Is this normal?

[Stormfire]

My 9'' albino oscar like to "swallow" the rock that layer the bottom of my tank. He will pick up nickle sized pebbles and hold it in his mouth. Then he'll just hold it for a while before spitting it back out(and scaring the heck out of me if I'm not paying attention).

 

[ar0wan]

I've seen several different cichlid species do this. Depending on how detailed your landscaping it leaves a much better rock scape or digs holes in your beutiful tank ><. I generally attribute this to a nesting instinct so I consider the fish estabilshed and comfortable when they start moving rock. (My 16" clown knife just decided to renovate the 120gal, and he did a great job)

 

[easydoesit]

lol^
mine does the same, holds the gravel for a bit then spits it out.

 

[dragonfish]

Very normal. My oscars move items from one end of the tank to the other.

 

[jhutch]

Yeah oscars are known for that. They also love to uproot plants. I used to put the plants back in the substrate but gave up after a while so my amazon sword are just floaters now.

 

[easydoesit]

lmao, i tried to put some big amazon swords in there too a few days ago. i knew by the way he looked at them that he was going to uproot them.
next morning, the biggest and smallest were floating

 

[fishluvr12]

This is typical behavior for CA/SA cichlids

 

[dominicolas]

One of my convicts spits sand at the other fish. Just fish stuff i guess.

 

[Ric Foster]

My O's do this too

 

[artemis1]

He's just diggin' out his territory.

Either that or he's bored, lol.

Just normal O behavior.