Whoa. Wasn't expecting this...

[DaveB]

Just went to feed the babies in the laundry room growout and saw this...

Yes, that's a peaceful eartheater, S. Leucosticta, with a fish in his mouth.

Never thought I'd see that.

 

[12 Volt Man]

all fish whether they are peaceful or not will eat another fish if it is small enough to fit into its mouth sooner or later. thats just the way it goes.

did he get it down or spit it out?

 

[DaveB]

Neither yet.

I'm surprised it was small enough to fit. Must've been the runt of the litter.

 

[DaveB]

Last night before bed I went in to check on them and he had spit the lab out. And as far as I could tell, it was still alive. There's one very obvious runt and it was happily swimming around. I didn't see any corpses anywhere either.

 

[knifegill]

Now he knows they are yummy.

 

[JK47]

Last night before bed I went in to check on them and he had spit the lab out. And as far as I could tell, it was still alive. There's one very obvious runt and it was happily swimming around. I didn't see any corpses anywhere either.

I can assure you 110% that fish did not get into a Satanoperca of any species mouth because of predation (spelling) I had the same thing happen to my female S. Mapiritensis and a small orange head. Satanoperca have very large mouths and take in allot of sand, mine pulled in the OH pulling in a mouthful of sand. She FREAKED out! I had to pull the fish out of the tank and remove it by hand. Your lucky you didn't lose either Dave!

 

[DaveB]

Interesting.

I should note that this is a bare bottom fry tank, though.

 

[Chicklette]

Wow, yep, that's the way fish are. They will always eat fish if they fit in their mouth. I hope the lab is okay.

 

[Cichla dude]

Wow! Glad to hear he is ok!