earth eater???

[Magnum Man]

funny I'm watching my spotted silver dollar work over the gravel at feeding time, looking for nuggets in the gravel... I watched it pick up 3 pieces of gravel, chew on them, and then spit them back out... it likes the algae cookies, that it can easily identify... these sinking pellets must look too much like the gravel???

 

[GaryE]

Or, it's using the teeth in its throat and on its tongue and the roof of its mouth to rasp over biofilm, a popular treat in our tanks. Eartheaters tend to be built to take in sand and expel it through the gills, after it passes through the gill rakers. But very few fish won't take in gravel and clean it off for a good snack, spitting it back out through the mouth.