Cichlid Food Question

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Many people try to compare fish and people. We like a variety. Fish do not have the brain compasity to comprend the want for variety. Fish eat what they can find. If they can find the same food over and over they would eat it. You have to remember a pellet is like having a variety in the same forum... Like early astronaut food. Humans are one of the few species that eat for enjoyment. I care deeply about my fish. I feed them NLS. I drop a lot of money for some of the best food out there. I have nice beautiful fish that breed often. Water changes and a high quality pellet. I have a crap ton of fish and all are doing great. Feel free to stop by anytime to see them.

Another thing I forget overstocking makes it worse on African Cichlids. People confuse over stocking for aggression with stuffing a tank full of fish that will cause problems. Mixing fish, and keeping a small tank with too many fish is a problem.

Forgot seriously people are welcome to see my place... not a challenge... I love to have people over to talk fish...
 
mike dunagan;3465583; said:
Most causes of bloat is not food. It is stress from poor water or harassment. I however do not offer floating food. Fish can come up to get the floating food suck in air giving themselves float. Many say offering a varied diet is best for your fish, but if you are feeding a quality pellet then you do not need to offer other foods. The pellets have a variety of food already in them and is balanced for the fish. If I offer other foods I do it for my fun. To watch them eat something different. I have fed a varied diet in the past and have found no difference in my fish since ending this.
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I agree with Big Mike. I lost 2 fronts to bloat from floating foods. Switched to sinking and no more bloat. good luck.
 
hikari excel is a floating pellet with supirulina.........if I'm not mistaken they just came out with a sinking variety as well, also feed'm staright supirulina flake...........no bloat here. Never even heard of "float". Gonna have to goggle that one.
 
señor_pescados_felices;3466664; said:
be super careful with hikari's cichlid bio gold, it has like 50%+ protein levels and overfeeding it will definitely cause bloat in mbunas and even sometimes peacocks and haps.

NLS is still pretty high like 40-45% protein so once a day feedings or even every other day feedings should be fine.

The fact of the matter is that anything with a high protein content needs to be fed sparingly, and foods that are full of protein and also fatty like market shrimp are like a once a week only treat type basis.

hope that helps
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This explains a lot..
I guess I will sell my new hikari cichlid bio gold..:irked:

Will Hikari cichlid bio gold cause bloat to juvie peacock basses if anyone knows.
 
HypeMan808;3469270; said:
This explains a lot..
I guess I will sell my new hikari cichlid bio gold..:irked:

Will Hikari cichlid bio gold cause bloat to juvie peacock basses if anyone knows.
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No no no. Don't sell the stuff, just pick maybe 5 days of the week to feed your fish, and feed them THAT pellet maybe two of those days (spaced out). Then go out and buy a quality sinking spirulina pellet and supplement their diet with that. Evaluate your water quality and consider more frequent water changes, and examine your filter to make sure the media doesn't need to be fixed. If all that fails consider other stress factors such as your lighting be on too much or internal fish wars.

You don't have to sell the Bio Gold lol
 
Feed NLS 1mm Cichlid forumla. That is what I feed my Tropheus, and I also mix in some HBH veggie flakes. Don't feed a pellet too big in size. I know a LFS that specialize nothing but African cichlids and they use Hikari Excel Floating, their cichlids seem fine.

Feed lightly several times a day, or once a day in a decent amount. I would not feed more than 3tsp per day.
 
This is interesting.

señor_pescados_felices is correct. Considering a lot of African cichlids do not require a high protein diet, high protein based diet tend to clog in the GI (gastrointestinal) tract of the fish. Please do note that almost all commercial foods have very low fiber content at 2-3% max. They need more than that in order for them to flush out the excess proteins easily otherwise they become prone to bloat.
 
Lupin;3470514; said:
This is interesting.

señor_pescados_felices is correct. Considering a lot of African cichlids do not require a high protein diet, high protein based diet tend to clog in the GI (gastrointestinal) tract of the fish. Please do note that almost all commercial foods have very low fiber content at 2-3% max. They need more than that in order for them to flush out the excess proteins easily otherwise they become prone to bloat.
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It's not the food, it's how you feed it. A lot of people in this hobby overfeed. When I do a water change, I add 1tsp per 10g of epsom salt to my tank and the fish really like it and notice it helps them poop a lot. Kind of like a preventative.

Try HBH Veggie Flakes, it has 10% Fiber and my fish took it real well. I also heard Ken's food is good and the price is cheap.
 
I feed several types of food. Like floating, sinking and slow sinking Pellets, flakes, veggie wafers, & fresh veggies. Just be sure to feed the good brands and also lots of variety. Heavy on the vegetable matter, and not so much on the protein and keep up on those water changes and you will be fine.

See here:

http://tropicalfishandaquariums.com/AfricanCichlids/LemonYellow.asp
 
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