What Flake Do You Feed Your Malawis

[jamesmacc]

hey folks, just wondering what flake food yo uall feed your malawis. i currently feed them new life spectrum pellets in the morning and then fins r us spirulina flake at night, im runnign low now and dont know if i should go for a mixed flake to suit my mbuna aswell as my auloncaras.
let me know what you think and what you feed yours.
cheers,
james

 

[KittyKat]

I used to feed my Mbuna and Aulonocaras spirulina flake and pellets as a staple, then spirulina pellets and generic flake instead of the normal at every second to third feeding. This worked well and seemed to benefit all the fish over a spirulina-only diet.

 

[rifty]

stick with the nls they should only need 1 feed a day max tho

 

[jamesmacc]

I used to feed my Mbuna and Aulonocaras spirulina flake and pellets as a staple, then spirulina pellets and generic flake instead of the normal at every second to third feeding. This worked well and seemed to benefit all the fish over a spirulina-only diet.

generic flake as in just normal flake food for tropical fish?

 

[jamesmacc]

stick with the nls they should only need 1 feed a day max tho

i was feeding just nls for a few weeks but the wee guys were not getting very much of it, i just gave them a smaller dose and chnaged it to twice a day so they all get a fair amount

 

[thereverendturtle]

Omega one cichlid flakes and Zoomeds spirulina 20. I have both Aulonocara and psuedotropheus in the same tank.

 

[KittyKat]

…they should only need 1 feed a day max tho

What is your reasoning for this?

I used to feed my Mbuna and Aulonocaras spirulina flake and pellets as a staple, then spirulina pellets and generic flake instead of the normal at every second to third feeding. This worked well and seemed to benefit all the fish over a spirulina-only diet.

generic flake as in just normal flake food for tropical fish?

Yes, normal tropical flake. I should probably point out that I used a variety of different sized pellets for each feeding so that there was something appropriate for the younger fish and the adults.

 

[synodontismultipunctatus]

Mixture of novo malawi algae flakes and new era 'cichlid green' pellets.

 

[rifty]

reply to KittyKat re one feed a day is all they should need to keep your fish in perfect condition nls food is a perfect balance of what malawis need i have been using this for 6 years feeding once a day with no issues and spot on condition fish

 

[KittyKat]

reply to KittyKat re one feed a day is all they should need to keep your fish in perfect condition nls food is a perfect balance of what malawis need i have been using this for 6 years feeding once a day with no issues and spot on condition fish

My reasoning for suggesting more regular and smaller feeds is that I found that when keeping high stock, much of the food is sucked up by the filter if the fish are fed enough to fill *all* of them and that the sub-diminant fish may not get enough food that way. With more regular and smaller feedings, I find that the fish get a better mix of food and were healthy enough to be left without food when I was away.

 

[neil@northantsmalawis]

I sell a mixed flake which is ideal for a mixed mbuna and hap tank. I also sell nls so may be worth a look.

 

[rifty]

reply to KittyKat re one feed a day is all they should need to keep your fish in perfect condition nls food is a perfect balance of what malawis need i have been using this for 6 years feeding once a day with no issues and spot on condition fish

My reasoning for suggesting more regular and smaller feeds is that I found that when keeping high stock, much of the food is sucked up by the filter if the fish are fed enough to fill *all* of them and that the sub-diminant fish may not get enough food that way. With more regular and smaller feedings, I find that the fish get a better mix of food and were healthy enough to be left without food when I was away.

ok cool most of my tanks run on sponge filters so no food goes up the filter so guess i wouldnt have seen that plus nls and new era seem heavy enought to avoid it in my main tank but i do feed slowly tho over five mins so everyone get some.

 

[saz326]

I see no-one uses tetra Pro Veg..? Even as a suplimentary feed?

 

[KittyKat]

ok cool most of my tanks run on sponge filters so no food goes up the filter so guess i wouldnt have seen that plus nls and new era seem heavy enought to avoid it in my main tank but i do feed slowly tho over five mins so everyone get some.

Aye, I can imagine that it would be quite a bit different with sponge filters compared to externals… after all, in the worst case, the fish can pick the food straight off the sponges!

I see no-one uses tetra Pro Veg..? Even as a suplimentary feed?

Having a quick look, TetraPro Vegetable looks like a spirulina-heavy cprisp food, which wouldn't give it anything over most spirulina flakes or pellets. In other words, people do use equivalents