# Do goldfish throw up?



## jackass63

Just curious really. I have three beautiful fantails and I saw something this morning that put me off slightly. Not seriously but I wish I hadn't seen it. One of them swam up to this big piece of fish poo and tried eating it. When he didn't like the taste he spat it back out. However, he kept going back and doing this three to four times and never learned it was disgusting.

So yeah, I was wondering if when he was spitting it back out was he actually being sick because perhaps he didn't find it disgusting but his stomach wouldn't allow the poo to be digested?

And I doubt it but is there any way to stop the fish doing this short of netting out every piece of excretement in the tank? I have a filter but don't like to witness this with my otherwise majestic creatures lol.


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## TheOldSalt

I think that was just spitting, but yes, most fish can throw up no problem.


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## bmlbytes

Fish have very short term memories, and they wont remember that what they ate didnt taste good. Fish also have a tendancy to try to eat anything that will fit in their mouth. What your fish is doing is just spitting out what it put in its mouth.


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## Peeps

All fish will do this occasionally. They eat something they don't like a spit it out. Or if a peace of food is too big they will chew it, spit it out and eat the remains.


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## Guest

wont agree with BML. my red jewels once sampled a lil poop that was in the tank and they never touched it again. though, golds are supposed to have a memory of less than 3 seconds.....


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## Corwin

yeah, dont worry. I have a fishtank in my house (which isnt owned by me) which has sunfish in it, and they do that all the time, Either that or they try to eat tubiflex cubes whole and then spit them out... come to think of it sunfish are really unpleasant fish.


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## TheOldSalt

I really don't know how or why this crazy myth of goldfish memory only lasting 3 seconds got started, but it needs to stop. If anything, goldfish have proven time & again that the remember things quite nicely. Try teaching such complicated tricks to something that can't remember and you'll fail every time, but goldies can learn with ease.


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## PostShawn

I have a bunch of goldfish and they do that all the time. Goldfish do this a lot because they are from the carp family and carp are bottom scavengers. They are always on the lookout for anything that might be food. The goldfish will try to eat anything that fits in their mouth. If they don't like it they spit it out and keep moving on. Mine even pick up gravel and move it around to see what's there.


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## cossie333

the 3 second rule is a load of rubbish as mine koi and tropical know when its feeding time


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## Corwin

my shrimp have much smaller brains than goldfish do and they all know when its feeding time, lol whenever the lid to the tank opens up they all gather into the feeding area and stare up, waiting for the food to fall out of the sky.


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## chocolatecrunch

Fish have short term memory loss so they can never really learn...Some types of goldfish are incredibly smart though and can be taught tricks if rehersed routinly...Yes, they can throw up but it seems more like your fish was "spitting".


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## Corwin

but if fish cant learn how do they know their feeding times?


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