# Midas throat injury?



## Eraserhead (Feb 1, 2007)

Hi all, I've got a Midas that is pretty large, I'd say about 8 inches long or so (Rojo, I posted pictures a while back). He has his own 55 gallon tank, and seems really happy. However, as Midas cichlids tend to do, he likes rearranging the gravel in the tank to his liking. Everything has been fine, except about a week ago he started eating oddly. I normally feed him a couple different kinds of pellets, medium and small. I supplement this with bloodworms and live blackworms sometimes. He has never had any problem gulping down the medium sized pellets one after another. But lately he seems to have trouble swallowing them. He still has a voracious appetite, but when he eats a medium pellet, he has to chew it quite a bit, and sometimes just belches it out. He will then try to eat the chunks, but belches them out too. However after a while he eats them all up. I was afraid he was losing his appetite, so tried a couple cubes of frozen bloodworms, pre separated in warm water. He gulps them down like crazy, with no problems. So he hasn't lost his appetite, just has trouble getting the big pellets down. Could he have swallowed some gravel, or have some stuck in his throat, or perhaps injured his throat somehow? When he opens his mouth and I look in, I can't see anything blocking his throat. Any idea what would cause this type of symptoms? He is still rearranging the gravel like mad.

Thanks for any help!!

Bobby


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## mousey (Jan 18, 2005)

how is your fish?


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## Eraserhead (Feb 1, 2007)

mousey said:


> how is your fish?



He's good, thanks for asking. He's stopped spitting out the smaller pellets, but I haven't had the guts to try the larger ones yet. WHen he grabs a couple of the smaller ones at the same time, you can hear him chewing them. Sounds kinda of weird, almost like a puffer eating or something. But he has been behaving just fine, he goes crazy on bloodworms when I put them in. So his appetite is really good.

Thanks for your concern!


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## Gump (Aug 2, 2006)

Are the small and med pellets the same brand and type? It sounds like he doesn't like the meds and prefers you to feed him small and blood worms. What hes doing to the pellets is the same as you putting food in your mouth and spiting it out on your plate. After he notices that your not going to feed him what he wants he goes and cleans his plate. IF you have a midas i would recommend getting a larger tank.


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## Eraserhead (Feb 1, 2007)

No the medium pellets (which are actually quite large) are sinkers, and the others are floaters. He hasn't been spitting out any of the smaller pellets in quite some time. I have noticed that when he eats them, you can now hear him chewing whereas I could never hear that before (sounds weird kind of, like a puffer eating). He's been acting just fine. Thanks for the help!







Gump said:


> Are the small and med pellets the same brand and type? It sounds like he doesn't like the meds and prefers you to feed him small and blood worms. What hes doing to the pellets is the same as you putting food in your mouth and spiting it out on your plate. After he notices that your not going to feed him what he wants he goes and cleans his plate. IF you have a midas i would recommend getting a larger tank.


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## Gump (Aug 2, 2006)

Sinking pellets are usually a lot harder and more dense so they sink. If you soak them before you put them in the tank i bet he would eat them instead of spiting them out.


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