# Cichlid can't/won't close mouth...??



## jlhjla (Apr 1, 2009)

I have a fairly large (3-4 inches long) orange cichlid (not sure exactly what breed) who suddenly won't or CAN'T close his mouth. This is new behavior for him, he usually acts quite normal...but since yesterday when we changed out the glass marbles in our aquarium for the fine-grain gravel used in most tanks, he now swims around with his mouth constantly open. My first thought was that he somehow scooped up a piece of the gravel, mistaking it for food since that is a new substrate for him. It's almost as if something is lodged that is preventing him from closing his mouth, but I cannot see anything stuck in his mouth or throat. I put some flakes in the tank, which he normally devours, and he half-heartedly swam at them but couldn't seem to close his mouth on the pieces to eat them. He does not seem to be distressed, and is swimming as normal...but just keeps his mouth constantly open. Has anyone seen anything like this or have any ideas why he would suddenly start doing this??


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## Dook (May 13, 2009)

hmm... your theory sounds moderately reasonable

have you seen him fighting with anyone in your tank?


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## jlhjla (Apr 1, 2009)

He is highly aggressive, so yes, he picks on others. For many months, it was just him, a smallish catfish, and a large pleco...and the 3 of them did fine together. However, when we changed the tank around yesterday, we also added several fish from our neighbors. Our cichlid has surprisingly NOT really picked on anyone yet, perhaps b/c his whole environment is now new to him & he doesn't really have that "territory" to defend. We watched them for quite a while after introducing the new fish...but there could have been fighting when we WEREN'T watching.


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