Feeding

[Scorp1on]

Read in a fish newsletter recently that it's not good to feed any worms to cichlids since this will most likely cause bloat. Is this true? Have fed bloodworms to ours with no ill affects. What's your experinces?

 

[gixer]

most herbivorous cichlids have got long intestinal tracts so it takes a lot longer for their food to digest, so when food is eaten that is hard to diest it stays in their intestines for too long and starts to decompose causing problems. i would lay off the tropical flake and pellets that have a lot of fish meal and high protein food like bloodworm.
sure you would of been fine feeding bloodworms once or twice will no ill affecets but it certainly wouldn't be wise to feed often. just avoid it would be my advice.

 

[yhbae]

Read in a fish newsletter recently that it's not good to feed any worms to cichlids since this will most likely cause bloat. Is this true? Have fed bloodworms to ours with no ill affects. What's your experinces?

Which cichlids are you referring to, though? They all have different feeding requirements...

 

[gixer]

Read in a fish newsletter recently that it's not good to feed any worms to cichlids since this will most likely cause bloat. Is this true? Have fed bloodworms to ours with no ill affects. What's your experinces?

Which cichlids are you referring to, though? They all have different feeding requirements...

lol...good point that..i assumed he was talking malawis...opps )

 

[Scorp1on]

Here's the tank after the losses we had due to loss of territories.
55 Gallon Cichlid Tank
2 blue striped kenyi
2 jewel (1 male and 1 female)
3 Bumblebee
2 Melanochromis auratus
1 Female Copadichromis borleyi "Kadango Red Fin"
1 Synodontis Ocellifer Catfish
1 Common Pleco
1 Ice Blue Zebras
2 copadichromis chrysonatus

 

[yhbae]

So gixer's concern was correct...

You have some vegitarian mbuna in your tank - they must not be fed with any meety food such was worms...

 

[Oddball]

O-kay i wasnt aware that there was such a big deal with feeding these food stuffs...........

I've just started to cycle a tank for africans and i originally intended to feed a mix of the following foods:

Every two days one defrosted cube of blood worm, three agae wafers (for the plecos in there) Three lance fish (for my polypterus {also supplements my starburst peckolitas diet}) some JMC protein pellets (only a few for the cats) a mix of flake and vegetarian flake with a few chichlid pellets..............

Now that seems a bit dubius that theres veggy cichlids, the only cich that i know im keeping for sure is the birchardi, can u make some species suggestions based on the above diet?

 

[Scorp1on]

I understood that even the "veggie" ones need some protein in their diet? The flake food contains enough?

 

[JeremyD]

I understood that even the "veggie" ones need some protein in their diet? The flake food contains enough?

They get all they need from their greens. Sure in the wild, they will eat some animal protein as they are opportunity feeders. But it is safe to say that feeding spirulina flake alone to your mbuna will keep them very healthy. Its better to give them too little animal protein than too much.

 

[yhbae]

Yes, give them some flakes or pellettes based on spirulina - that is all they need to survive. I rotate between two different brands of spirulina flakes and Hikari Excel pelletes, and all mbuna are very healthy.

 

[gixer]

also...

dont feed like suggested on tubs of food... I mean..DO NOT feed your mbuna for like 3 minutes at a time like it says..

in 3 minutes my fish could eat an entire tub of flak if i let them.. rememmber these fish are pigs.

i feed mine 3 times a day...enough for about 20 seconds of feeding each time.

 

[semper fi]

herbivores, as pointed out, do not have a stomach to hold food while it is being digested. all nutrients are taken in the intestinal tract. a properly fed herbivore should always appear to be hungry. not saying that you should starve them, but feed as recommended by gixer.

spirulina is a farmed blue green algae. it is also high in protein. if you choose to feed spirulina, choose a flake food that contains spirulina. again watch the protein content. herbivores do not burn fat. therefore storing fat is not necessary unless you are conditioning them for breeding. using bloodworms or brine shrimp once a week or as an occasional treat is fine for them. i usually feed mine bloodworms after cleaning their tank.

besides flake and pellet foods, you can also feed them fresh veggies. frozen ones that are thawed previously work also. feeding smaller meals 3 times a day is preferable than one large meal or twice a day.

 

[gixer]

feeding little and often also cuts down on a lot of agression.

The main diet of all my mbuna is peas, lettuce,spinach,brocoli and a very few prawns all blended then frozen. I break off chunks and throw it in...works fine for me. also spirulina flake/pellets , tetra veg flake and algae wafers.