Crazy Parachromis Dovii Waste!!??

Mr.Catman

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Mar 14, 2015
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Hi everyone, new member and first thread. First I will give you the layout: 75 gallon bare bottom aquarium, Single 20" T5 (minimal makeshift lighting), powered by a Sunsun hw 505b canister. The inhabitants are nine Dovii grow-outs ranging from 2 to 3 inches. Now I'm not sure if this is an actual problem or if I'm just a beginner to mammoth sized cichlids, either way I hope you'll bare with me: Two weeks ago I had a nasty green phytoplankton bloom which prompted me to switch from a sponge to the UV canister which cleared it up in a few days. Did a good 50% water change last night and removed all the waste from the aquarium. Spotless. Believe it or not today I come home and the waste has built up and looks just as bad as last night before the change! I've attached a photo so you can see, but my question is.... why does my Dovii's waste look so fluffy? It almost looks like little brine shrimp floating around the water column. Is it normal for these fish to excrete so much and if so how do the pros make their tanks not look like fluff soup? My feeding regiment is a small handful of Ken's cichlid pellets and a cube of brine shrimp twice a day. Too much? Thank you for your feedback and for making it through my odd rant.

20151202_193929.jpg
 

RD.

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Main ingredient in Kens cichlid pellets is wheat, to which you are feeding to a species of fish that would not directly consume any form of terrestrial plant matter in the wild. So most of that wheat goes undigested, and sheeted out. I would suggest looking for a food that consists of less carbs/starch/grain, and has fish as the main ingredient. I would also drop the frozen the brine shrimp, waste of money for very little gains. The only good brine shrimp is freshly hatched brine shrimp, and at the size of your fish even that isn't required.


Ingredients: wheat, fish meal, soybean meal, blood pork meal, stabilized fish oil, capsanthin, spirulina, xanthophyll, krill meal, di calcium phosphate, vitamin a acetate, d-activated animal-sterol (d-3), vitamin b12 supplement, riboflavin supplement, niacin, folic acid, calcium pantothhenate, pyridoxine hydrochloride, thiamine, biotin, dl alphatocopherol (e), l-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (c), color enhancers with red, yellow, and blue/green pigments. Guaranteed analysis: crude protein 45.0% min., crude fat 9.0% min., crude fiber 5.0% max., moisture 10.0% max., ash 10.0%.
 

duanes

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Agree with RD, and.....
you don't say what your normal water change routine is, but it were me, I'd be doing 30% water changes every other day of so, on that tank, and I would also use the sponge filter in tandem with the canister, and maybe add a couple hang on the back filters where you could rinse out the mechanical media every other day or so.
Those young dovii will very quickly max out a tank of that small size.
 

Mr.Catman

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Mar 14, 2015
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Thanks RD, really got me thinking about what I'm putting in these guys. At 2-3 inches would it be okay so start feeding silversides or do you think it might be too soon? What do you generally feed your young Dovii?
Water changes are going on twice a week. Removing almost 50% each time. Hoping to thin out my group to just a pair soon, waiting to see my big male pick one of the females. At what size do they usually pair out?
 

RD.

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I don't have any tanks large enough to house an adult dovii, let alone a pair. My advice was based on my background in fish nutrition and feeding various types of fish over the years, including those classified as piscivores, such as your group of dovii. Some plant matter in their diet is good, but I would limit they quantity, and the type, and look more for aquatic based plant matter vs wheat, soybean, corn,etc.
 

pops

Alligator Gar
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you want the first ingredient to be a whole fish meal, not just fish meal but "whole fish meal" this the ingredients for what i use, its by no means better than some others but what I like.

Aqueon Cichlid Pellet Ingredients:
Whole Fish Meal (whole salmon, herring & other mixed fishes), Whole Wheat Flour, Whole Dried Krill, Wheat Gluten Meal, Soybean Meal, Squid Meal, Dried Yeast, Fish Oil, Kelp Meal, Garlic, Spirulina, Marigold Powder, Chili Powder, Natural Astaxanthin, Choline Chloride, Calcium Propionate (a preservative), L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), Vitamin A Acetate, Cholecalciferol (source of Vitamin D3), Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Niacin, Menadione Sodium Bisulphite Complex (source of Vitamin K activity), Folic Acid, Thiamine, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride (B6), Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, DL-Alphatocopherol (E), Manganese Sulfate, Cobalt Sulfate, Ferrous Sulfate and Copper Sulfate.
Crude Protein

42.0% min.

Crude Fat

8.0% min.

Crude Fiber

3.0% max.

Moisture

9.0% max.

Phosphorus

1.0% min.
 

RD.

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The term "whole" used to describe fish meal is a bit of a farce. It was created as a marketing gimmick yrs ago by Dennis Crews of Omega Sea and is a term that has never been used by the aquatic industry that supplies fish meal to manufacturers. What you really want is a quality fish meal, the rest is just marketing hyperbole.

What you don't want to see is ingredient splitting, such as two "wheat" ingredients split up in the same formula (as seen in Pops example) nor do you want to typically see soybean in any form, especially soybean meal.
 

pops

Alligator Gar
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if you can link me a fish food with what you saying I would love to see it, I change brands tomorrow.
 

RD.

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Or as my wise old pappy used to say .... you tend to get what you pay for. :)
 
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pops

Alligator Gar
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true that.
 
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