EBJD eats massivore and it comes out of its gills?

[Adamson]

I've had this female EBJD for about 6 months now and I'm trying to figure out if it is healthy or not. It is about 6" long, and the thing that concerns me is that when it eats massivore (and it hits it hard, trust me) it chews it up and a lot of the actually pellet dust/crud comes out of its gills rather than going into its stomach. Is this an early sign of gill curl or anything?
I'm also concerned due to the weakness of genes in these fish. I know they die off quite easily and juvies, and I've read as adults they can suddenly pass as well.
It is in a 125g with 3 similar sized festae and an Apollo Shark.

Here is a video of when I first got it.
http://youtu.be/wXOwRo_waFQ

At some point I'm not sure if it got bitten or what, but it was missing a piece of flesh. This was at least 4 months ago and it has since healed.

 

[Crazy mike]

Don't worry about the excess food coming out the gills all large cichlids do this. Usually means you need a smaller pellet.


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[weichen14]

Some of my fish do that too so I guess it's normal. They all look healthy and lively.

 

[Dial92]

This is how adult fish feed their offspring and feed smaller organisms in the environmental

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[Adamson]

Thanks for the replies everyone, eases my mind a bit.

This is how adult fish feed their offspring and feed smaller organisms in the environmental

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Interesting, good to know!



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[Daonni]

Ya I swear more food comes out of my oscar than goes in.

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[trace]

Feed a smaller pellet, or break the massivore into thirds. That should help a ton. Pellets should be swallowed whole or barely chewed at all. If they have to chew to get a single pellet down, it's too big.


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[sunley213]

Off topic a bit but what makes you think its female?

 

[spazmattik]

the festae are more aggressive than an ebjd so that's probably where the wound came from.

 

[tiger15]

Don't worry about the excess food coming out the gills all large cichlids do this. Usually means you need a smaller pellet.

There are messy and clean eating cichlids. Oscar, JD and Green Terror are messy eater as they chew food in their throat and sift through the gills. Vieja and African peacocks are clean eater as they swallow food whole without chewing provided that the pellets are smaller than their mouth.