goldfish with gravel?

[murphy lover 101]

Can I put fancy goldfish with pea gravel? I feed hikari fancy goldfish so I am worried about the pellets sinking between the rocks and them not being able to get the food. I don't think they would be able to sift through t like sand? And would they choke on it? 

[Colu]

Goldfish naturally eat off the bottom of the tank and and dig up the substrate I don't think that's going to be a prolem

Edited October 28, 2021 by Colu

[GardenStateGoldfish]

It shouldn’t cause much a choking hazard unless your goldfish were big enough to fit the gravel into their mouth which is unlikely cause pea gravel is a fairly large size, however there may be times the food falls into the gravel the goldfish won’t be able to get to it, it may be best to add a few snails or plants that will just soak that back up. I have pea gravel in two of my tanks and so far so good with the goldfish however I do usually opt for sand. 

[gardenman]

Goldfish can create a bit of suction to inhale food, so if they can sense the food in the gravel, they should be able to suck it out.