Do your fish eat aquarium gravel?

[PlatyLady]

I've never actually seen it happen, but on more than one occasion I've seen little tiny bits of gravel in their poop. (I did a double-take, and yes, it is definitely aquarium gravel - I don't feed them anything that blue colour!) I'm not starving them, they have a variety and plenty to eat, so I don't know what's so appetizing about gravel. Should I be worried?

 

[Scottw68TN]

platys and mollys will eat anything. My rocks are to big so I haven't see that. They probable want the algae on the rock. Mine love algae wafers, maybe that could curb there appetite for rocks.

 

[platylover]

They may even be foraging for some food that didn't get eaten and settled into the gravel. When they are doing that, maybe they are picking up some of either the coloring off the rocks or small rocks themselves. I have a natural color gravel, so I haven't noticed any of my platies with this problem.

 

[TankGirl]

I see my mollys do that with the sand, but they seem to spit it out. I feed mine algae wafers too, and they prefer that over just about anything else I have put in there. They really require algae for a complete diet, so if there is not algae growing on stuff in the tank, maybe wafers would help with this. Gravel poop... Ouch! 8O

 

[PlatyLady]

aha, maybe that's it! I used to have an algae eater and recently gave him away b/c of aggression. Anyway, I stopped dropping in algae wafers when he moved out. Maybe the other fish miss it...

 

[PlatyLady]

wow, quick responses! thanks guys!

 

[Guest]

In addition to uneaten food, gravel and plants are frequently covered in micro-organisms. some fish like to forage for these, and that may be why they eat the gravel.

I had an extra-dumb goldfish who used to pick up gravel just the right size to get stuck in his mouth. I would literally have to net him and pop the gravel out of his mouth. I was very glad when he went into the pond!

 

[sweetsuvvyb]

My goldfish love slurping on gravel. Never had a problem with them actually swallowing it, or getting it stuck in their mouth (yet!)...mostly they pick it up, take it to the top of the tank, spit it out, then chase it back down to the bottom.

If I leave the hood off though, I always find gravel outside the tank...not really sure how it gets there 8O

 

[Sinuhe]

Gravel poop... Ouch! 8O

Talk about hard core fiber

 

[mother]

the monster

My comet loves sucking in a huge mouthful of gravel, and piling it in the corner under the heater, inside the hollow log, on top of the hollow log, and recently he seemed to enjoy spitting them into the breeder cup I had my two crayfish in. He also enjoys slam into the gravel on his side, head first, and jumping and hitting the aquarium cover. He likes to swim really fast and slam into the filter intake tube, dismount all the plants, smack the snails with his tail, and generally be a nuisance to all other tank dwellers. Except the cory, who cleans him from head to toe, which he seems to enjoy.

Mother

 

[myriam]

Scottw68TN,
How do you feed the algae wafers to your platies and mollies? Do you break them up or crush them? My fish are smallish and I can't imagine how they'd eat those algae wafers I've seen at the store. Anyhow, I'm always looking for other variations to their diets...

 

[An t-iasg]

Yes! I discovered that my betta ate some gravel when I had him in a critter keeper for treatment. I didn't put any gravel in there, but I kept trying to suction up the poop and this one piece was too heavy to come up in the turkey baster. I got it out with a long-handled spoon, and I realized that it was a tiny piece of gravel coated with poop. GROSS! He pooped out about 3 gravle pieces from his week in the critter keeper. He's about 2 years old, so I guess it isn't hurting him any. My other betta never did this, as far as I could tell. There was never any little gravel bits on the bottom of his critter keeper.

 

[TankGirl]

How do you feed the algae wafers to your platies and mollies?

I just drop a wafer in there, and they start nipping at it on the way down. After it sits a bit it softens up and they go to town on it. I have 4 adults and about 15 babies, and I generally put half a wafer in there, which is gone the next day. I do try to get them to eat veggie flake and micro pellets, daphnia and bloodworms, but their fave is the pellets! Just chuck it in there and they will do the rest.

 

[myriam]

Cool, I will try that with the algae wafers. Thanks.

I also have shrimp pellets for bottom feeders, but they don't seem to dissolve fast enough and the cories and mollies nip away at it, but I don't think they get much. Anybody have any experience with these pellets?

 

[platylover]

I use shrimp pellets for my bottom feeders, but I think the only ones that eat them are the platies and mollies, until my big CAE sees them. He chases everyone off and hoards them all for himself.

 

[Scottw68TN]

Yep same as tank girl just drop it in. they can be pretty messy if you break them up. now a days the loaches swarm the wafer. so its one for the 3 loaches 1 for the live bearing vegitarians and 1 for the 6 inch pleco. Gone! within 2 hours.

 

[SoCal]

I'm not sure if mollies and platies do this, but some fish eat rocks to aid in the digestion of food.