Spotted Mandarin Squirting??

why is my spotted mandarin squirting out a milky liquid from the top of his gills. hes fairly new to the tank bout a week but seems to be fine other than the squirting. He hovers around eating off the live rock and seen him eat couple peices of brine shrimp. anybody know why hes doin this ive searched and cant find anything?

 

It's squirting the water out that it sucked in while it was catching its food. The white stuff is probably little pieces of the shell of the inverts that it's eating.

 

yep totally normal - nothing to worry about

 

It's called puffing, my scooter usually does it when he finds a tasty live thing to eat. It is a noxious substance that they also use for defense. If you go to Wetweb you can read more about it, sorry I don't know how to make a link.

 

Really? I always assumed that they were just squirting out what they couldn't "use", like crushed up pod skeletons. Would be great if you could find and post that link? You should be able to just cut and paste the link from the address line into a post.

 

Tell you what, tomorrow I will try to find it and get it to you. I don't know how to cut and past either,but will see what I can do. That I can even do this on a computer is pushing my skills--I'm on dail up so I do most of my research in the morning so not to tie up my phone line.

 

Sorry...........was looking for the article on the mandrian puffing....and came up with this...............eeeewwww!

Deep Fried Mandrian Pieces

Ingredients:

• 320g mandarin fish fillet
• 1 chicken egg

Seasonings:

• Adequate amount each of cornstarch solution, MSG, flour, five spice powder and refined salt
• 1.28 kg sesame oil, (40g consumed)
• 60g breadcrumb

 

I'm sorry it's poofing--Go to Wetwebmedia.com-Go to facts on Mandrians-go to Mandrains 1. Half way down the page is an email titled " Mandrian Smokescreens" This is where you will find the inf.

 

I think thats a different "mandarin" fish. Being that it is a chinese recipe and our mandarin fish come from Australia and not china.