How To Feed Catfsih In Mbuna Tank!?

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lgarvey

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Hi,

I have 3 catfish in my mbuna tank. I love 'em to bits, but am worried about them not eating enough.

I have catfish pellets, but as soon as I drop one in the tank, one of the peacocks picks it up then about 5 minutes later it expells a load of dust from its gills (the tablet munched up).

I have other algae pellets that sink to the bottom, but I have to throw in a load of food so that the mbuna and peacocks don't devour everything. But then I am overfeeding? I have tried feeding at night time, with all lights off, but I notice that the fish still seem to hunt the food down and likely get it all before the catfisih have a chance to feed.

The catfish won't come up for food, but sometimes they might scale the side of the tank then shoot back down. \

How the hell do I feed my catfish? Anything I put in the tank gets attacked by teh mbuna, and if there's enough of them they will easily keep the catfish away from the food.

I suspect that the thing abotu putting too much food in teh tank is not as much of an issue when there's three catfish scanning every inch of the tank for food? I think I probably need to regularly put too much fairly quck sinking food into the tank so that the mbuna only get a portion of it before the rest hits the ground.

If that's the case, my next question is ... I know catfish like a good portion of protein in their diets. So far they're living off algae and vegatable based food. Is there a protein food that will sinky very fast so the catfish have a chance of getting it?

L
 
Here try this. Cut the bottom off a 2 liter bottle or similar and put it upright in your tank. Turn lights out and put food in the little hole in the top(where the lid goes). The food will sink to the bottom w/out the other fish getting it. After awhile lift out the 2 liter. I'm not sure if it'd work, but at least the food would get to the bottom. If the cats are smaller than the mbuna then maybe you can cut a small half circle in the bottom of the bottom where it will sit on the substrate. Then you could just leave the bottle in there overnight. The cats should discover it and eat.

Another thing is to use a turkey baster. Suck the catfish food up into the baster and squirt it really close to the cats while your feeding the other fish. Try that and see how that works. At first they'll probably be scared of the baster, but I've heard of instances where the fish get used to the baster b/c they associate it with food.

If I think of any other ideas I'll let you know.
 
Here try this. Cut the bottom off a 2 liter bottle or similar and put it upright in your tank. Turn lights out and put food in the little hole in the top(where the lid goes). The food will sink to the bottom w/out the other fish getting it. After awhile lift out the 2 liter. I'm not sure if it'd work, but at least the food would get to the bottom. If the cats are smaller than the mbuna then maybe you can cut a small half circle in the bottom of the bottom where it will sit on the substrate. Then you could just leave the bottle in there overnight. The cats should discover it and eat.

Another thing is to use a turkey baster. Suck the catfish food up into the baster and squirt it really close to the cats while your feeding the other fish. Try that and see how that works. At first they'll probably be scared of the baster, but I've heard of instances where the fish get used to the baster b/c they associate it with food.

If I think of any other ideas I'll let you know.

Your advice is really helpful and I think it's close to a solution, but.. the cats are bigger than the mbuna; at least two of them are. The third, who I call 'scooter', is really small but seems to 'hang' with the two other bigger cats. They seem to accept him/her as a valid team mate, and look after him. So wonderful! I adore my cats.

Anyway. They are bigger than the mbuna and the peacocks. Ironically, the mbuna will attack the food, but it's the peacocks who devour the food, overpowering the mbuna. The peacocks are actually bigger, or the same size, as the mbuna, and bigger than the catfish.

the cats won't have any advantages when it coes to an up-turned 2L bottle. Hmm.

Any ideas let me know.

L
 
You dont say what kind of catfish they are. Before anyone can offer proper help we must know if we are talking about vegetarian or meat eaters. However you mentioned youre peacocks eat so much food that lots of it is expelled through the gills. This food is undigested ie uneaten therefore lands on the bottom toi be eaten at night by most catfish. So dont worry. And dont try to put extra food in the tank as it will inevitably lead to overfeeding problems. Let us know what kind of catfish you have before we can help properly. BJ
Hi,

I have 3 catfish in my mbuna tank. I love 'em to bits, but am worried about them not eating enough.

I have catfish pellets, but as soon as I drop one in the tank, one of the peacocks picks it up then about 5 minutes later it expells a load of dust from its gills (the tablet munched up).

I have other algae pellets that sink to the bottom, but I have to throw in a load of food so that the mbuna and peacocks don't devour everything. But then I am overfeeding? I have tried feeding at night time, with all lights off, but I notice that the fish still seem to hunt the food down and likely get it all before the catfisih have a chance to feed.

The catfish won't come up for food, but sometimes they might scale the side of the tank then shoot back down. \

How the hell do I feed my catfish? Anything I put in the tank gets attacked by teh mbuna, and if there's enough of them they will easily keep the catfish away from the food.

I suspect that the thing abotu putting too much food in teh tank is not as much of an issue when there's three catfish scanning every inch of the tank for food? I think I probably need to regularly put too much fairly quck sinking food into the tank so that the mbuna only get a portion of it before the rest hits the ground.

If that's the case, my next question is ... I know catfish like a good portion of protein in their diets. So far they're living off algae and vegatable based food. Is there a protein food that will sinky very fast so the catfish have a chance of getting it?

L
 
Hi,

They're both synodontis. Two of them I think a eupterus: http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_feather.php

The other is a rift valley, probably tanganykan catfish. I wanted all Malawi catfish, but the LFS guy got it badly wrong I think in the bid to sell me some kind of catfish.

L

You dont say what kind of catfish they are. Before anyone can offer proper help we must know if we are talking about vegetarian or meat eaters. However you mentioned youre peacocks eat so much food that lots of it is expelled through the gills. This food is undigested ie uneaten therefore lands on the bottom toi be eaten at night by most catfish. So dont worry. And dont try to put extra food in the tank as it will inevitably lead to overfeeding problems. Let us know what kind of catfish you have before we can help properly. BJ
Hi,

I have 3 catfish in my mbuna tank. I love 'em to bits, but am worried about them not eating enough.

I have catfish pellets, but as soon as I drop one in the tank, one of the peacocks picks it up then about 5 minutes later it expells a load of dust from its gills (the tablet munched up).

I have other algae pellets that sink to the bottom, but I have to throw in a load of food so that the mbuna and peacocks don't devour everything. But then I am overfeeding? I have tried feeding at night time, with all lights off, but I notice that the fish still seem to hunt the food down and likely get it all before the catfisih have a chance to feed.

The catfish won't come up for food, but sometimes they might scale the side of the tank then shoot back down. \

How the hell do I feed my catfish? Anything I put in the tank gets attacked by teh mbuna, and if there's enough of them they will easily keep the catfish away from the food.

I suspect that the thing abotu putting too much food in teh tank is not as much of an issue when there's three catfish scanning every inch of the tank for food? I think I probably need to regularly put too much fairly quck sinking food into the tank so that the mbuna only get a portion of it before the rest hits the ground.

If that's the case, my next question is ... I know catfish like a good portion of protein in their diets. So far they're living off algae and vegatable based food. Is there a protein food that will sinky very fast so the catfish have a chance of getting it?

L
 
There is actually only one catfish that comes from Malawi (if I remember correctly) and it's the Njassae. I haven't thought of any more ideas. Just wanted to point the Malawi catfish out.
 

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