Fat fish?

[Achilles]

Hello, I have had my hairy puffer (called Frankenstein) over a year. I am pretty certain she is female based on the lack of ciri ('hairy' growths on her skin), she is 5 inches nose to tail and is housed in a 100 litre on her own (save for 3 bleeding heart tetras she has been unable to catch) with a large bogwood stump she hides under when not hungry. I got lots of advice before getting her and I actually rescued her from a bloke at my lfs whose partner wasn't looking after her properly. She has grown 2 inches since I got her and she is very interactive and highly aggressive! She gets a diet of muscles, prawn, calimari and live ghost/feeder shrimp and red crabs (live food about 2-3 times a month). She was being feed 2-3 times a week to max her growth potential. However, I recently noticed she is getting a little chunky around the hips. Is this normal for females of the species or have I simply made her fat? She is down to 1 meal a week now and I am just wondering if am right that she needs to go on a diet? And if so how? She is still begging for food 2 days after feeding and will destroy any food put into the tank, iwill try to post pictures shortly. Thanks

[Welch4]

If it is a female she could be carrying eggs. This will wax and wane over time if the case. Btw love the name thats what the little guy in my avatar is called.

[grup]

Might it be logical to suggest two equally-spaced feedings per week of less caloric volume per session ?
One week seems to be a long time to go between meals.

It sounds like you have a wonderful fish, congrats.

[bertie 83]

Cut down to maybe 2x per week, just enough to rounden the tummy. If it's too late to spot a slight roundening (is that a word?) then 2 light meals a week should get her back in shape in no time. Lurkers use little energy as they pretend to be a stone, make her chase her meals too lol

[Pufferpunk]

Yeah, lurkers don't burn much, just lurking all day...

[Achilles]

Thanks for the advice, I will get her on to light meals twice a week. I have already increased her live food intake (basically to increase her movement/hunting) and when she gets frozen food I fight with her so she has to chase and wrestle it. She gets very upset with this a spits water at me! Still hard to resist her begging but in the interests of keeping her healthy I have learned to control myself. It's no exaduration to say she is a real pet to me and is by far the best fish I have ever kept.... And she was the motivating reason why I took my cichlids back to the lfs and now have a very small fahaka in my 90g!