My cichlid ate a praying mantis

[Audra Johnson]

Last year, an unidentified cichlid appeared in my roommate's feeder
fish (for her turtles.) He never got eaten, and by the time he got
about three inches long, we took him out and put him in a ten gallon
of his own. He's now around four inches, a dark bronze with faint
iridescense, blue iridescent line patterns below his eyes and a black
spot rimmed with yellow/bronze iridescence on his gill covers. His
fins are edged with white. I have no idea what he is, but he's
certainly aggressive and has a big mouth.

But yes, anyway, so yesterday he ate a praying mantis. My question
is...is this going to harm him at all? He pretty much ate her whole.
I'm afraid of all those sharp exoskeletal edges maybe tearing him up
inside. Not to mention that it doesn't seem possible that a four inch
fish should be able to eat a three inch bug as thick as my pinky
finger. So, any thoughts?

[jk]

"Audra Johnson" > wrote in message
om...
> Last year, an unidentified cichlid appeared in my roommate's feeder
> fish (for her turtles.) He never got eaten, and by the time he got
> about three inches long, we took him out and put him in a ten gallon
> of his own. He's now around four inches, a dark bronze with faint
> iridescense, blue iridescent line patterns below his eyes and a black
> spot rimmed with yellow/bronze iridescence on his gill covers. His
> fins are edged with white. I have no idea what he is, but he's
> certainly aggressive and has a big mouth.
>
> But yes, anyway, so yesterday he ate a praying mantis. My question
> is...is this going to harm him at all? He pretty much ate her whole.
> I'm afraid of all those sharp exoskeletal edges maybe tearing him up
> inside. Not to mention that it doesn't seem possible that a four inch
> fish should be able to eat a three inch bug as thick as my pinky
> finger. So, any thoughts?

Not only is that a $1,000,000 federal fine, but at least 10 years of bad
luck!

--
JK Sinrod NY
Sinrod Stained Glass
www.sinrodstudios.com
Coney Island Memories
www.sinrodstudios.com/coneymemories

[Audra Johnson]

"jk" > wrote in message >...
> "Audra Johnson" > wrote in message
> om...
> > Last year, an unidentified cichlid appeared in my roommate's feeder
> > fish (for her turtles.) He never got eaten, and by the time he got
> > about three inches long, we took him out and put him in a ten gallon
> > of his own. He's now around four inches, a dark bronze with faint
> > iridescense, blue iridescent line patterns below his eyes and a black
> > spot rimmed with yellow/bronze iridescence on his gill covers. His
> > fins are edged with white. I have no idea what he is, but he's
> > certainly aggressive and has a big mouth.
> >
> > But yes, anyway, so yesterday he ate a praying mantis. My question
> > is...is this going to harm him at all? He pretty much ate her whole.
> > I'm afraid of all those sharp exoskeletal edges maybe tearing him up
> > inside. Not to mention that it doesn't seem possible that a four inch
> > fish should be able to eat a three inch bug as thick as my pinky
> > finger. So, any thoughts?
>
> Not only is that a $1,000,000 federal fine, but at least 10 years of bad
> luck!


....Well, I didn't *feed* her to him on purpose...I was sprucing up her
ten gallon tank and about to feed her some crickets. My boyfriend was
holding her, unaware that she could fly, and plop, she landed in the
tank. And chomp went my fish. I *love* praying mantises, I'd never
feed to something on purpose...

[chip]

(Audra Johnson) wrote in message >...
> Last year, an unidentified cichlid appeared in my roommate's feeder
> fish (for her turtles.) He never got eaten, and by the time he got
> about three inches long, we took him out and put him in a ten gallon
> of his own. He's now around four inches, a dark bronze with faint
> iridescense, blue iridescent line patterns below his eyes and a black
> spot rimmed with yellow/bronze iridescence on his gill covers. His
> fins are edged with white. I have no idea what he is, but he's
> certainly aggressive and has a big mouth.
>
> But yes, anyway, so yesterday he ate a praying mantis. My question
> is...is this going to harm him at all? He pretty much ate her whole.
> I'm afraid of all those sharp exoskeletal edges maybe tearing him up
> inside. Not to mention that it doesn't seem possible that a four inch
> fish should be able to eat a three inch bug as thick as my pinky
> finger. So, any thoughts?

cool job....
I never saw a 3 inch PM, wow.
I saw one in petco, it was less than 1 inch in length.
Sometimes I feed my cichlids, bugs I find in my home, like
those black things that when touched they rolled up into small balls
that look like those balls one can find inside a papaya fruit.
So i feed those balls bugs to fish, and they love it.

[Cichlidiot]

Audra Johnson > wrote:
> Last year, an unidentified cichlid appeared in my roommate's feeder
> fish (for her turtles.) He never got eaten, and by the time he got
> about three inches long, we took him out and put him in a ten gallon
> of his own. He's now around four inches, a dark bronze with faint
> iridescense, blue iridescent line patterns below his eyes and a black
> spot rimmed with yellow/bronze iridescence on his gill covers. His
> fins are edged with white. I have no idea what he is, but he's
> certainly aggressive and has a big mouth.

Not totally related to your original question, but you might want to
identify this fish properly so you can give it a suitably sized home. One
thing to consider, based on the spot on the gill cover, is that you have a
sunfish instead of a cichlid. This is especially probable if the feeder
fish were from an outside water source in the USA. Sunfish are all over
the place in the USA waterways. They resemble cichlids in shape too. You
can try doing a web search for pictures. Bluegill (a common sunfish) is
another name to search for. They're often caught in sports fishing, so a
page of that sort might have good identifying pictures.

There are also cichlids which have a gill spot, although most have other
markings as well. One which might fit your description that comes to mind
is one of the Neolamprologous brichardi/pulcher complex of African
cichlids. There are some of those that have nice irridescent patterns
under the eyes although they usually have two dark spots/stripes. Some of
the various African species lumped under "tilapia" also resemble that
coloration. You should look through a good book like Loiselle's "The
Cichlid Aquarium" or other picture oriented reference books to see if you
can find your fish.

I suspect you'll find the fish will get larger than 4" and will need a
larger home in the future. If that is the case, you may want to save up
for that instead of spending money further furnishing its current home.

[Cichlidiot]

Audra Johnson > wrote:
> Wow. I *really* did want to identify him, but wasn't sure if it could
> be possible until I could take a picture of him, perhaps.

> Anyhow, your pointer really *did* help. From what I've found out,
> you're right, he's not a cichlid -- he's a green sunfish. <a
> href="http://www.cnr.vt.edu/efish/families/greensun.html">http://www.cnr.vt.edu/efish/families/greensun.html</a>

> I'm not even sure if I *can* keep him in an aquarium, really. I mean,
> he's a *sporting* fish, geez mateez. So now I really don't know what
> to do with him!

You may want to check with your local fish and game department about what
to do with it if you can't house it and also to see if it is even legal to
keep as an aquarium/pond fish. Explain how it accidently came into your
possession and you only recently identified it and that will hopefully
(IANAL though) prevent any legal problems unless you obtained those
feeder fish by dipping a net in a local stream (then you've got fishing
license issues I think).

If it's legal to keep in your area, you could ask around for someone with
a pond who might want to adopt it or even put in a small pond for it in
your own backyard. Above all else, do NOT release it into any waterways
(rivers, streams, natural ponds, etc). That is illegal in any US state
even if keeping it in a backyard pond or an aquarium is considered legal.