Umm... fish stuck in throat...

P

pbecot01

AC Members
Dec 27, 2004
324
0
0
46
McGuire AFB, NJ
I added a couple more otto's to my big angel tank last week. They must have been a bit smaller then usual since late last night I noticed the tail from one of them sticking out of the mouth of my biggest Angel. The fish is stuck halfway down his throat... and while I almost feel that it serves him right for snacking on the little bugger, I've had the Angels for almost two years and would hate to have anything happen to them.

This was almost 24 hours ago, with very little change. He seems to be struggling to chew the critter with basically no result. Earlier today I netted him and put him in a small container, where I grabbed the otto's tail with tweezers and tried to pull it out, but he fought awfully hard and I was too scared of hurting him worse to force the issue (I put him back in the main tank)

Should I worry about this, or will he naturally deal with it? His gills and side seem to be bulging out and clearly he can't eat... but it's been a whole day and he's still swimming around semi-normally. If you have any experience with this problem, let me know what you tried and how it worked out.

Thanks!
 
jm1212 said:
i would. if i were you, i would remove the otto. either way its going to die, becuase either the angel dies and it dies from suffocation, or, you pull out the otto to save the angel, which will probably kill it.
Click to expand...


i agree remove the otto asap
 
WAIT! ottos have a defence mechanism. like most catfish, thier dorsal and pec. fins are barbed. They spread them out when threatened and its likely the barbs are stuck in the angels mouth. If it does not come easily, dont force it or you risk further injury to the angel.

While it is a risky thing to try, look up using clove oil as an anestetic for the angel during surgery. This will calm it and it will put up less of a fight.It may be you have to get into its mouth with a long needle(hooked at the end slightly) and try to free the barbs from being stuck.

Good luck
 
The otto's allready dead...
 
Another thing to try would be to push the oto in further, and then try and pull back out. Pushing in might release the barbs from where they are caught. Sort of like what you do with a hook when fishing. Of course this would mean the angel would need to cooperate.
 
You could try pushing the otto in slightly and using the tweezers to squeeze the ottos fins to avoid having them get stuck again, but doing this would require you to somehow keep the angelfish steady.
 
What happened? Did you try again to get the otto out? I wish you and the Angel luck!
 
now you know why I no longer keep oto's in an angel tank ..unless the oto is full grown. even then...???

I know it's risky but you can try to remove the oto.

as some suggested move the oto forward slightly.you may actually have to take a tiny pair of snips(scissors) and try and cut the oto out in pieces..I did it cutting along the lateral line. I used flytying scissors (Ice scissors)
good luck
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom