Is there a Way to feed herbivores separately ??

[Tttay89]

A friend of mine new to the hobby has a 100 litre tank
I'm unsure of what he has in the tank at the moment but i know there is a couple dwarf gouramis some Molly's .. a load of dannios pretty sure there's a rainbow shark in also (which he claims is very peaceful and leaves everything alone).
However he has just gone out and purchases a
tropheus duboisi ...after researching the fish as I wasn't sure what it was every site says about it being strictly herbivore and only eat vegetables and veggie flakes etc..no meat otherwise it'll die...
He currently feeds all his fish a mixed diet of frozen blood worms, algea wafers tropical flakes and tropical crisps...i told him this info and he's confused how he should feed them differently ... I was thinking some sort of tank divider as it eats everything that's being put in at the moment

 

[Colin_T]

All Tropheus including T. duboisi are strict vegetarians and if you give them frozen bloodworms, beef heart, cichlid mix, marine mix or any major meat foods, it will rot in their intestine and the fish will bloat up and die within a couple of days.

While I say they are strict vegetarians, they do eat some small insects/ insect larvae, fish eggs and small shrimp when they are grazing on algae and plants. However, the amount of these foods is very small compared to the plant matter they eat.​

Vegetarian fishes have a long digestive tract (stomach and intestine) and meat foods rot in the intestine and the fish develop internal bacterial infections and die.

Carnivorous fishes have a shorter digestive tract and meat foods spend less time in the intestine before being pooped out, and this means there is less time for bad bacteria to develop.

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Your friend should return the Tropheus immediately because they come from Lake Tanganyika, which has very hard alkaline water (pH above 8.0 and GH around 400ppm), and they shouldn't be kept with dwarf gouramis or danios, which come from soft water and a neutral or acid pH (pH below 7.0).

If he wants to keep Tropheus, he should set up a tank specifically for them and he can have mollies or rainbowfish in with them.

You might also suggest they find another pet shop because any shop that sells Tropheus for a community tank is not helping your friend keep fish successfully.

 

[Tttay89]

Oh wow, so it's a certain death then I think it got given bloodworms today.
If he is unable to return the fish could he just permenantly feed the entire tank standard tropocal flakes etc and 'Malawi flakes'(??)

 

[Colin_T]

You can use goldfish flakes and vegetable flakes/ pellets but no frozen bloodworms or meat. A bit of tropical flakes every now and then, should be ok if other foods are given but goldfish and vege flakes are better because they have less meat products in them.

However, there is also the issue of water chemistry (GH and pH). Tropheus need hard alkaline water (pH above 8.0 and GH around 400ppm) and don't do well when kept in soft water. Mollies need pretty hard water too.

The danios and gouramis need soft water and don't do well in hard water.

You need to find out what the GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of the water supply is. This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

 

[Tttay89]

Ok he did say he mainly feeds tropical flakes and algea wafers tbf but worms maybe once every while. Don't think the shop even told him they were herbivore it's not till I researched and told him.
I presume his water will be the same as mine as we live pretty close and we both use half and half tap and ro water as the water round here is very very hard.
With ro water my tank values are
Ph 7.5
GH around 180ppm
Kh- also around 180ppm

He does not have a test kit but I will test his when I see him next

 

[Colin_T]

You can increase the lighting times on the tank and it will encourage algae to grow on the glass and rocks/ ornaments. The fish will graze on the algae and it will help supplement its diet. The mollies will also graze on algae.

 

[Tttay89]

Maybe dumb as hell but do herbivore fish even usually go for meat foods?
He said it did but then has said didn't actually watch properly...I thought if they were veggie then meat wouldn't interest them. Like a carnivore eating on algea

 

[Colin_T]

Fish are opportunistic feeders and will eat anything that looks like food. Tropheus will gorge themselves on meat and bloodworms and die a few days later because of it. They don't care what it looks or tastes like, if it is in the water and resembles food, it gets eaten.

 

[Tttay89]

Makes sense I suppose... Probably scoffed a load then.

Off topic what are these fish called and any info on them

 

[Colin_T]

They look like electric blue acaras (Andinoacara pulcher). They are a colour form of the normal blue acara. They grow to about 5 inches long and come from soft acid water in South America. They are quite peaceful for a cichlid but shouldn't be kept with small fish because they will eat them.