is it ok if fish swallow their food whole?

[venzi]

Is it ok if fish in general swallow a piece of food without chewing?  In particular I'm wondering about gel food.  I had tried to prepare some medicated gel food and the fish weren't really eating it.  The texture ended up being a bit firmer (it doesn't disintegrate in water even after an hour).  So I was thinking it might be too firm for the fish to bite off chunks.  So I cut the gel into thin strips, but I just noticed that the fish would end up swallowing a 5-10mm strip of food (like a piece of noodle)

Do fish need to masticate like humans for the proper digestion and absorption of nutrients from food?

[Flumpweesel]

Done fish do (the ones that ready seeds and things in the wild the often have visible teeth) but a lot of fish just seen to swallow food whole and don't seem to worry about it.

[face]

most fish swallow stuff without chewing even fish that have teeth like cichlids(they have plates in there throat that they use to grind up food) only chew if it won't fit, most fish have a gizzard like section of their digestive tract,