justme9984 6 Posted July 14, 2013 Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but...Can A goldfish swallow a stone? I rescued big John one time from a stone in his throat (you think I'd learn that time) but I stuck with the river-stones. Well my big calico oranda (even slightly larger than Big John and has a HUGE mouth; He looked like he got something he was trying to spit out in his mouth. I examined him and saw what I "thought" could have been a stone. Let him go for a minute so I could get some help, and when I caught him again I didn't see anything. I suppose he could have spit it out, but I'm wondering if it is possible for them to swallow a stone? I'm going to have to re-evaluate my substrate choice I guess 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jmetzger72 6,976 Posted July 14, 2013 Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but...Can A goldfish swallow a stone? I rescued big John one time from a stone in his throat (you think I'd learn that time) but I stuck with the river-stones. Well my big calico oranda (even slightly larger than Big John and has a HUGE mouth; He looked like he got something he was trying to spit out in his mouth. I examined him and saw what I "thought" could have been a stone. Let him go for a minute so I could get some help, and when I caught him again I didn't see anything. I suppose he could have spit it out, but I'm wondering if it is possible for them to swallow a stone? I'm going to have to re-evaluate my substrate choice I guess How big are your fish? 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fantailfan1 26,742 Posted July 14, 2013 And how big is the stone? 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
justme9984 6 Posted July 14, 2013 The calico is about 4" not including tail or 6" including his tail. He has the biggest mouth though, when he opens it, it is at least dime size? The stones are probably between 1/2 and 3/4". 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fantailfan1 26,742 Posted July 14, 2013 I don't think that would make it through the digestive tract and out the other end. My guess would be he spit it out . . . it would take a while for him to get that far enough down for you not to be able to see it, if it could even get that far. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jmetzger72 6,976 Posted July 14, 2013 The calico is about 4" not including tail or 6" including his tail. He has the biggest mouth though, when he opens it, it is at least dime size? The stones are probably between 1/2 and 3/4". I would consider going up to scattered large river rock (1.5 - 2 inches) size or down to sand as a substrate just to be safe. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dnalex 13,633 Posted July 14, 2013 The calico is about 4" not including tail or 6" including his tail. He has the biggest mouth though, when he opens it, it is at least dime size? The stones are probably between 1/2 and 3/4". I would consider going up to scattered large river rock (1.5 - 2 inches) size or down to sand as a substrate just to be safe. This is critical. Although I would say that most times they will be able to work the stone out, I've had one unfortunate case where the gravel was lodged in the mouth, and he wasn't able to spit it out. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
yafashelli 9,540 Posted July 14, 2013 I've had fish choke on gravel also, and it's a terrible thing to see. I pulled it all out, and now the smallest rocks in the tank are at least two inches in diameter. They'd have to be the size of horses to swallow those. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
justme9984 6 Posted July 16, 2013 Thanks guys. Jmetzger- I don't know that I've seen river rock this big, I will certainly have to look for it! 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kukana d 57 Posted July 16, 2013 Thanks guys. Jmetzger- I don't know that I've seen river rock this big, I will certainly have to look for it! You can usually get them in a bag(10 lbs or so) at a garden/landscape store. I'm pretty sure Home Depot will have them.......... 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DieselPlower 2,123 Posted July 16, 2013 If you are going to do the big river rock, I would like to suggest a single layer, not densely packed. It will be miserable to clean unless you can easily move them around with the gravel vac / python type thing. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dnalex 13,633 Posted July 16, 2013 If you are going to do the big river rock, I would like to suggest a single layer, not densely packed. It will be miserable to clean unless you can easily move them around with the gravel vac / python type thing. I was thinking of just a few, scattered here and there. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jmetzger72 6,976 Posted July 16, 2013 If you are going to do the big river rock, I would like to suggest a single layer, not densely packed. It will be miserable to clean unless you can easily move them around with the gravel vac / python type thing. I was thinking of just a few, scattered here and there. That's what I meant, too! Too many stones will collect detritus. 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bodoba 2,980 Posted July 16, 2013 Is he still doing irregular mouth behaviours? 0 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
