Do Fish Poop? What’s Hanging On My Fishes Behind?

Do fish poop? Wow, what a question. Let’s talk about poo baby and does a fish indeed poo.

Firstly id like to premice by saying I’m pretty sure I’ve seen fish poop. I’m sure most of us have even those that are not typical hobbyists.

There are a few clues that will help us in determining if fish dispose of faecal matter! Let’s take a little look at those clues.

We know that other animals and sea creatures poop take the sea cucumber this crazy creature poops sand how amazing is that?

When all said and done the big question do fish poop?

Fish do poop they have a similar design to humans fish have mouths, oesophagus, stomachs and intestines and rectums that lead to the anus they eat digest and poop.

Do Fish Poop Well Do They Eat?

Looking into our topic further it appears fish do indeed have a mouth and they do indeed eat. Some eat a serious amount.

Heck let’s face it there are a good few fish that will eat other fish. So we know fish eat!.

Do Fish Have An Anus?

Having been around fish most of my life and researching for years on all manner of topics. I can confirm all fish and all living things that eat have a way of disposing of waste.

On the whole, nearly all living things do have an anus. Maybe a few like crabs for instance they eat but don’t have a bum.

They poop out their mouths eww I know lol. Anyway back to fish and anal holes yes indeed fish have a rectum and a hole for waste management.

What’s That Hanging Out The Back Of My Fish?

String hanging behind my fish

Probably one of the biggest visual clues is what is sometimes hanging out of your fish’s rear end.

This strange string-like material hanging from the back of our fish! That’s poo let’s be honest here its poop faecal matter however you want to say it. I wonder how fish poop that’s for another day

Its Deffenetly Poop

How do we know it’s poop tho? Well if it was another piece of debris or any other issue in the water that attached itself to the fish? Surely it would not be getting longer in front of my eyes in real-time.

I know some parasites can look similar but they would stay on the fish. Also, there’s usually more than one and all over the fish’s body.

Not just one hanging on where the bottom is. And certainly not growing longer and longer another point to make is most parasites are thin like cotton, not string depth just saying.

Fish Poop The String Fell Off 

Also, parasites tend to hang on and not just fall off if the string fell off its poop. If you have sand or another lighter substrate you will see these droplets of string along with leftover foods across the surface of your tank.

What’s This All Over My Tanks Surface?

Although there is a lot of debris across our fish tank floors the main culprit is undoubtedly poop.

Why do they poop always in the same place?

Fair enough there’s bound to be some waste but for the health of our tanks, we should keep on top of this with some cleaning.

Pro tip if poop and or other debris is all over the floor of your tank I think it’s time for some hoovering get cleaning.

Fish Poop Uses?

Other Clues That Lead Us To The Belief That Fish Do Poo Are?

Well, we’ve heard for centuries about the fish cycle and we know that some hobbyists cycle their tanks faster by doing a fish cycle.

The hobbyist puts a so-called hardy fish into a new tank and allows the fish to poo. This act of pooping allows ammonia to be dispersed throughout the water. 

Cycle A Fish Tank With Fish Poo

Ammonia is a byproduct of leftover faeces it’s a toxic chemical that’s released into the water as said above. This ammonia then gets eaten by good bacteria that are in the tank.

Say what now I know it seems complicated but it’s really this easy the poop turns into ammonia bacteria in the tank eats the ammonia and turns it into nitrites then other beneficial bacteria eat the nitrites and turn it all into nitrate!.

So Fish poop seems to be crucial in keeping a tank cycled as well as potentially cycling a tank in the first place although ethically we are against fish cycling as it can harm and kill the fish.

Poop for fertilizer and growing crops

Yet another reason we know that fish poop is the development of biological gardening and crop growing that’s right growing crops with fish poop.

Fish have some amazing nutrients in their waste one being nitrogen which plants love. Crops love fish poop too so it seems looking at the article I’ve linked above.

Fish water with all the goodness of the poop etc is drained off and used to help grow crops. Gardeners have been doing this too so it seems.

Fish waste has incredible benefits and is full of all the nutrients and micronutrients that plants need. Coupled with the fact the poo also has the biological life the soil needs to help feed the plant life. check the benefits of fish poop.

You Can Buy Fish Poop

Yep, the last main part other than the fact we all already know that anything that eats has to poop is the fact you can go buy fish poop.

For all your farming needs why the heck do we sell fish poop?

Fish manure is much quicker at breaking down and releasing nutrients than traditional cattle manure. It’s the future for farming apparently.

As its some three times faster and twice as powerful and more effective for growing both plants and crops of all types.

Fish Anatomy Designed For Poop

Fish eat the food via the mouth and then breaks that food down in the oesophagus which is a tube with muscles attached those muscles help contract and break the food down.

Then the food reaches the stomach where it’s further broken down by pyloric caeca. These are little finger-shaped pouches these pouches secrete digestive enzymes and absorb nutrients.

Once the food has reached the end of the stomach we reach pancreatic tissue the food is even further broken down.

Organs such as the liver and pancreas add enzymes and absorb nutrients as the food continues down the digestive tract and onto the intestines.

The intestines complete the processes of breaking down and digesting the food and then the rectum and anus expel the waste from the body.

Do Fish Have The Same Anatomy?

This is the process of pooping and most fish seem to have this or a similar process and it’s yet another reason telling us yes indeed fish do poop.

That being said not all fish have that exact digestive system there are some weird ones out there but this is by far the main one and even those with slightly different systems still all have one thing in common they all poop because yes folks fish do poop.