Flaked Food For Bigger Fish

[fry_lover]

this gonna seem a silly question, but recently i have begun keeping slightly bigger fish, my biggest fish previous was about 3 inches, i now have some 6" fish (Cichlids)

Is it worth feeding flakes AT ALL it just makes such a mess, i guess one of the advantages is the little fish can pick of SOME of the falling smashed up flakes?

Can i give flaked food a complete miss and still achieve an optimal diet for my fish

Fish are in 2x 67 gallon tanks

one is mostly Malawi (Mbuna and Haps)

one is mostly North American Cichlids

thanks

 

[vinylman]

I wouldn't stop giving them flake altogether - it is a balanced food after all, with Spirulina etc. I usually give mine flake, slow sinking pellets, frozen food, catfish biccies etc. It's worth getting them used to varied foods, just in case you ever run out of one particular kind, or the LFS runs out of your fishes fave.

 

[fry_lover]

I wouldn't stop giving them flake altogether - it is a balanced food after all, with Spirulina etc. I usually give mine flake, slow sinking pellets, frozen food, catfish biccies etc. It's worth getting them used to varied foods, just in case you ever run out of one particular kind, or the LFS runs out of your fishes fave.

Yes good points, i am certainly one for variety, depending on the tank set up, i use the following

- Frozen Foods (Brine Shrimp, Beefheart, Mixed Veg, Cichlid Mix and Krill)

- Catfish Pellets, which the fish also eat

- Cucumber

- Prawns and Mussells (although not often)

- Cichlid Pellets

- I also have Spirulina Flakes, but am thinking to switching to another forum of Spirulina now


Good point about Flakes being a balanced food, but there must be other (pellets) that are equally balanced with similar ingredients?

 

[DiscusAngel]

check your lfs for frozen foods. as i feed my discus "Frozen discus food" its got bloodworms, brineshrimp and some rivershrimp in all mushedinto small bits. they love it. you may find something like this for your fish like "Frozen Mbuna Food" etc.. my discus also have live bloodworm live brineshrimp Tetra Prima flakes and the Frozen discus food.

 

[dthoffsett]

I've stopped giving my cichlids flakes to avoid the mess. I have 4 different kinds of pellet food, from soft veggie pellets to regular round pellets. I also give them frozen food on occasion. It is possible to give your fish a varied diet without having to give flakes.