HELP! Fish choking on another fish

[Ambur]

Hello!
I own a sleeper goby in a 90 gallon tank with a few silver dollars as tank mates. However today he decided to try and eat one of them. Its half in his mouth, but it's been like that for about 8 hours and I don't think he can get the rest down. His mouth is fully extended and bruised looking. I don't know if I should pull it out or see if he spits it out. Any help is greatly appreciated.

 

[fwprawn]

If he is resting / breathing relatively normally, just let it be.

 

[krichardson]

If the fish hasn't moved any further after eight hours I would try to remove it...I once lost a nice thinbar dat to a similar fate.

 

[Ambur]

Thanks for the reply. He is acting normally. His gills are moving a little rapidly, but he swims like there's nothing wrong.

 

[fwprawn]

I would give it a little more time then.

 

[krichardson]

Keep us posted.

 

[the big kahuna]

I lost a 14" WC bass like that. I waited a full 24hrs before I finally removed the smaller fish.
The smaller fish was dead and the bass swam around with his mouth stuck wide open for 2 days. Came home after work on the 3rd day bass was dead. Good luck, hopefully your outcome is better.


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[JRT8783]

Because of how silver dollars are shaped, I'd be more inclined to get it outta there ASAP. If the fish being eaten is wider than the fish's mouth that's trying to eat it, seems like it could definitely have a bad ending for both fish involved.

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[calichai]

I was worried about my flowerhorn also after it had swallowed a Jd. His mouth was totally stretched and he even had dorsal in, scary stuff. I let it be and it spat it out. I was scared pulling fish out would ruin mouth. It did take a few days for my fh mouth to look normal after he spat it out.






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[we4wieners]

I had the same problem. I removed the fish after I had everything in place. I went right through his gills and cut the fish in his mouth with long nosed scissors. It came loose shortly after I replaced him in his tank.