I have a goldfish apx 8-9 in long named Carnie (only survivor from the fair). She/he nice fish but she seems to take the pebble/rocks from the bottom sucks on them then spits them out. These are the Medium sized ones.

She does this alllll day long. You can be watching TV and here the clicking of the pebbles against the glass. I watched her and she takes the whole rock in her mouth sucks on it then spits it back out. A> is this normal? B> should I be concerned that she is going to get one lodged in her?

Thanks C2

C2,
I think it's pretty normal for goldfish. Mine did it constantly when I had the large goldfish inside. I didn't want the glass scratched up, so I told them to stop .... they didn't listen to a word I said! :lol:

I suppose there's always a chance one could get stuck, but they seem proficient at what they do. Some people get the larger pebbles for the bigger fish. Don't know if it's really necessary.

PG

Yes, it's normal. And yes, they can get stuck. I've had a few goldfish get rocks stuck in their mouths. They usually get them out quickly but some took a day. My first goldfish more than 20 years ago had coarse white sand substrate. So, they would suck that up and squirt it out the back of their gills. You'd think it would have scratched them up but some lived a decade. My current goldfish have gravel around 3 to 5 mm in size, and I don't really see them suck it up much.

maybe she is just redecorating LOL

C2

I did have one young goldfish (Rocky) that got a plant root stuck in its throat.
Could only see about an 1/8" of the root.
I netted Rocky to the surface of the aquarium and pulled the root from his throat with a pair of tweezers. The root part he swallowed ended up being about an inch long, and Rocky wasn't much bigger than that!
He was fine for a few months .... then he got real skinny ... had long, stringy poos .... then died. :(

His other siblings are still doing good now that they've been in the pond for some months. :)

PG