can fish choke to death?

[fungia]

i am feeding pellets but i have big fish and small fish in the same tank. i feed big and small pellets but sometimes small fish try to eat the big pellets, they look like they are going to choke. can fish die from choking?

 

[Anonymous]

No.

 

[Anonymous]

i am feeding pellets but i have big fish and small fish in the same tank. i feed big and small pellets but sometimes small fish try to eat the big pellets, they look like they are going to choke. can fish die from choking?

I'm going to have to respectfully disagree with Jim here. I don't know if I'd call it "choking" but very small fish can eat too much food that will get stuck in their throat and restrict breathing. Especially with pellets I'd be careful and crush them up to be safe. There are all sorts of areas it could get lodged and do damage to the fish if it's too big.

 

[Mike612]

I don't know about pellets, but there are fish like lionfish that have been known to slowly choke to death after eating crabs. The lion underestimated the size of the crab and so that crab got stuck in the lion's throat. Eventually, the lion became sluggish and just died.

 

[Anonymous]

Hmmm...well I stand corrected then. I guess at best it's an anomaly...In 22 years of doing this I've never seen it.
I'll also add that any close calls that I've seen, or fish that looked like they may have a problem, has always involved fish eating other fish.
Never pellets. In all cases, the pharyngeal mill of the predator in question either dispatched the food item, or it was eventually ejected.

Jim