Fish Woes...

Riven · Mar 31, 2009

Today I noticed that my goldfish ( who'd body is the size of a tennis ball ) had the tail of one of my chiclids sticking out of his mouth. And yes, I know it's an odd combo in the tank, I got the chiclids when they were tiny and the guy said they should get along okay with my other fishes, and the goldfish are the "fancy" goldfish, comet ones.

Anyway, by tonight it was still.. just hanging out. So I don't know if it tried to eat it and couldn't, or exactly what happened, so I scooped up the big fish AKA Angel in a big bowl of water and took "her" up to the "surgery area" aka kitchen and gently loosened the dead fish out. At first I thought "she" was going to die ( Angel the other one was already dead) but then "she" started swimming around! I put her back in the tank and she's doing okay.

I must say that was the strangest fish thing I've ever had happen, and it just goes to show that you never know WHEN or WHY you'll need a good pair of long nosed hemostats!

ETA: I know that these are not "normal" fish to be kept together, etc, etc. IF the goldfish ever die ( lol ) I'm going to clean house and get angels again. Otherwise we've basically been a "home for fish rejects and give aways".

Aneesa's Muse · Mar 31, 2009

Wait.. both fish are alive? ..or just the big goldfish that swallowed the other cichlid? Either way.. glad you were there to lend a hand

Edit: Why are the smilies ginormous??

eroomlorac · Apr 1, 2009

I'm sure Angel will be okay. I once had a goldfish that had a piece of gravel stuck in it's mouth. He couldn't spit it out. I netted him out and got the gravel out of his mouth with a small pair of hemostats and he was just fine. Silly goldfish!!

Riven · Apr 1, 2009

"She" is doing great today. The cichlid was dead. But it was not a little fish either! It was about 2 1/2" long. But I guess when you're as round as a tennis ball that's not so big 'eh?

Parka · Apr 1, 2009

I had the same thing happen with a large goldfish of mine, a small cory catfish died and he tried to eat it.. catfish are spiny and have no slime coat.. so I spent about 3 hours performing fishy surgery on him to cut/pull the fish out. He had just the tail sticking out of his mouth, too, and the dorsal fin was stuck in the roof of his mouth.. so I had to be really careful. It was terrifying but the fish lived. Goldfish are stupid and will eat anything. I had one that would eat neon tetras whole but that's whole 'nother story.

BTW if you want to know if your goldfish is a male or female, look at their anal port. If they have a little white bump (aka outtie) they're female. If they have an indent (aka innie) they're male. Yes, I know it sounds backwards. It's usually pretty obvious. The vast majority of my goldfish have been male for some reason.

Glad your goldie is ok, too!

ETA: I'm stupid and typed that wrong myself. Duh. Fixed it.