cichlid touph clean up crew

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markstrimaran

markstrimaran

Potamotrygon
MFK Member
Nov 21, 2015
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iowa
My helpers overfeeding the tank. Water is around 5 ppm nitrate, so that is not an issue. Thinking about a channel catfish, crawfish or crabs.
Most of the extra food ends up on the intake sponge of the sump pump.
 
Anything you can do to stop the overfeeding? Cichlids will eat crustaceans when they molt regardless of size, and a channel cat is a 17" fish. If all else fails, I'd do a group of 5 Synodontis multipunctatus, lucipinnis. But stock them because you like the fish, not just to eat more food.
 
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The channel cats grow 6" a year. They would be transfered too a farm pond. When they get too big. The syno cats are above my budget.
The over feeding keeps the tank interesting for others.
My concern is that a hungry channel cat might out eat the cichilds. Unless the bright lights will keep him more nocternal.
 
Overfeeding will eventually cause other issues. The best solution to a problem is eliminate the cause, which is the overfeeding itself. Band aiding the problem with a channel cat would only be temoporary anyway. If you moved it to a pond as you say, then you'd be right back to square one. Syno cats are the best option as DJ mentioned. They will do fine with Africans, and if you are lucky enough, maybe even use them as host to breed(Multis). Wait some time, save a few $, and go that route. Get 5-6 so they are more active.
 
I feed algae waffers, floating cichlid 1mm pellets, and flake. For 3 different types, sizes of fish.
My wife actually feeds them, I see the residue in the morning when I get home. I want her to be involved and she can get irritated when I tell how to do it.
The smaller fish can't handle the 1mm pellets until they soften up.

My two biggest eaters have been holding eggs every month for a week or so. So then the extra food really piles up.

My native creek chubs, clean up crew, love cat food, but won't touch premium Hikari gold. They get most of the tank alge, and the flake that was intended for the 1" juveniles.

The chubs keep the tank dictator busy so the other fish will come out.

The algae wafers are only eaten by the mbuna, they are not eaten until they soften up after a few hours.
Some day they will all be big enough to not feed flake. This would help also
 
You just need to stop overfeeding. The poor water quality that inevitably will result from this will only lead to more issues, specifically, disease and dealing with a tank full of it. Explain that to your wife so she understands the negative impact it can have. She can still be involved, but she just needs to learn how to feed properly. My wife feeds my 24 tanks almost every morning. Early on, I stressed to her the importance of not overfeeding and she does a good job.
 
Oh I agree. How do you convince a woman that the pregnant cichlid. Is cold blooded and will not go hungry like a pet cat ? OR the baby fish are not getting any food.
All I can do is keep the sump running at 700 GPH, and keep the filter socks flowing.
 

I was looking up lake Malawi catfish, This is large gulper catfish eating a large cichid.
Definitely a cichild touph clean up crew.
 
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