filters, and pellets for large cichlids

[Lazersniper]

OK I have large cichlids. I feed mainly a mixture of pellets, flakes, freeze dried blood worms, and tubifex worms. Pellets are sooo messy though. They're pretty small right now so the smaller chunks of blood worms and what get picked up decently. I do have an eel and a bristlenose pleco in there to help clean up.

My question is, are the larger chichlid pellets as messy? Right now I'm feeding them the smaller pellets. I'm honestly considering not feeding the pellets at all and just sticking to the other foods, but then I figured that pretty soon they'll be pretty small too. Do they make larger size foods for big fish other then the larger size pellets? I just don't like how as soon as they get inside the fish's mouth they split up into a million tiny pieces. I'm never sure how much they actually get to eat.

Second question. I'm new to using canisters. Are they suppose to pick up less waste then HOB's? I'm wondering because I use to have 2 HOB's that seemed to pick up more poop then the canisters. At least there was more noticable poop clogs on the filter media. I ask because I'm considering adding another filter, but if I get more mechanical filteration out of a HOB, then I may go that route seeing as the two canisters provide greate bio filteration already.

As a side note, there is not noticable debris floating around the bottom, I just know how messy my fish are and start to wonder about where it all is if it's not in the filter.

 

[benedick]

My question is, are the larger chichlid pellets as messy? Right now I'm feeding them the smaller pellets. I'm honestly considering not feeding the pellets at all and just sticking to the other foods, but then I figured that pretty soon they'll be pretty small too. Do they make larger size foods for big fish other then the larger size pellets? I just don't like how as soon as they get inside the fish's mouth they split up into a million tiny pieces. I'm never sure how much they actually get to eat.

Larger cichilds are usually messier than smaller ones. There are times when cichlids sometimes spit pellets out. Primary reason is that they don't like the pellets. Try giving your cichlids different brands and see which ones will they take.

Second question. I'm new to using canisters. Are they suppose to pick up less waste then HOB's? I'm wondering because I use to have 2 HOB's that seemed to pick up more poop then the canisters. At least there was more noticable poop clogs on the filter media. I ask because I'm considering adding another filter, but if I get more mechanical filteration out of a HOB, then I may go that route seeing as the two canisters provide greate bio filteration already.

As a side note, there is not noticable debris floating around the bottom, I just know how messy my fish are and start to wonder about where it all is if it's not in the filter.

The only advantage of cannister filter I see is only esthetic. Powerfilters, overheadfilters attached to powerheads and the like are much better in terms of performance IME.

 

[Lazersniper]

The pellets I feed are taken in. In fact, they seem to prefer the pellets over any other food. If I throw in a mixture they'll go for the pellets first. The problem isn't them taking it in, the problem is the pellets coming out their gills lol.

As for filters, it seems to me so far, that canisters seem to be highly overrated. They are extremely quiet but, the actual filteration seems off. Maybe it's just the volume of the tank, or the fact that my fish are still very small, but with large cichlids like oscars, jd, and gts, there should be something noticable in the filter media. My HOB's would get decently clogged every week or so. After a month with the canisters, the sponge looks the same as when I put them in.

 

[benedick]

When bits are coming out of their gills, it means that your fish is filtering the food. Those bits are unwanted. Like human spitting out seeds when eating fruits.

 

[qtaquaman]

Canister filters

Due to their size canister filters have a much better biological volume(ammonia conversion) though power filters-HOBs likely have a better mechanical filtration( waste removal).

 

[Lazersniper]

When bits are coming out of their gills, it means that your fish is filtering the food. Those bits are unwanted. Like human spitting out seeds when eating fruits.

I would think when oscars spit out food it would be like us spitting out seeds. When food comes out their gills I think it's just because the fish is too big and the food is too small. For example, I've seen large oscars try to eat small guppies, and sometimes the guppy just swims out the oscars gills. Once the guppy is out they will go after it again, and actually eat it. They're not purging the food, the food is just finding a way to escape. Thats my theory.

Thats my main gripe with pellets. The seem ok going in, but once they get into the fish's mouth they break up into millions of little peices that come out their gills. If they don't get eaten right away, they start to break up and make your tank look polluted.

 

[Tightdog1]

cichlids in general are just messsy eaters. the food that comes out of the gills is jsut food that does not get digested because it flows out of the gills, thats jsut the nature of the type/species of fish.

 

[gsk177]

IMO and from my experience, the canisters are overrated. You can NOT match their sheer volume of water and the ability to load them up with media, but, if your tank is not showing any signs of trouble due to overstocking, I would hardly think adding a cansiter would help anything.

I used to have a Eheim 2026 in addition to 2 aquaclear 500's on my 55gallon. I guess I just wanted to try one. I got rid of it during a recent move. Too much going on in my tank...tank was all filters and very busy with hoses and tubes.

I think your HOB filters would be fine. If you wanna try one, I've got mine listed on Ebay right now...lol...2 days left ..

 

[Cloud-9]

Pellets

I would not worry too much about the food coming out of the cichlid's mouth. If you have smaller fish (but not too much smaller) in the tank, they will eat what the cichlids are sending out of their gills. My pictus does that. My primary food is Jumbomin. I have a GT and a large Ornate Bichir sharing a tank with a pimelodus pictus. The pictus eats the crumbs that make it out of the larger fishes' gills. Very little of the food has a chance to decay in the tank.