Blue zaire moba, help please

[Jonnyakawombell]

Hi all first post for a while looking for a little help please, I've recently got 12 wild blue zaire moba's had them for a week or two, the problem I have is I cant get them to eat pellets (NLS thera A) they eat the frozen cubes no problem like brine shrimp, chopped mussel etc...., there around 7-8cm and are in a 350 gallon tank 27 temp with good water parameters should I be worried or just persist? I've tried soaking a few of them them in the brine shrimp but they just wont touch touch them, any ideas please?

 

[sikoko]

Crush the pellets and put it on the cubes give it time, they will come around

 

[RD.]

What size NLS? At 7-8cm I wouldn't try anything larger than the NLS 1mm pellets. They will come around with time.

Do you know what the importer was feeding?

neutrino

 

[neutrino]

Kapampa I've had at that size weren't fussy about pellet size, anything between 1-3 mm pellets and they were fine.

Don't know if this is your problem, but my kapampa never liked Thera-A, I gave up on it for them years ago. Pretty much any other NLS they like-- in fact, these days their only pellet is NLS and when they're hungry they'll beg to be fed. Different story with Thera-A, too much garlic for their tastes, apparently. I've known other people to feed Thera-A to moba, etc. with no problem. Other fronts I've had, some liked it some hated it. Back when I was trying to get the kapampa to eat it, the first few days they'd nibble at it, eat a little but not much. If I kept feeding it they'd get an attitude, stop eating and sulk, even hide-- soon as I went back to other foods, including other NLS, they'd go back to normal. They did this several times when I decided it wasn't that important to me for them to eat it.

I'd seen this before with fronts over the years, feed them something they like and they 're fine, feed them something they don't and some of them get an attitude.

I've had other fish that love Thera-A, rotkeil severums, for instance, and I've known other people to feed Thera-A to moba, etc. with no problems. My kapampa-- nope.

 

[Jonnyakawombell]

What size NLS? At 7-8cm I wouldn't try anything larger than the NLS 1mm pellets. They will come around with time.

Do you know what the importer was feeding?

neutrino

Yeah I've got the 1mm, got them from cichidenland in Germany, they only feed there stock fresh/frozen cubes, dont feed there stock pellets at all apparently

 

[Jonnyakawombell]

Kapampa I've had at that size weren't fussy about pellet size, anything between 1-3 mm pellets and they were fine.

Don't know if this is your problem, but my kapampa never liked Thera-A, I gave up on it for them years ago. Pretty much any other NLS they like-- in fact, these days their only pellet is NLS and when they're hungry they'll beg to be fed. Different story with Thera-A, too much garlic for their tastes, apparently. I've known other people to feed Thera-A to moba, etc. with no problem. Other fronts I've had, some liked it some hated it. Back when I was trying to get the kapampa to eat it, the first few days they'd nibble at it, eat a little but not much. If I kept feeding it they'd get an attitude, stop eating and sulk, even hide-- soon as I went back to other foods, including other NLS, they'd go back to normal. They did this several times when I decided it wasn't that important to me for them to eat it.

I'd seen this before with fronts over the years, feed them something they like and they 're fine, feed them something they don't and some of them get an attitude.

I've had other fish that love Thera-A, rotkeil severums, for instance, and I've known other people to feed Thera-A to moba, etc. with no problems. My kapampa-- nope.

I also have kapampa in a different tank but they are tank raised f1's, there total pigs lol, they will eat anything, they love the NLS thera a, which is why I thought my moba would be ok, but I guess not, maybe it's just down to the fact there wild caught fish and need a little bit more time to adjust, I'm not to worried at the moment as like I said there eating the frozen cubes for fun at the moment, but I'm not sure how well they will do long term on frozen cubes ONLY if i cant get them on a pellet, I've ordered some small tubs of normal NLS and omega one, to see if they like either of them, someone said try a brand called vitilus but I've never used it or heard of it so I'm a little wary, have you ever used it? I really would like to get these fellas on a high quality pellet ASAP as I'm worried I may have an effect on there growth rate and overall well being, I was hoping to have them all to around 5"-6" in 6 months or so. But if I cant get them on a high quality pellet this may not happen

 

[RD.]

Vitalis appears to be a rebrand/re-birth of the New Era line of food, a UK company that went under approx 10 yrs ago. I'm sure that your mobas will come around, and as neutrino suggested try feeding them the regular NLS, you may have better luck sans all the extra garlic. Good luck.

 

[neutrino]

Over the years I fed mine Omega One shrimp pellets, sometimes their Color Pellets, and they liked both and did well on them. For a few recent years the shrimp pellets was their staple. Then, at least here in the US, Omega One changed their formula, replaced some seafood ingredients with more wheat and other cheaper ingredients and I've quit using it.

I bought one container before I was aware of the change, just to see what would happen I fed the new formula to them a couple of times-- I wasn't going to keep it anyway, just wanted to see-- they didn't seem to like it as much. The old forumula they'd come to the surface for it, anxious to eat it, not the new stuff.

I've experimented with NLS Ultra Red with one of my Kapampa tanks, I'd gotten it to try with my G. sveni. The kaps love it (so do the sveni) and so far they don't look any less blue-- but I saw the same with Omega Color Pellets, which used to have salmon in it (astaxanthin, shrimp pellets would have some also) and it made the kaps look good. In the past I'd done some research on red pigmented nutrients and their effect on color, and it doesn't necessarily make a animal or fish more red, in some it can but depends on amount, in others it just depends on the animal or fish and how they process it. Blue lobster, for example, are blue because of astaxanthin and how it's bound to proteins in their shell.

 

[Jonnyakawombell]

Over the years I fed mine Omega One shrimp pellets, sometimes their Color Pellets, and they liked both and did well on them. For a few recent years the shrimp pellets was their staple. Then, at least here in the US, Omega One changed their formula, replaced some seafood ingredients with more wheat and other cheaper ingredients and I've quit using it.

I bought one container before I was aware of the change, just to see what would happen I fed the new formula to them a couple of times-- I wasn't going to keep it anyway, just wanted to see-- they didn't seem to like it as much. The old forumula they'd come to the surface for it, anxious to eat it, not the new stuff.

I've experimented with NLS Ultra Red with one of my Kapampa tanks, I'd gotten it to try with my G. sveni. The kaps love it (so do the sveni) and so far they don't look any less blue-- but I saw the same with Omega Color Pellets, which used to have salmon in it (astaxanthin, shrimp pellets would have some also) and it made the kaps look good. In the past I'd done some research on red pigmented nutrients and their effect on color, and it doesn't necessarily make a animal or fish more red, in some it can but depends on amount, in others it just depends on the animal or fish and how they process it. Blue lobster, for example, are blue because of astaxanthin and how it's bound to proteins in their shell.

I never relisized that omega one changed there formula thanks for sharing that info, in general would you guys say that NLS weather it be standard, thera a or any other variant of NLS, is that the best staple food you can get for the blue zaire's from what I see they certainly seem to have the best ingredients, or is there better foods out there, just looking for options and opinions, also how do you guys think they would do on frozen cube food with a massive variety long term, could they do well, or do you guys think they must be fed pellets as part of there diets, many thanks

 

[RD.]

Frozen food has a few downfalls, one being that 70-80% of that food, is water, a non-nutrient. So ounce for ounce you have to keep that in mind when feeding wet vs dry. That, along with typically lacking some of the key vitamins/minerals, I would always feed at least some pellets. My preference in pellet foods for all cichlid species has always been NLS. The only thing that has changed much for me over the years is now species that are more herbivorous, get fed the NLS AlgaeMax as their main staple. I too used too like the Omega Shrimp formula, but also noticed a year or so ago that they begun lowering the overall quality by higher inclusion rates of wheat etc, so no longer buy that brand.