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G_matto

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Dec 30, 2012
Messages
20
Location
East Coast, USA
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
 
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
 
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
 
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.
 
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