Will a jaguar cichlid literally eat itself to death?

[trashcan]

I put in some feeders and this fish always hogs them. I wish I had a video, but I have seen him kill all the feeders, stash them in a corner, and then guard it while he eats them one by one.

I imagine he has his own best interests in mind, but that does look painful.

 

[Camphilophus]

Don't feed feeders or you may kill your fish anyways.

 

[D-Train]

Ya feeders are a bad idea they are a good way to introduce parasites into your aquarium and aren't really very nutritious either

 

[mostlycichlids]

Wow don't need to feed for a few more days.

 

[timeneverfreezes]

I have a few fish that do the exact same thing. It even goes to the point where feeding the other fish is a big problem because they will just keep eating. To answer your question, yes the fish will eat himself to a premature death. While it should be okay short term, gorging like that will be very bad for him in the long run.

 

[trashcan]

At some point he will have to go his own tank. I know they get much more aggressive as they get larger so I'm preparing for that.

 

[Damon0306]

"but I have seen him kill all the feeders, stash them in a corner"

I hope he eats them quickly, I could not look at dead feeders in the corner of my tank, or any tank for that matter, I would start to worry about water quality issues.

Do you have a pair? I like the guy in the main photo, nice contrast of color.

 

[peathenster]

Do you have a pair? I like the guy in the main photo, nice contrast of color.

the guy in the upper right corner in pic #1?

Seriously tho, has anybody had any fish eating itself to death? I know goldfish do it all the time...

 

[trashcan]

I do have two, but I don't know if they are a pair. The other one is growing much slower.

 

[le patron]

I put in some feeders and this fish always hogs them. I wish I had a video, but I have seen him kill all the feeders, stash them in a corner, and then guard it while he eats them one by one.

I imagine he has his own best interests in mind, but that does look painful.

hahaha rofl he kills em and stashed em hahahaa rofl pretty much any fish can eat itself to death, so be careful unless you want to lose him