A problematic birth

I mentioned the unfortunate death of one of my mama gups due to internal bleeding, so here's the story.
She was rather large, and started dropping fry when she was only 26 days gestation (usual is around 30). I quickly moved her to her own space and sat back and prepared to watch. All was going fine until I noticed some premature babies, and some babies that were still in 'egg' stage.


Egg babies


Big bellied premmie fry

She continued on much in this fashion - some normal fry, some premmie fry that could barely swim, some eggs. All up, she had about... 60? I don't really know, too hard to count.

The next morning, the eggies and belly-sliders were all dead, and mama didn't look happy. I thought she may mave just been getting some 'bedrest', but then I noticed this:


Her vent all kinda sticking out. Over the course of the next few hours, she got quieter, found it harder to swim, and started to go a bit distended. She also developed some pink streaking on her belly:



I became reasonably sure that she was haemorrhaging, but I didn't want to jump the gun, so left her a bit longer.
When I came back to check, I knew she was a goner. I decided to euthanise her.

My preferred method is this: Get a small container of water and put it in the freezer until the top of the water freezes over. Break the ice 'skin' and drop the fish in. Place back in freezer for 5-10 minutes or until the fish has gone to Piscine Heaven.
This method shuts down all metabolic activity and puts the fish to sleep instantly.

In the interest of science, I took a photo of the little body afterwards (linked for viewer discretion)

You can see the bleed through the belly. Poor little mite.

My theory is that she was fit to burst with fry, carrying too many, so her body aborted the pregnancy early, but still too late.

RIP Yin.