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I had wcmm several years ago. I bred them in a small tank kept just for this and moved the adults back into the main tank when they'd laid their eggs. I kept the main tank at 25 deg because of the other fish, and the spawning tank also at this temp so it was the same as the main tank. They had no trouble at all spawning.
The main problem was feeding the fry so most of them died  :-[

I now know that wcmm need temps lower than 25 deg but I didn't back then.

Offline TrenchyLs

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Re: Fat WCMM, should I worry?
« Reply #8 on: May 07, 2017, 08:19:07 PM »
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I now know that wcmm need temps lower than 25 deg but I didn't back then.

True, but with the amount of information available on the internet, getting a definitive answer about what they do need can be difficult.  I've seen anywhere from a max of 21 to 24 degrees so I've settled on 23 (or just below, depending on which thermometer I use) since that is the only temp that fits the profiles for everyone in the the tank.

Offline fcmf

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Re: Fat WCMM, should I worry?
« Reply #9 on: May 07, 2017, 08:50:18 PM »
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but with the amount of information available on the internet, getting a definitive answer about what they do need can be difficult.  I've seen anywhere from a max of 21 to 24 degrees
There is indeed a vast amount of info available on the internet - it can be difficult to differentiate the wheat from the chaff. Fishbase and Seriouslyfish are two excellent sources, in addition to our own Thinkfish website's Fish Profiles, and are updated regularly - http://www.fishbase.org/summary/4758 and http://www.seriouslyfish.com/species/tanichthys-albonubes/

Offline Sue

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Re: Fat WCMM, should I worry?
« Reply #10 on: May 07, 2017, 08:56:33 PM »
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The two sites that fcmf gave are both written by scientists/ichthiologists and a more accurate than a lot of websites.

Offline TrenchyLs

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Re: Fat WCMM, should I worry?
« Reply #11 on: May 08, 2017, 01:43:34 AM »
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Thanks fcmf.

I do tend to use SeriouslyFish a lot for the 'sciency' stuff and found some good info on Fishlore.

Looking at all three pages for the WCMM none of them completely agree on certain parameters:
Fishbase:  Temp- 18-22
                 Ph- 6.0-8.0
                 Numbers- 5+

SeriouslyFish:  Temp- 14-22
                        Ph- 6.0-8.5
                        Numbers- 10+

ThinkFish:  Temp- 14-24
                   Ph- 6.0-8.5
                   Numbers- 4+

All slightly different so it's a choice of picking the one that suits or take an average (hence 23 degrees and 8 minnows)!!  But that's just the Internet for you.

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