There are many kinds of live food for fish...no need to use feeders. Earthworm, meal worm, and etc will be find.
And I have seen some people feed their cichlids crawfish as treat.
I fed mine just fozen fish food, pellets, flakes, cichlid sticks, and home made fish food from Juan Miguel Artigas Azas' recipe. And they are still the happy campers.
IMO, cichlids will have their best color if they are fed healthy food.