Goldfish eat their poop?

[Sawyer]

There's never any poop to siphon out of my goldfish tank. Once I switched to no gravel I suppose they've been eating their poop. I do see some every so often, but thats probably because one of them just pooped. Does that mean I'm not feeding them enough or is it normal?

 

[Lupin]

It's normal if your filtration is efficient enough. My tank is also barebottom and I barely see any poo around except in the morning. The circulation of the output flow is directed to the bottom and all dirt then flow to the input thus they pass through the filter where they get trapped there. The tank is actually very clean. If they were eating the poo, it has to be the undigested portions of food that they are consuming. I have witnessed my goldfish trying to eat and chew the poo, then spit it out as if they are trying to extract the undigested portions.:laugh: :laugh: My goldies are fed about 4-5 times a day. If my tank still had gravel, I can just imagine the water parameters going out of whack which is primarily the reason I removed all the gravel.

 

[geekboy]

I doubt the waste is disappearing because they've eaten it. When my fish try it, they seem quite aware that it is something they should spit out. I'd tend to think it's more likely that water flow as suspended the poo enough for the filter to pick it up.

I'd keep in mind that even if the filter is responsible for cleaning all the poo out of the tank, it's still in the filter until cleaning time, and just as capable of messing up water parameters.

 

[Lupin]

I doubt the waste is disappearing because they've eaten it. When my fish try it, they seem quite aware that it is something they should spit out. I'd tend to think it's more likely that water flow as suspended the poo enough for the filter to pick it up.

I'd keep in mind that even if the filter is responsible for cleaning all the poo out of the tank, it's still in the filter until cleaning time, and just as capable of messing up water parameters.

Just to elaborate my first post, I never said that the filter is not capable of doing that. The point is with gravel, any disturbance to it would easily cloud the water especially as more wastes are trapped underneath. Considering I feed my fish quite frequently, I do not have the time to vacuum the gravel thoroughly anymore just to maintain it clean and not unsightly with all the wastes collecting around it hence why I chose barebottom. The filter media are cleaned slightly every 2-3 weeks to remove the accummulating mulm collecting around it.

 

[Sawyer]

Oh yeah, I didn't think about the filter, since the filter never sucked all the poop out when there was gravel in the tank.

Is lightly washing the filter every 2-3 weeks enough? I mean, it always looks still dirty afterwards, but I guess that's the point? Not to wash all the good bacteria away?

 

[Lupin]

Well, considering the amount of foods I give several times a day (not to the point of overfeeding; just light), goldfish still excrete a heavy amount of wastes which is why my filter collects plenty of muck on it. That is why I clean it almost every 2-3 weeks to avoid it clogging and then spilling out. You don't have to wash it thoroughly which you correctly asked yourself, just minimize the muck as much as possible to avoid clogging problems.

 

[corrieberry]

I never thought I'd see a thread discussing goldfish poo...now I've really seen it all :hitting:

 

[Lupin]

I never thought I'd see a thread discussing goldfish poo...now I've really seen it all :hitting:

:rofl::rofl:

Actually I had an itchy feeling before this was posted that somebody is bound to ask about fish poo as I watched my goldies a few days back chewing and spitting their poo around.:laugh:

 

[jpappy789]

Lup stop teaching your fish to play with their food, I mean, waste :grinyes:

 

[Stargazer53]

I think goldfish eat everything lol....I've seen my goldfish in the past, eat their poo and spit it back out.