Gravel, rocks or sand?

[Besolovesme]

I am fairly new to this amazing site. Today I had a frightening experience. My goldfish, Beso, had a decorative stone stuck in his mouth! Apparently he had been doing what he always does, sampling the tank gravel. All I could see was a large black object stuck in his mouth. I grabbed Beso with one hand and, using a tweezers I was Finally able to grab the stone and remove it. There was No Way it would have dislodged without my help. Thankfully, Beso now seems ok. My big question, considering he (and the other goldfish) will continue "vacuuming" the bottom of the tank,
What medium is best?
-Gravel
-Sand
-Larger rock
???
Please advise, we may not be so lucky!
Beso is approx 7-8" long. The stone is a flat triangle, 1/4" thick and almost one inch long. The large end, over 1/2" was in, with the point of the stone left for me to grab. Terrifying!
Thank you for your time & advice!!

 

[Fresh2o]

Glad you were able to remove the stone.
Personally, I would go with a thin layer of sand. Fine or course, either should be small enough to easily spit out or pass through the gill slits.
If you do gravel, I would go with the smaller sizes.
You could go with a larger stone; bigger than the mouth. The downside is the crevices between the stones that can collect food and waste.

 

[Besolovesme]

Fresh20, thanks for the advice. I'm leaning towards the sand idea. I'm moving my guys into a 75g tank soon. Looks like I'll be stocking up on some sand!

 

[Fresh2o]

I once had a black lion head that had a dead otocinclus lodged in its mouth (no haters on the stocking). The pectoral fins had rear pointing spines. Used tweezers to remove it.
You should not need a lot of sand for a thin layer. If you are going with a lighter colored sand, pool filter sand might be your best bet.

 

[Besolovesme]

Thank you. Good to hear I'm not the only one to pull something out of a fish's mouth like that.