Can I feed every once in awhile Live Earthworms to my Peacock/African Cichlids???

[Mantis_22]

Same as topic, live but cleaned with tap water. Is it safe? I know Bluegill (Sunfish) which are apart of the American Cichlid system love earthworms live but do my tropical cichlids like them also? Just a question I brought up because next door there is live bait store and they have lots of live goodies for sale :)

[ChilDawg]

Two things about this:

1.) Sunfish are members of the family Centrarchidae. Cichlids are members of Cichlidae, and superfamily Labridae as well. Centrarchids are not, at present, part of superfamily Labridae, thus these are not really related. I figured that would be helpful.

2.) Most Peacocks might get Malawi Bloat from getting earthworms, due to not being able to digest anything with a high protein content...I would stick to the recommended prepared foods for such species and they will do just fine.

[dbcb314]

ive done it before

[Mantis_22]

thanks for the species correction, they look very alike tho :D. I guess i'll just lay off of that and stick to flakes. Are brine shrimp flakes good?

[ChilDawg]

As an occasional treat, I hope...even though they are omnivores, the Peacocks need a "normal" planktivore diet (can be found in most flake foods) supplemented with carotene and roughage, and rarely live foods.

[ChilDawg]

Brine shrimp flakes would be okay, but don't feed them excessively...look for ones with carotene added, or else your fish might lose their colour.

Yes, superficially, the Sunfish and Perch look like Cichlids...many people have a hard time with that! :D

[Mantis_22]

So i should grab the pieces of green flakes in my tetra tropical fish container to seperate. I have bottom wafers that are vegetable/ominivore made but i have to clean up after if they fall on the ground. I guess I could put a flat rock sonewhere and let them eat it there. I'll see what I can work out..