Yellow Cichlid Holding Pellets?

My yellow cichlid has what appears to be a couple of pellets of food in it's mouth that it has been carrying around all day. I didn't notice it yesterday, but this morning when I was feeding them I did. I have kept a close watch on her all day since I have been home and her mouth hasn't changed. When I can get her to come up to the front and stay still it looks like 2-3 pellets in there. I am used to them sucking up 3-4 pellets and then going to a corner and spitting them out, but I have never seen one of them carry them like this... any ideas?

 

Re: strange question

I have absolutely no idea.. these are the first cichlids I have ever had. My other yellow one has egg spots on his fins, and this one doesn't. But they are only about 1-1/2-2 inches, aren't they a bit young to breed?

 

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What if it is eggs and they fall out?

 

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I dont think they are eggs, but if it was food I would imagine that the pellets would break up pretty quickly, so I am not sure what to tell you!

 

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Whatever it is is still in there this morning and when I fed them she didn't eat. I would have throught that the pellets would have dissolved as well, but that is exactly what it looks like... if they are eggs.. what do I do? Anything? I haven't even begun to think about breeding them and have done absolutely no research at all.

 

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Ohh and it gets better, I was so busy watching her this morning that I forgot to put the pellets away and my youngest dumped a huge hand full into the tank. So I took a net and swirled the gravel and was able to net about 75% of them, I checked all my parameters and they were good so I did a 20% water change and rinsed the filter really well. When my boyfriend gets home this evening I am going get him to help me vacuum out the rest from the gravel that I can't catch in the net. Ohhh and her mouth is still full....

 

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I think so.. it is bright golden yellow. I will try to get a good picture and send it to you.

 

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Here's a picture of the fish. - Pictures of my cichlid aquarium

 

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Ok.. netted him and there is nothing in his mouth right now. Did a parameter check, ph7.0 nitrites0.25.. doing a 50% water change as we speak and changed the filter media... kind of in a panic over the nitrites.. should I do anything else?

 

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It has been running for about 5 months. I don't think I have any prime but I will look. I have some aquarium salt.. would that help? I did find some Start Right and sprinkled some of that in there it helps promote slime coat and conditioning. Do you think they will be ok until in the morning ? I have to work all night, but can run to walmart when I get off and look for something to help..

 

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Amonia was still at 0.

 

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** update ** Checked the parameters again today and Nitrites were not quite .25 but still not at 0, I added some a Tetramin product that I was able to grab at walmart that said it eliminates nitrites and has the stress coat type protectors in it. I will check parameters again in the morning and see what they show. The fish don't appear to be stressed at this point so I guess that is a good sign, they are all still active and aren't hovering anywhere.