(Audra Johnson) wrote in message . com...
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.