I once owned an adult male N. venustus, and an adult C. moorii, that went through the same pseudo spawning routine at least once a month. The venustus would shake & shimmy as though it was fertilizing eggs, while the moorii would act as though it was picking up eggs with its mouth. The rest of this all male tank would be forced to either end of my 6ft tank while this "pair" did their thing in the middle of the tank.Give a few days and his appetite should be back. I've had a male compressicep and male fryeri that always did the breeding dance with one another, both full colored males.
So concluding - we have here a *** peacock who after sex with his mate decide to grab a piece of limestone to his mouth and hold it for few days (im sure i saw something in mouth) and then when he gets hungry he firstly chew a rock and then go for food?Possible dust cloud from grinding limestone? Who knows - but not smoke from eggs.