Fish eats own feces

callmestill

callmestill

Gambusia
MFK Member
Oct 19, 2014
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franklin park IL
so lately ive noticed my pacu when he defecates, he quickly flips around and eats his own doo doo and makes a big mess :(
the turd never even has a chance to hit the floor before its gobbled up
anyone ever experienced this?
 
K

krichardson

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Jun 19, 2006
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Never seen anything like that but it can't be as disgusting as seeing a dog eat poop....its own or anyone else's.
 
A

Allan01230

Polypterus
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Jun 29, 2006
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Barbs will do that all the time, ever see a hippo in a zoo? At Detriot zoo they have a huge aquarium/land enclousure for their hippos. They keep a large school of what resembles black sharks in the tank that consume the hippo dung. The fish folllow the hippos in nature to do just this, anyone ready for a pizza? lol
 
Fishysweet

Fishysweet

Dovii
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Jan 13, 2014
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Yep mine does the same thing. I wonder if its because of undigested nuts or something?
 
xraycer

xraycer

Arapaima
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Sep 5, 2013
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The fish in my community tanks do this tyically from other fishs' or when the poo is resting on the bottom. I actually like this, because it seems they really don't ingest, at least most of the poo, and most gets broken down into small floating particulates that ultimately ends up in the filters. This saves me the hassle of having to vacuum very often
 
W

Warborg

Goliath Tigerfish
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Sep 2, 2009
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Allan01230 said:
Barbs will do that all the time, ever see a hippo in a zoo? At Detriot zoo they have a huge aquarium/land enclousure for their hippos. They keep a large school of what resembles black sharks in the tank that consume the hippo dung. The fish folllow the hippos in nature to do just this, anyone ready for a pizza? lol
Click to expand...
Yea, the San Antonio Zoo has African cichlids in the Hippo tank for that reason
 
kno4te

kno4te

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Allan01230 said:
Barbs will do that all the time, ever see a hippo in a zoo? At Detriot zoo they have a huge aquarium/land enclousure for their hippos. They keep a large school of what resembles black sharks in the tank that consume the hippo dung. The fish folllow the hippos in nature to do just this, anyone ready for a pizza? lol
Click to expand...
Get me a pizza with the works!


Sent from my iPhone using MonsterAquariaNetwork app
 
callmestill

callmestill

Gambusia
MFK Member
Oct 19, 2014
22
0
16
franklin park IL
Allan01230 said:
Barbs will do that all the time, ever see a hippo in a zoo? At Detriot zoo they have a huge aquarium/land enclousure for their hippos. They keep a large school of what resembles black sharks in the tank that consume the hippo dung. The fish folllow the hippos in nature to do just this, anyone ready for a pizza? lol
Click to expand...
lol very interesting :/

xraycer said:
The fish in my community tanks do this tyically from other fishs' or when the poo is resting on the bottom. I actually like this, because it seems they really don't ingest, at least most of the poo, and most gets broken down into small floating particulates that ultimately ends up in the filters. This saves me the hassle of having to vacuum very often
Click to expand...
well i don't like it cuz i feel it puts a lot of nitrates in the water. when he chews on it, it all comes out of his gills as 2 big clouds as opposed to a little compressed "specimen"
 
xraycer

xraycer

Arapaima
MFK Member
Sep 5, 2013
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Southern NH USA
callmestill said:
well i don't like it cuz i feel it puts a lot of nitrates in the water. when he chews on it, it all comes out of his gills as 2 big clouds as opposed to a little compressed specimen
Click to expand...
From what I understand it takes time for poo to be converted into nitrate, so whether it is in particulate form or a single large mass, doesn't result in a different quantity of nitrate. What does make a difference is when you remove the poo....whether by vacuuming the substrate and/or cleaning/replacing the filter media.

Here's a recent and active post that's on the same topic http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/f...598773-Bala-sharks-vs-Tinfoil-barbs-with-rays
 
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