Concerned about my Orangespotted Sunfish

Well, it finally happened. Today during feeding, my largest OSS swallowed one of my Gambusia. I figured this would happen eventually, but i'm concerned b/c a good bit of the Gambusia is still sticking out and the OSS's mouth and it's gills are puffed out a bit (like he/she is breathing heavily?) The fish doesn't seem to be in distress otherwise though as far as I can tell. I just don't know if this is okay or if I should try to do something to extricate the victim, although i'm sure me trying to catch and handle the fish would cause far more stress. Any input here would be appreciated...

Thanks!

Well, it finally happened. Today during feeding, my largest OSS swallowed one of my Gambusia. I figured this would happen eventually, but i'm concerned b/c a good bit of the Gambusia is still sticking out and the OSS's mouth and it's gills are puffed out a bit (like he/she is breathing heavily?) The fish doesn't seem to be in distress otherwise though as far as I can tell. I just don't know if this is okay or if I should try to do something to extricate the victim, although i'm sure me trying to catch and handle the fish would cause far more stress. Any input here would be appreciated...

Thanks!

Just leave it in. You'll know if it is in distress, and only then should you intervene. Its pretty normal for a fish to do something like that and spend hours and hours with half a fish sticking out of its mouth. Choking to death has happened before, but in my experience it only happens to tube shaped fish eating tube shaped fish (pike eating pike). Any other opinions out there?>

That seems like a normal thing to me. My pumpkinseed does that with worms for bout 10 minutes before swallowin it, just showing you what he caught I guess. Just keep an eye on him to make sure nothing happens to him.

Thanks for the input! It's been a few hours now and he seems to have gotten everything down. They always seemed to handle worms with surprising ease, but this was the fist time I had seen anybody "showing off" their dinner

They've come a long way since last fall when they were smaller then most of the mosquito fish!

Looking forward to the coming summer heat, I also wanted to ask if anyone knows how tolerant OSS are of warmer water temps, i.e. when do I need to think about moving them to my cooler basement tank? When I came home from work today, the temp in my 30L was already pushing 80, and it's only April 6th! I've been keeping planted tanks for years, but fish-wise I don't have much experience beyond the incredibly hardy Gambusia.

Thanks!
-Nate

Edited by Apophis, 06 April 2010 - 06:56 PM.