Bulk pellet food for cichlids

[codyreed29]

I am a new member of this forum. i have used the site for general search on a few topics but never really need to post till now so I joined.

A little info about me skip this paragraph if you want to stay on topic

I have been keeping mostly reefs which i love my main aquarium is a reef. I have recently started keeping freshwater tanks. I currently have a 100 gallon central american tank. Its all been going well

So I am going to start building a pond to keep my CA cichlids in for the spring and summer months. I live in middle Texas. Going to buy a doctor foster smith pond feeder and was wondering a good medium size pellet food I can buy in bullk to feed my new 400 -500 gallon pond. All central american cichlids rangin from 2.5 to 5 inches. (3 pike cichlids over 5 inches). I make my own fish food with catfish and green sunfish i caught locally coated in spirulina powder and I also feed red worms that I breed in a rubbermaid container.

Right now i feed a mix of aqeoun and hikari pellets which they love. Any bulk pelet food out there to save a few bucks to put in the feeder for vacations and regular feedings?

Im thinking maybe 5-10 pound amount. to last me thru till the end of summer.

 

[Lepisosteus]

check out trout pellets and mix it with a bag of koi pellets. Should find a big bag in any fish store in the pond section. The trout pellets will have a higher protein content and the koi should have a higher veggie so a mix of the two would be good

 

[Wailua Boy]

I personally stay away from auto-feeders but your fish should be quite happy being put outside and should spawn often for you.

Regardless of the pellet you choose, the natural prey items they find outside should easily compensate.....

 

[Frank Castle]

check out trout pellets and mix it with a bag of koi pellets. Should find a big bag in any fish store in the pond section. The trout pellets will have a higher protein content and the koi should have a higher veggie so a mix of the two would be good

I have some fish that will eat the Koi pellets and some suck them up and spit them right out. Only one I really use them for is the channel catfish because it's way cheaper than feeding him pellets that run $30 per lb. like Hikari

 

[Lepisosteus]

I have some fish that will eat the Koi pellets and some suck them up and spit them right out. Only one I really use them for is the channel catfish because it's way cheaper than feeding him pellets that run $30 per lb. like Hikari

I have had similar results with them. It's hit or miss but if that's all your willing to give and dnot cave they will eat it

 

[Frank Castle]

I have had similar results with them. It's hit or miss but if that's all your willing to give and dnot cave they will eat it

my Red Devil will take them, and a few others, but they don't PREFER it......I drop in a handful of little cichlid pellets and as soon as I see "the big white thing" stirring , I throw the Koi pellets in there to keep him from sucking up an entire tank's worth of feeding for the day lol

 

[Brent419]

My Oscar eats koi pellets. Loves them in fact although he loves to eat everything.

 

[Ihsnshaik]

I feed koi food Aquascape brand. They love it my cichlids. I got a 11lb bag for 50 bucks

 

[RD.]

Most koi food is based on terrestrial based plant matter, and grains, such as corn, wheat, soybean, etc - not vegetable matter, and certainly not aquatic based plant matter. Koi can digest and assimilate fairly large quantities of those types of ingredients, most cichlids not so much.

Trout chow is not just high in protein, but is typically also quite high in crude fat, far higher than what warm water tropical species such as cichlids should be consuming on a regular basis. The excess fat eventually leads to fatty deposition in and around the liver.

Several quality foods designed more for cichlids, or at least omnivores, can be purchased in bulk quantity, such as the 5-10 pounds that you are looking for. Feed a high quality food sparingly and allow mother nature to fill the gaps. Most cheap food is cheap for a reason.

 

[duanes]

I agree with RD, I hardly ever fed my pond cichlids, as nature provided just about everything. Whenever I'd net the cichlids out in the fall, the pond was always teeming with plenty of insect larvae, algae, for them to use, and the cichlids were always healthy and colorful without the need to supplement pellets.
I'd be more worried about overfeeding, and fouling the water with too many nutrients with an auto feeder, especially with a high fat food such as trout pellets.
I have tried some bulk foods in the past, including trout, catfish, and pan fish pellets, but most cichlids are omnivorous, I occasionally used the pan fish type, although found I ended up tossing half a bag away, because I couldn't use it fast enough, and it would end up spoiled and moldy.