i feed mine a large variety of foods and havnt noticed any problem. cichlid gold (which he doesnt like much, nor do any cichlid i have for that matter), color bits, tetramin flake, shrimp pellets, algae wafers, bloodworms, beef heart, krill, mega tropical, tubifex. they eat anything that drops down in the tank even if it isnt meant for them such as the wafers. its funny to watch them pull in a piece of large dry food and kindof suck/chew on it for like 15 min before it goes down. they will even go after the cucumber i weight down for my plecos from time to time.