Ok, this may seem a stupid question, but how do goldfish eat?
I assumed that unless they bite of more than they could swallow whole, they would use teeth-like structures in the back of their mouth to grind down the food whilst pacing around the tank with their head down.
I have 2 goldfish, one of which inhales his food in small amounts (1 pellet at a time) and the other which tried to cram as many pellets into his mouth as possible and then "chews" them.
I feed them Hikari floating pellets (I can't find sinking at any of my LPS) and peas once a week (after a day of fasting and before a water change). I bought some Tetra flakes since I don't want them to swallow too much air, but Hikari is a better brand so I haven't changed the food yet. They get a pellet each in the morning and then 3 pellets in the evening.
After noticing the "chewing" I started dropping in the pellets slowly, so they could only take one at a time. Iruka still "chews" even when it's just one pellet. He also seems to have digestive problems since he has long poop every so often (the same colour as the food).
When I feed peas, they both just inhale them, so could it be a problem with the pellets? Is this just normal behavior? He "Chews" for around 5 minutes and goes back to normal. I don't know if he's always done this, since I adopted them both 3 months ago.
Am I over-feeding? Or just feeding the wrong food? Or is Iruka just a quirky goldfish?
All my water parameters are fine.
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 5
pH - 7.4
Temp - 21 degrees C