Fast growth diet?

[Wesley M]

I recently picked up 3 flowerhorn/red devil crosses, 2 red terrors(probably Mayans but its okay), and 2 green terrors. The 'devilhorns' are all around 2-2.5 inches, the Mayans are 1 inchers, and the green terrors are 1.75 inches. I want them to stay healthy but grow very quickly. I feed them a combo of Hikari cichlid gold color boosting pellets, hikari cichlid growth formula pellets, tetra color sinking pellets, frozen brine shrimp, and gold fish. I know the gold fish can be risky but I always quarentine them first and they're a once a week treat. I like them because from my experience it helps keep them aggressive and on edge, and I like my cichlids to be mean. Any suggestions or am I okay? Will the shrimp help boost color as they grow?

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[Thelatinofishlover]

i would stop on the feeder golfish http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.php?sid=5232 this is why if and when i feed live food i breed my own guppies but i feed live food maybe 3 or 4 times per year....

 

[Naos1984]

Do not stop with the pellets as they alone should take care of your fish's nutrition. It's still best to add variety though as they would get other nutrients from food that they would not usually get. Just refrain from goldfish, though. They have thiaminase which can result badly for your fish. As others point out specially for Cichlas, pellets make them have greater girth but live food also make them longer. If you can maintain that they eat both, your fish will be fine. Trusted non-coldwater feeders truly make your fish grow really fast not that flowerhorns and red devils already grow fast by themselves.

 

[Aquanero]

Use a quality pellet as the staple. Feeding for fast growth is not a good idea, it will lead to other issues down the road ie fatty liver etc. Slow and steady wins the race. It is fine to use the other items (sans goldfish) as a treat on occasion however the pellets need to be the main source of nutrition. Good food + a clean and stable environment = healthy fish.

 

[ecoli73]

Feed once or twice a day with quality pellets and freezes dried goods(krill etc), and change 20-30% of the water twice a week.


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[MonsterMinis]

swap the goldfish for nightcrawlers... the nutrition content is much better and not only adds protein vs fat but other micro/macro nutrients they won't get from goldfish. I'm a huge advocate for live foods.. but cichlids in general should not be fed goldfish/rosy's/ect. nutritional defficencies ime almost always crop up useing feeder fish as part of a staple diet in non-piscivores species.