juggling gourami??

**xdanxnjx** · 05-08-2013, 08:31 PM

my dwarf flame does something rather peculiar and entertaining.

every once in a while he steals a shrimp pellet from my bottomfeeders and puts it in his mouth whole. he then spits it out over and over again, taking a little bit at a time off the surface of the pellet to swallow, and then reinserting it into his mouth to spit out again until he has had his fill. he will do this for about 30-60 seconds at a time and sometimes reaches lengths of like 2" inches away from his mouth to reinsert the pellet!

anyone else ever see a gourami do this? i'm sure someone has. i figure it must be some kind of "chewing" mechanism because he doesn't want to swalliow about an 1/8" wide pellet whole.

**fishmommie** · 05-08-2013, 08:36 PM

Originally Posted by xdanxnjx

my dwarf flame steals a shrimp pellet from my bottomfeeders and puts it in his mouth whole. he then spits it out over and over again, taking a little bit at a time off the surface of the pellet to swallow, and then reinserting it into his mouth to spit out again until he has had his fill.

My colombian tetras will do that. It's pretty funny to watch one of them swim around with a sinking wafer that it couldn't possibly get in its mouth whole. Looks like it's carrying a little round plate LOL

**dr_lew** · 05-08-2013, 09:26 PM

I used to have a school of Zebra Danios who would do that as a group. I called it "fish basketball".

**madagascariensis** · 05-08-2013, 10:48 PM

that is completely normal behavior, so don't be worried. foodstuffs in the wild tend to
be soft and easily swallowable, and this response is what happens when a fish is suddenly confronted with something that smells good, tastes good,
but for a strange reason is hard as rock.