if you exclusively feed your fish feeders, i fully believe this predisposes the fish to "hunting" their food. anything that moves, gets it.
Does feeding your cichlids feeders make them more aggerssive?
- Thread starter ADH_Cincinnati
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Don't feed your africans feeders. They always leave behind unwanted surprise... like disease... maybe why bala died. Also Africans are not all fish eating. Some eat fry or microbes but for the most part stick to pellets, krill, brine, veggies... Sure the fish will eat the feeders, but if you eat McDonalds all time you will get sick... Feeders are the mcdonalds for fish... we all know that some people should not eat the stuff. Stick to healthy food and give treats like the ones above or bloodworms work too...
Yeah I only put feeders in to give them something to harass instead of themselves. I have 4 female aratus 1 male 2 asst. and 4 eletric blue ahli's. They are in a 75 gallon tank.
try convict babies much healthier and quicker! breed convicts in a seperate tank then feed the older fry to the africans! make sure they arent to big or they'll survive and will look kind weird IMO in and african tank!
Africans are generally very agressive they were prob hungry or something. Africans will pick on anything that including their own kind. It was probably an easy target. I woudnt suggest you feed them feeders either, or not feeder fish. I do feed mine ghost shrimp though - they tend to be good little treats and the only thing a few of my fish will eat. Anyways I dont think it makes them more agressive.
I don't believe they will become more aggressive. In the wild they will eat fry if they can get ahold of them, this goes for any fish. It is natural for any fish to do so. If my small fry die I drop them into my tanks and let the bigger fish eat them, that is my mbuna. I do believe your Bala shark died from something else. I have a red tailed shrk in with my mbuna and they don't touch him at all.
It definitely makes a difference. After having fish for 11 years and working in pet shops for 6, I consistantly see that the more aggressive individuals are fed live. This doesn't mean that one fed pellets will refuse live, they are still predators, but no live food ever does almost always lead to a less aggressive individual. Also, this does not mean that the fish is not aggressive, just less aggressive that it would be if you fed it live. Most fish will take to pellets. Hikari's Food Sticks are designed specifically to get fish off live food. Usually it just takes patience and not feeding for about a week or more to get the fish hungry enough to take pellets. There are few species that will effectively never take pellets. I have had alligator and hujeta gars switch over without much problem. It make sthem more aggressive, is nto even close to nutritionally complete, and greatly increases the risk of (or arguably guarantees the eventual problem with) parasites and diseases. So in my opinion and experience the only fish that should get live (outside of breeding situations) are those that continually refuse to switch over to pellets.
