Cichlid Behavior

[nadajdui]

I have 3 cichlids from Madagascar, and they are constantly picking sand up in their mouths and spitting it back out again. There is no obvious reason for this, as they don't appear to be digging anything, or eating anything. Is there a reason why they do this? I understand many cichlid species do this sort of thing.

Thanks!

 

[WaterBender1995]

please look up: MICROPREDITOR

 

[I Love my fishies]

Note spelling of MICROPREDITOR can easily get confused with Micropedator which is a predator smaller than its prey that comes into contact with its host only when needing to feed.

 

[zebadee]

Some fish will also use fine sand to 'clean' their gills and remove parasites by ingesting sand and blowing it out through their gill plates but the sand needs to be perticularly fine or the fish pretty large.

 

[dthoffsett]

I have 3 cichlids from Madagascar, and they are constantly picking sand up in their mouths and spitting it back out again. There is no obvious reason for this, as they don't appear to be digging anything, or eating anything. Is there a reason why they do this? I understand many cichlid species do this sort of thing.

Thanks!

They are most likely sifting through the sand for food, which is what waterbender meant by micropredator.