Food recommends

[Robder]

Hi all - I'm now at full tank quota and they're all getting along fine.

Time for a review of feeding patterns.

I currently have the following food brands: Hikari Cichlid Excel mini pellets, Tetra Cichlid XL sticks & Tetra Pleco Spirulina Wafers.

I have 13 residents of varying sizes as follows:
1 x Bristlenose Pleco
1 x Lake Victoria Synodontis Catfish
1 x Red Tail Shark
1 x Mdoka White Lips Cichlid
2 x OB Peacock Cichlids
1 x Jacobfreibergi Peacock Cichlid
1 x Strawberry Peacock Cichlid
1 x Dragon Blood Peacock Cichlid
1 x Yellow Lab Mbuna Cichlid
1 x Aulonocara Usisya Peacock Cichlid
1 x Electric Blue Aulonocara Nyassae Peacock Cichlid
1 x Sunshine Aulonocara Nyassae Peacock Cichlid

Here's my routine feeding pattern (not including live food and extra fresh treats):

Tuesdays and Thursdays (Hikari Cichlid Excel mini pellets) - 20 pellets per day
Saturdays (Tetra Cichlid XL sticks) - 8 sticks
Sundays (Tetra Pleco Spirulina Wafers) - 3 wafers

How is this for starters? Enough or should I increase?

Thanks!

 

[Wills]

Excellent! This sounds awesome thats a really well put together list for the cichlids I don't love the Red Tail Shark in there... it is something people put together but I'm not a fan of it. The cichlids are likely much more aggressive and it wont appreciate the harder water the cichlids are in - its one of those fish that people say will be 'fine' but really when you drill down into it, its probably not, its just surviving.

But I love the mix of cichlids you've got here you do have a mix of the timid and aggressive groups so see how that goes but in theory should be ok. I'd say in 450 litres you've still got space for 3-4 more cichlids but if this balance works and you're happy stick with it, if you did get more fish I'd start to look at some of the smaller Hap species like the Sulphur Heads.

Would love to see some pictures!

Wills

 

[Robder]

Thanks for that Wills and good to know!

How is my feeding plan looking? No clue if it's too little or too much! (I know a lot depends on eating habits and size, but looking for a starting point).

 

[Wills]

Thanks for that Wills and good to know!

How is my feeding plan looking? No clue if it's too little or too much! (I know a lot depends on eating habits and size, but looking for a starting point).

You are a bit ahead of me with the Malawi journey so can't give the best advice on diet yet

I used to feed Hikari to my Americans and a few of them got quite bad bloat so I stopped feeding it, the Tetra sticks will likely be good though - I used to be a big fan of Tetra Prima, high protein and not much ash. The algae wafers will be good for the BN but if they are not getting a look in Peacocks and Haps do better on a higher protein diet. In the wild they eat a lot of bugs and also hunt out juvenile Mbunas in the rocks.

I've heard really good things about Northfin foods for Malawi and also some of the Repashy products too.

Wills

 

[Robder]

Interesting- a lot of mine are showing early signs of bloat - so I think varying the food might be a good idea.

 

[Magnum Man]

I've really taken to this food since I started to get back into aquariums

Ultra Fresh Tropical Fish Food, Sword Prawn, Natural Color Enhancement, Sinking Pellet for Angelfish, Discus, Dwarf Cichlid, Large Tetra and Medium Sized fish, Tropical Excellent Bits​

it's probiotic, & supposed to reduce fish waste... the slowly sinking pellets really triggers the feeding frenzy in my tanks... most all fish seem to like it... this one called "Excellent Bits"... but they have a "micro pellet" for Tetras that I also feed in my rotation think I have a 4-5 food variety for my rotation, including freeze dried brine shrimp & Tubiflex

 

[Wills]

Interesting- a lot of mine are showing early signs of bloat - so I think varying the food might be a good idea.

Peacocks and haps shouldn’t get bloat that’s just mbuna if you feed them too much protein as their gut can’t process it where as peacocks slightly higher in the food chain need it.