Funny fish

[G_matto]

Just got my 20g up and running and noticed some funny feeding behavior. My dwarf gourami likes to grab his food and spit it out a few times before eating it. When he was alone it was fine, but then I got some swordtail. While feeding I noticed the gourami picked up a brine shrimp, spit it out, and the swordtail swooped in and grabbed the shrimp! This happened twice before the swordtail swam away. Guess you shouldn't play with your food haha

 

[DavidAl]

Fish will do this when the food is new to them or is too big for their mouths.

I had a dwarf gourami that used to spit water out of the tank towards my fingers as I held the food above the water line, mimicking an archerfish's feeding behavior, but obviously not to the same degree. I was the noise that used to make that I remember most.

Has this new 20-gallon tank been cycled?

David

 

[Oohitsae]

My bettas do this when the pellet is too big and still not soft enough to break up. Spit it out, try to chase it, grab it again, repeat a couple of times then finally swallow. Gets interesting when the other girls notice

 

[G_matto]

I think it's just that the brine shrimp are a tad big for the gourami. The tank cycled for about a month. I did fishless with ammonia. All the other fish are fine so I'm not too worried. Just thought it was funny to see.