Fat Flame Angel

[daviesp007]

Hi all - I have a Flameback Angelfish (Centropyge acanthops), and over the last couple of weeks I have noticed it getting really fat. No other fish has this issue, so not sure what's caused it. I feed nori sheets (not interested), mysis, flakes and pellets. Flakes and pellets are 'Omega One - Natural Protein Formula'. I feed a sheet os nori once per day, and a pinch of flake/pellet mix 2 times per day. The tanks is at 90G reef, with the following inhabitants:
1 x Foxface Rabbitfish
2 x Ocellaris clowns
1 x flameback angel
1 x Hoeven's Wrasse
1 x Purple Firefish
1 x Blue Dot Jawfish
1 x Watchman Goby
1 x Court Jester Goby

Plus some Zoa's, and a couple of LPS corals / cleaner shrimp / hermit crabs...

The Flameback eats the flakes / pellets, and does not touch any of my corals. I have searched online to see if there is any advice, and can't find anything useful. I have had this fish for about 8 months, and I quarantine my fish before putting them in the DT. It has not shown any sign of disease, though it's possible I guess. I remember seeing long strings of poo pretty regularly on this fish, which I haven't seen recently... so it could be a log jam. I have tried feeding peas, as I have heard this can help if there's a digestive issue, though I've not seen the Flameback eat it. Hopefully you can see the attached image. Any advice?

 

[carrots]

Can't see a photo but I just had something like that happen to a neon dottiback. Looked like it was egg bound ready to explode. I haven't seen a sign of it in a few days. Not even a dead body. Maybe it did explode. ;(

 

[Tripod1404]

No picture, but it bight be a female and those might be eggs. Females of many fish regularly swell up with eggs.

 

[OrionN]

I would put in another flameback angel. My female flame angel seem to bowel obstruction the day she spawn. Your fish doesn’t spawn the eggswill eventually resort by the body.
The same for my female mandarin. She seem to exploded due to her huge stomach

 

[daviesp007]

I thought you could only keep 1 dwarf angel per tank due to aggression? Do you have more than one then OrionN?

I have also attempted to attache a picture again, hopefully this time works.

 

[OrionN]

IMO, you just got a fat angel, full of eggs. The dorsal muscle thickness indicated that he is fat. Fish that have bowel obstruction just have stomach bloated, not the full body like your fish.
You can keep harem of Centropyge angels. The trick is not adding two male angels together. They will fight, even in huge tanks since they defend a large area in the wild. Centropyge are Protogynous hermaphrodites. All of them start our as Juveniles, then mature to Female. The dominant one of a group switch sex and become male.
In your case, add a small one or two, even more, will result in a harem. Depends on your tank size of course.
I have keep harems of these angels and they will spawn in your tank in the late evening. Having one male trying to spawn with multiple females is a neat event. I got a video if my Flame angels spawning on YouTube somewhere.

 

[daviesp007]

Interesting. I just realized, I entitled this thread incorrectly, it should read "Fat Flameback Angel", not "Fat Flame Angel"... doh!

Do you know if they will just dump the eggs if no male angel is available? My quarantine process for new additions would mean I couldn't get another flameback into the tank with this one for at least 5-6 weeks, which I'm guessing would be too late.

 

[OrionN]

They resorb the eggs.

 

[daviesp007]

Unfortunately, the Flameback died today. So, I suspect it wasn't eggs.

 

[carrots]

My dottiback that I mentioned above was also found dead after looking like yours did. No clue to what it was.

 

[daviesp007]

My dottiback that I mentioned above was also found dead after looking like yours did. No clue to what it was.

Sorry to hear that. Out of interest, what food are you using? I wonder if it was constapation.

 

[carrots]

I feed my tanks the following. Frozen foods are LRS Reef Frenzy, PE Mysis, Hikari mysis. I also feed pellets which are a mix of; Zoo Pro Marine, New Life Spectrum, and Hikari Marine A. And the tank gets a half sheet of nori almost every day due to having a tang and angel in there. I'm not sure how long dottibacks live. She was about 5 years old.

 

[alton]

I have had this happen in a Copperband Butterfly that lived for 13 years, and a Golden Angel. The CBB got extremely fat, then went skinny and perished. The Golden just got fat and perished. In the Golden Angels I had the pair for 2+ years together, purchased as a bonded pair from DD.

 

[McPuff]

I'm guessing worms in the gut. Might be worth feeding some medicated foods to your tank in case other fish also have the parasites (metronidazole, kanaplex).