Feeding African Cichlids and Clown Loaches

[Angry_Platy]

Thanks to Sorrell for putting the idea in my head in the first place.

OK...in my 75gallon I have yellow labs, Cyrtocara and Clown Loaches...the Cytocaras are great....growing like weeds....2 out of the 3 loaches are fine....the other one seems to have a slightly sunken in belly...like it needs a good feed. 5 out of 6 of my EYs are doing well....except for one which doesn't seem to be growing at all.....since I got them 5 months ago, the other EYs have doubled in size except this one. I have watched them at feed time. They all eat well....

The two fish I mentioned swim normally, are interactive and act like the other bigger fish...

I feed them cichlid growth pellets every second night and normal tropical flakes the other nights....they get bloodworms once a week and get their fair share of cucumber and/or zucchini fed every second day alternating. They are only fed once a day.

Should I be feeding more? What else can I do?

OH....I specified FM and CFC since CFC gave Sorrell good advice and FM keeps loaches and Africans together

Any help would be appreciated

 

[CFC]

It is very difficult to keep fish with such vastly different dietry requirements in the same tank, Malaiwi Cichlids require a more vegetable based diet and being fed bloodworms can cause them serious problems in the form of bloat which can be fatal, the only non vegetable food that Malaiwi's should be fed are occasional feedings of krill/shrimp. Clown loaches on the other hand preffer a diet with a bit more protein and should be fed small benethic foods like bloodworms and daphnia on a daily basis. It is my opinion that these fish should not combined together and Malaiwi Cichlids should be kept in biotypical tanks with only other Malaiwi Cichlids as tankmates.

I beleive FM keeps his clown loaches with frontosa's which are a Tanganykian Cichlid and thrive on a more protein based diet since most Tanganykian Cichlids have a more predatory lifestyle.