Best food for cichlids

[pcfriedrich]

Feed them everything and anything, just no feeder fish

exactly. I lost an oscar to hexamita, which I'm sure he caught from feeder gold fish my roommate used to love to put in his tank. I killed the disease, but not before his intestines were so torn up, he essentially starved to death. he could no longer absorb nutrients, got HITH and wasted away. Nothing I tried made him better, and he eventually went into ice water. never feed feeder fish, unless you breed them yourself

 

[Ghost9001]

Hikari bio gold, massivore, and frozen krill and bloodworms

 

[wreck]

i feed, angelsplus flakes, angels plus fry starter #1 sinking pellets, omega one floating pellets, xtreme peewee 1.5 mm sinking, bloodworms as a treat, and also feed sfb cichlid delight.

i mainly use the xtreme pellets bc my fish go crazy for them!!

 

[ninjastar]

exactly. I lost an oscar to hexamita, which I'm sure he caught from feeder gold fish my roommate used to love to put in his tank. I killed the disease, but not before his intestines were so torn up, he essentially starved to death. he could no longer absorb nutrients, got HITH and wasted away. Nothing I tried made him better, and he eventually went into ice water. never feed feeder fish, unless you breed them yourself

sorry for your lost. But ya you can feed feeders if you breed them yourself,keep them in a qt for around a month or have a lps that has never failed you.

 

[RD.]

Hikari cichlid bio gold+ does have more spirulina than NLS, and it has A. niger fermentation extract (helps break down sugars from the wheat flour that is in both brands of food). Hikari cichlid bio gold+ also has astaxanthin, which is the main color enhancer in Hikari cichlid gold.

Just thought that I would point a couple of things out......

Unless one is privy to the inclusion rate of each raw ingredient in a formula, you could not possibly state which food has a larger rate of sprirulina. NLS also contains astaxanthin, it's part of the "alage meal" found in every formula, that consists of Seaweed, Kelp, and Haematococcus pluvialis (a natural form of astaxanthin), along with a premium grade of natural Spirulina, as well as a fruit & vegetable extract.

Blood worms are very high in protein (good for growth), and the hikari brand of frozen blood worms has vitamin supplements.

Bloodworms are not high in protein, unless they are freeze dried. Frozen bloodworms typically consist of 80-90% water.

As an example;

Sally's Frozen Bloodworm

4.5% Crude Protein
0.4% Crude Fat
0.6% Crude Fibre
92% Moisture

Hikari Bio-Pure Bloodworms

6% Crude Protein
0.5% Crude Fat
0.9% Crude Fibre
89% Moisture


HTH

 

[aclockworkorange]

RD, is that for the whole "cube"? I'd like to think the worms themselves have a bit more nutrition once thawed...

Just thought that I would point a couple of things out......

Unless one is privy to the inclusion rate of each raw ingredient in a formula, you could not possibly state which food has a larger rate of sprirulina. NLS also contains astaxanthin, it's part of the "alage meal" found in every formula, that consists of Seaweed, Kelp, and Haematococcus pluvialis (a natural form of astaxanthin), along with a premium grade of natural Spirulina, as well as a fruit & vegetable extract.




Bloodworms are not high in protein, unless they are freeze dried. Frozen bloodworms typically consist of 80-90% water.

As an example;

Sally's Frozen Bloodworm

4.5% Crude Protein
0.4% Crude Fat
0.6% Crude Fibre
92% Moisture

Hikari Bio-Pure Bloodworms

6% Crude Protein
0.5% Crude Fat
0.9% Crude Fibre
89% Moisture


HTH

 

[RD.]

Those numbers are not based on an entire cube, they are based on a per unit basis, just as frozen krill would be. Remove the 90% moisture content, and the numbers shoot up.

With frozen foods you are mostly paying for water, with water usually making up 80-85% of the formula. Of course most fish will find the softer, moist (frozen) foods more palatable, and with the freeze dried you need to be careful as to how much you are feeding due to the higher protein & fat content.

As an example, the following Nutritional analysis provided by Piscine Energetics (PE Mysis)

Frozen Mysis

Protein 10.46
Crude Fat 3.29
Moisture 82.27
Ash 1.65
Carbohydrates (by subtraction) 2.3


Guarateed Analysis from dry weight (freeze dried)

Min Crude Protein 69.5%
Min Crude Fat 8.35%
Max Crude Fiber 2.75%
Max Ash 5.5%


For most fish foods, the guaranteed analysis between the frozen version, and the freeze dried version, of a single unit (in this case a single mysis) will be identical, the only real difference is that one will have 98% of its moisture removed. When you dehydrate or freeze dry a food, it will shrink in size, but the protein/fat content remains the same. The only thing that changes is the amount of moisture, so one needs to be careful so as not to overfeed a freeze dried product (because it appears much smaller) than the same food in its original or frozen state.

I have no idea why the frozen fish food industry has made this so confusing, but this appears to be the norm when the various companies state the frozen and/or dry weight analysis. Granted, ounce for ounce a fish will glean far more protein out of a dry food, than they would the same amount (per ounce) of a frozen product, due the majority of the weight from a frozen food being from the high moisture content.


HTH

 

[pcfriedrich]

Those numbers are not based on an entire cube, they are based on a per unit basis, just as frozen krill would be. Remove the 90% moisture content, and the numbers shoot up.


HTH

Exactly. Its like comparing steak to beef jerky. by weight, the beef jerkey has alot more protein and alot less moisture. The steak (or frozen bloodworms) still have just as much protein per VOLUME, or number of worms fed.