Feeding Cichlids

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mtdewlover

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Dec 19, 2002
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Ok I have a question. :) My tank consists of...

Two Yellow Tailed Violets
Three Red Zebras
Two Colbalt Blues
Three something I can't think of their name
Three small yellow labs
One large pleco

I feed these guys cichlid pellets, and they much on the plecos algae tablets. Anything else I should feed these guys to keep them happy and healthy. I know some fish like veggies and things like that. They have all been living happily together for over a year now.

Thanks!
 
Besides cichlid sticks, all our Africans eat Hikari pellets, flakes, beef heart, and shrimp. For a treat, they especially like frozen brine shrimp or bloodworms.
 
I'm new to the African Cichlid scene, and my tanks only been stocked with them for a few weeks now.....but I've been feeding them the sinking cichlid pellets and cichlid flake food. We also through in frozen blood worm cubes at least once a week.

I was told by the guy at the LFS to throw in some chunks of zucchinii (spelling). I did.....they ignored it. I even let it float in the tank for over 36 hours and there was no sign of any of them touching it.

I hate to hijack your thread........but I'm also curious about how often everyone is feeding their A.C.'s. Everything I read says "three times a day, as much as they will eat in 3 minutes". That seems like a LOT of food. I feed my guys in the morning, and at night........but they NEVER stop eating. Some look like they are going pop after some of the feedings...........especially "Big Mama" the Evil Empress. I could feed them every hour of the day and I think they would still eat like pigs. :eek:
 
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I keep mine on a staple of cichlid pellets, but think I will change to sticks once they are gone. I also rotate through a mixture of frozen beefheart, bloodworm, and brine shrimp, although I am also going to nix the brine shrimp on the next batch. Too small for them to really eat without littering the tank with leftovers. Also the occasional dose of spirulina. They have ignored the veggies I tried to put in, but I believe this is because they were not raised on them from the start. If you get some young'uns, and make veggies a part of their diet, you may have better luck than I did.

Gulp: I feed mine twice a day as much as they will eat in a few minutes, and I may fast them once a week, or just skip a meal here and there. Fish don't always have food readily available 24/7 in the wild. A lot of fish will eat and eat until the food is gone, but that does not mean that they SHOULD. That's why most will advise a time limit to feeding.
 
Well it all depends on what type of africans you have.

If you have MBUNA: be careful! These guys are vegetarians and eat algae off the rocks in the wild. Feeding them protien in thier diet will be deadly. Cichlid flake, pellets, bloodworms, beefheart, shrimp, krill, you name it they cant eat it! They will, but will suffer from bloat and eventually die. I feed mine Spiraluna algae flake. It is extrememly high in nutrients and its all they need. Supplement that with veggies and you'll be set. Once a week i will throw in a TEENY bit of regular cichlid flake just as a treat.

If you have HAPS: These guys live off small crustaceons so they can handle a lot more protien. They will readily accept cichlid flake and pellets with no problems, krill is a faveriot as well. Lotsa protien in thier diet is fine.

One of the main reasons its difficult to keep mbuna and haps together are thier differeing diets.

As for feeding times- once a day is perfect. Feed once, as much they can eat in about 5 minutes or so. Not too much! You will notice if they are full because thier bellies will expand. I feed once per day, 5 times a week. Every few days i skip a day. It is very critical that you do not overfeed your africans. Bloat is a major problem with them. Even on this strict feeding schedule i've had one salousi get bloat.


mtdewlover, all your cichlids you have there (well at least the ones you've stated) are mbuna, which means they are vegetarians. I would stop feeding the cichlid flake and go out and get some spiraluna flake. They like the algae tabs for a reason! The flake will be much easier for them to eat. You can once a week treat them with a bit of regular flake, but they dont really need it.


I hope that helps!
-Diana
 
~*LuvMyKribs*~ said:
Well it all depends on what type of africans you have.

If you have MBUNA: be careful! These guys are vegetarians and eat algae off the rocks in the wild. Feeding them protien in thier diet will be deadly. Cichlid flake, pellets, bloodworms, beefheart, shrimp, krill, you name it they cant eat it! They will, but will suffer from bloat and eventually die. I feed mine Spiraluna algae flake. It is extrememly high in nutrients and its all they need. Supplement that with veggies and you'll be set. Once a week i will throw in a TEENY bit of regular cichlid flake just as a treat.
-Diana
Click to expand...


Crap..... I didn't know that. :( Bad owner... :( I guess I will go out and buy some algae flake, but since they are mixed in with all the other cichlids, there's no way I can stop them from eating the other stuff. Guess I should have researched things a bit more before I started mixing all the species.
 
Yeah it happens a lot, its very hard to please both kinds when they are in the same tank together.

I have peacocks in with my mbuna and its a challenge to try and get enough protient to them without the mbuna eating it as well.

Fortunetly spiraluna is rich in nutrients and very healthy so the Haps can benefit from eating it, but its not thier natural food source.
 
I agree with Luvmykribs, stop feeding your mbuna bloodworms, beef heart and cichlid pellets. They need mostly veggie/algae based foods. For my mbuna i feed them a combo of nutrifin spirulina flakes and NLS pellets. I have omivorous mbuna though so they can handle the NLS.

For your fish i would do the main part of their diet spirulina/veggie foods with maybe the odd treat of frozen brine shrimp(once a week or so). They would also appreciate veggies. I give my mbuna spinach, zuchini(their fav.), and peas. I also sometimes give them nori. The seaweed used to make sushi. I buy the un seasoned nori and they go crazy for it.

A couple good foods for mbuna(not too much bad protien and fats) are:
nutrifin max spirulina
hakari cichlid excel
HBH graze
NLS(its not a veggie based food but used in moderation its great, nothing beats it IMO)

Becareful when choosing a spirulina flake. Some brands are very high in protein and dont' even have spirulina anywhere near the top of the ingredient list.
 
I agree 100% with LuvMyKribs and Valerie. Low protein, low fat diets are a must for these fish. The Hikari Cichlid Excel pellets are great, although I have had to soak them in water, especially when introducing them to fish for the first time (else they eat too much). Algae wafers are OK, too, but you have to be careful if you have larger fish, as they'll try to eat them whole and they can get stuck in their throats.

Fresh veggies are also great. I'd avoid any meats, animal organs and the like, especially for mbuna.

Jim
 
I'm going to have to say something to the guy at my LFS. :mad: When he sold me all the fish (about $150 worth of fish that day) he is the one that picked the food for me. I specifically asked if it would cover all the fish I was getting. The food was almost $20 itself and he said "it's the best". I'll see what kind it is when I get home. Maybe things aren't as bad as I'm thinking and he gave me the right stuff.
 
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