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I brought home a few otocinclus the other day and my angel quickly attempted to eat one of them. The otocinclus was in the angel's mouth with only the tail end sticking out. It was like that for about a day. That was 2 days ago. The otocinclus is now all the way inside of the angel, but the angel's mouth is still wide open, and her gills have flared out a bit and she hangs out toward the top of the tank. When I look inside her mouth, I can see the otto's tail so I'm thinking perhaps it has gotten stuck and I worry about the health of the angelfish. What do you all think should be done...Should I try to to pry the otto out from the angel? This would require finding some very slender tweezers and might be difficult...don't want to hurt the fish...what do you think?

"I am a believer in punctuality, though it makes me very lonely" EV Lucas

The ottocinclus has erectile fins that are designed to jam in the mouth of the predator, the otto is almost certainly dead though, and the angelfish will be too if it is not removed. The occasion certainly merits immediate vetinary attention, the ottos body will need to be chopped up so that it can be removed,and the fins unhooked, and if not done properly there will be bacterial and fungal issues, and the angel could starve before the ottos body goes necrotic and falls apart, the skeleton could remain in position a long time without muscular support, and in the first few days the after death the body will probably swell making things even worse. It could remain in position for many weeks compromising the angels flow of water to the gills, and the close proximity of the dead fish to the gills could cause the gills to begin infection and rot.

Pulling the otto out with tweezers could seriously damage the angels mouth, the force required could easily break its mouthparts and cause deep wounds to the inside of the mouth, the backward pointing fins of the otto will be very hard to remove if its pointing head first down the angels throat.If there really is no vet available I guess theres no option but to do it yourself, but it will take some time to do and you may have to mash the otto up, its not something a beginner with such procedures should really try, but if theres no other option, youve gotta do what youve gotta do. Maybe some very tiny nail scissors may do the job, but even after the main body of the fish is cut and removed, you might still have problems pulling out the fin parts lodged in the mouth. You may have to do the removal in more than one session.

That sort of task will almost certainly require surgical snips or similar , its doubtful you will have anything at home that will do the job, its also extremely important that the angels mouth is protected, a broken jaw will probably lead to death in this species.Theres no way id risk this removal without anaesthetising the fish. Get to a decent vet ASAP.This will kill your fish unless treated properly.

For future reference should anything like this happen again, get to a vet or remove the lodged animal yourself (if you have the skills) the SAME day you notice it. I dont think id take the risk on waiting for a jammed item to work itself lose, if anything defensive fins tend to work their way further into the flesh the longer you leave them. Somebodys bound to come out with a charming anecdote about how their fish managed to spit something out on its own, and im sure it does happen, but personally id never take the risk, nor would I recommend that you do either.