2 foot Armatus eating 9 inch Mackerel

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Try feeding your armatus cichlids. Much better quality and healthier than guppies and comets. Convixts and african rifts are very easy to breed.
 
Maybe a few gutloaded feeders every month is good for the health. It's like occaisally having a wine or beer. Good in smaller doses.
 
Temp - Stays around 76 to 78 degrees.

I am also curious to find out if feeding live food like gold fish is better in the long run for them as appose to feeding them dead fish. I would also want to know does feeding them salt water fish have any adverse effects on their health. Should you only feed them freshwater fish?

That temp is MUCH cooler than what is usually used for these guys. Most that I have been reading on keeping them has them at higher temps trying to induce faster growth and better eating but with this we all know that means reduced oxygen which seems to be a problem because it seems these guys like highly oxygenated waters.

I am thinking it might not be a problem, the only time that I think people are having issues is when they are feeding prepared shrimp, and tilapia filets and things of that sort that aren't the whole prey item. Maybe there is something that they aren't getting from cut filets or shrimp that they need. Maybe the entrails, eyes and bones actually pay a huge part in their diet.

Breeding convicts actually sounds like a good idea. I never thought about doing that.

I've been thinking about this, my concern is however keeping a large enough stock around for him to eat, convicts don't get too large in the first place but from what I have seen keeping very small fish around large predator usually tends to end up in the predator not going after them as the effort isn't worth the reward.
 
Wow you feed your beast 2 or 3 times a week!..I feed mine every other day.I would try letting a few more days pass between feedings but he seems to get more aggressive when I allow him to get a little too hungry...
 
krichardson - Sometimes I only feed him once in a week but when I do the fish I feed him are large, typically around 7 to 9 inches if the fish are small I will give more than one.

Push - Your right, not only keeping enough stock but how long it will take to grow the cichlids big enough to make it worth while.
 
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