Fish eats own feces

[callmestill]

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?

 

[krichardson]

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

 

[callmestill]

no neither situation seems pleasant

 

[Allan01230]

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]

Yep mine does the same thing. I wonder if its because of undigested nuts or something?

 

[xraycer]

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

 

[Warborg]

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

Yea, the San Antonio Zoo has African cichlids in the Hippo tank for that reason

 

[kno4te]

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

Get me a pizza with the works!


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[callmestill]

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

lol very interesting :/

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

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]

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

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