Feeding Cichlids and other fish meat

[itiwhetu]

As long as they aren't vegetarian cichlids like Tropheus, raw prawn/ shrimp is fine. However, if you have pet shrimp in the tank, then use cooked prawn/ shrimp to stop any diseases from potentially getting into the tank and infecting your shrimp.

I assume the shrimp or prawn are freshwater ones?

 

[itiwhetu]

It's very dramatic to say we all suggest your fish will die because of their diet. Drama's fun and straw man arguments are effective.

But your fish can stay alive and still eat a third rate diet, and that's not the goal of any aquarist I've met when they look at their fish. There's a multi-million dollar industry designing fish foods, and while I don't buy all their claims either, and have no brand loyalties when I do feed prepared foods (I cultivate live foods as staples for my fish, based on their dietary needs), I do buy their research. There's big money in aquaculture, and not a cow in sight.

if you dissect them (you're right about that at least, that kills them...) you won't find fatty deposits. They are unable to digest mammal fats and most of the meat passes right through, providing no nutrition. They'll pull some from the leaner bits, and they should survive. Give them enough, and they'll look good, though the fat will go into the water.

As is often the case in your postings, you're doing something from back in the days of that old fraudster Herbert Axelrod. 50 years ago, it was an experiment. It failed, and people went looking for better ideas. They found them.

Raw meat moved to heart meat by the 1960s, then as transportation networks developed, fresh fish (easily digested by other fish) replaced heart meat in the homemade recipes. Shrimp is now sometimes used when it's on sale, and white fish flesh (not as oily as say salmon) is a great idea for fish like discus. A lot of aquarists make their own foods - I have a stick blender out in a drawer in the fish area, and it has some kilometres on it. I've moved away from keeping Cichlids large enough to profit from such foods, but fish, shrimp, pureed carrots, mild paprika, pureed peas, gelatin to bind - those old recipes work very well.

They are old recipes though. You are one of the last holdouts with an approach tried and rejected when people were waiting for the newest Beatles record to come out. You give really contrarian advice, and it worries me that new members will think you are offering a healthy alternative for your fish.

Oh, for the younger members - Axelrod was the head of a fish and pet publishing empire. He was prone to guesses about this then fairly new hobby, and published info at a prodigious rate, with very little time to test it. Later in life, he ended up in jail for fraud. He was a spectacular self promoter who never let the truth get in the way of selling a book or magazine.

These big companies research shows that the fish don't like cow but enjoy wheat flour, wheat germ meal, wheat gluten and (carrots (with parsley)). carrots and parsley is what my mum used to feed us kids in the old days. Somethings never change.

fish meal (43%), wheat flour, wheat germ meal (10%), brewers yeast, Ca-caseinate, spirulina algae meal, wheat gluten, fish oil (containing 49% omega fatty acids), krill, gammarus, Haematococcus algae (0.5%), mannan oligosaccharides (0.4%), green-lipped mussel meal, stinging nettle meal, herbs, lucerne meal (alfalfa), garlic (0.1%), parsley, sea algae meal, paprika, spinach meal, carrots

 

[itiwhetu]

I have done some more research and every Discus food contains Wheat Flour and Wheat Gluten, I'm a baker so have decided to feed my Discus Bread now instead

 

[jaylach]

Actually, as long as the cichlids are omnivorous, I can't see where a little bread now and then would hurt as long as the bread was organic with zero preservatives or additives.

 

[itiwhetu]

This is the best ingredient list I have found so far

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71SgUrY-PpL._AC_SX679_.jpg

 

[jaylach]

Also keep in mind that most cichlids are hunters. While it may sound cruel you may think about feeding them live 'feeder guppies or golds' once in a while depending on the fish size. Actually crickets are also good as a live food source. LOL! Way back when I had my cichlid tanks neighborhood kids would catch crickets for my cichlids as long as I let them watch the fish feed on them. Sigh, kids are SUCH cruel beasties...

 

[itiwhetu]

Also keep in mind that most cichlids are hunters. While it may sound cruel you may think about feeding them live 'feeder guppies or golds' once in a while depending on the fish size. Actually crickets are also good as a live food source. LOL! Way back when I had my cichlid tanks neighborhood kids would catch crickets for my cichlids as long as I let them watch the fish feed on them. Sigh, kids are SUCH cruel beasties...

I am raising Black Phantom Tetras in the tank with my Discus. Every now and again we gain another couple my school of ten is now sixteen.

 

[anewbie]

These big companies research shows that the fish don't like cow but enjoy wheat flour, wheat germ meal, wheat gluten and (carrots (with parsley)). carrots and parsley is what my mum used to feed us kids in the old days. Somethings never change.

fish meal (43%), wheat flour, wheat germ meal (10%), brewers yeast, Ca-caseinate, spirulina algae meal, wheat gluten, fish oil (containing 49% omega fatty acids), krill, gammarus, Haematococcus algae (0.5%), mannan oligosaccharides (0.4%), green-lipped mussel meal, stinging nettle meal, herbs, lucerne meal (alfalfa), garlic (0.1%), parsley, sea algae meal, paprika, spinach meal, carrots

Depends which prepared food you feed them; for example read the ingrediants for fluval bug bite.

 

[itiwhetu]

Depends which prepared food you feed them; for example read the ingrediants for fluval bug bite.

Ingredients: Black soldier fly larvae, salmon, fish protein concentrate, green peas, potato, wheat, dicalcium phosphate, calcium carbonate, DL-methionine, lecithin, choline chloride, L-lysine, vitamin E supplement, biotin, niacin, calcium L-ascorbyl-2-monophosphate, marigold extract, zinc oxide, manganous oxide, D-

Potato, green peas, wheat all the stuff Discus find in the wild. Even Salmon, I do wonder how many Discus have ever eaten a Salmon.

 

[jaylach]

I am raising Black Phantom Tetras in the tank with my Discus. Every now and again we gain another couple my school of ten is now sixteen.

Fish can be strange beasties. At one time I had a tank with yellow and blue acara, convicts, green terrors and jack dempsey. One would think that these fish would just kill each other but they were all introduced at a size of 1 inch max.. While they were small they just set up there own areas and got along just fine when mature. If I would have put these same fish in a tank when already mature they would have killed each other.

 

[Colin_T]

I assume the shrimp or prawn are freshwater ones?

You can use fresh or marine shrimp to feed fish, it doesn't make any difference. I used raw river prawns that were in estuaries (brackish water) and I used marine prawn (tiger and green). It doesn't make any real difference.

 

[itiwhetu]

You can use fresh or marine shrimp to feed fish, it doesn't make any difference. I used raw river prawns that were in estuaries (brackish water) and I used marine prawn (tiger and green). It doesn't make any real difference.

What about the salt in the marine ones?

 

[jaylach]

What about the salt in the marine ones?

Not enough salt contained in a salt water shrimp to make a difference. Salt water critters don't necessarily contain a much higher salt level internally. They are just designed to do better in a salt environment.

 

[itiwhetu]

Not enough salt contained in a salt water shrimp to make a difference. Salt water critters don't necessarily contain a much higher salt level internally. They are just designed to do better in a salt environment.

So a salt water shrimp tastes the same as a fresh water shrimp?

 

[jaylach]

So a salt water shrimp tastes the same as a fresh water shrimp?

Not what I'm saying. I'm just saying that any form of shrimp is happy food for a cichlid.