Can fish choke on pellets?

[Sukey]

I have two Clownfish, Zelda is approx 3" long, Shorty is approx 1 1/2 to 2 inches long. I feed them along with flakes and frozen shrimp, Topfin Soft Sinking Community Pellets. Both fish are big pigs and suck the pellets in and then act like the pellets are too big. Sometimes they spit them out, and the other day Zelda sucked one in and acted like it was stuck and she was choking. I would really like to ditch the flake food, and stick to the pellets.

 

I have looked at the store, and on F&S site for different pellets, but they don't really give me a clue as to the size of the pellets. So question is..is it OK to give them these pellets, will they actually choke? Or, what would be a smaller pellet for them to eat? What do you all feed yours pellet wise?

 

Thanks in advance.

[skimlessinseattle]

Look into Hikari marine s pellets

 

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod...cfm?pcatid=4301

[Marteen]

They won't choke but they can get large pieces of food lodged in their throats. Remember fish don't use their mouths to breathe they have gills, these gills transport oxygen directly to their blood like lungs do, so as long as their gills are able to move they can breathe. However, if a piece of food is lodged in their throat and they cannot move their mouths they can and will die. Luckily pellets soften in water and will eventually just break up in a few seconds and the fish can swallow them. The only time I have heard of fish "choking" on food is from bones or large exoskeletons that were left in frozen.

[Arkayology]

They won't choke but they can get large pieces of food lodged in their throats. Remember fish don't use their mouths to breathe they have gills, these gills transport oxygen directly to their blood like lungs do, so as long as their gills are able to move they can breathe. However, if a piece of food is lodged in their throat and they cannot move their mouths they can and will die. Luckily pellets soften in water and will eventually just break up in a few seconds and the fish can swallow them. The only time I have heard of fish "choking" on food is from bones or large exoskeletons that were left in frozen.

 

Hurray for vertebrate zoology!

[myatt]

I'm still a fair noob, but I use pellets sometimes with my clowns......I try to vary their diet, and one type of pellet is too 'dry' for them, it seems. I soak the pellets in tank water to soften them up, and they don't have any trouble eating them then.

 

Might not be good practice (feel free to comment, guys!), but so far it's working for my little guys.