Feeding fruit seeds to cichlids?

[FluffySackson]

Back again guys.This is going to sound very stupid, but I read that many cichlids eat fruit seeds in their natural environment and I'm trying to aim at replicating that diet for them. I know fruits like apples and oranges can fluctuate the PH but I'm wondering about the seeds, not the fruits themselves....thanks guys.

 

[flowerhornfishman]

haha yeaahh.. ive read bout oscars once tht they eat oranges for vitamin C and also carrots haha i tried both on my oscar but was rejectedly spitted out haha

 

[duanes]

Many Vieja are known to be fruit eaters, and highly vegetarian.
They will eat the fallen fruit, and if swallowed, the seeds pass thru the gut, and in this way the seeds are distributed, much in the same manner pacu will in the Amazon.
These would be tropical fruits that grow over water courses such as figs.
I had a Tilapia pond under a cherry tree, and never fed the Tilapia as they ate algae and any fallen, and rotting fruit throughout summer, when I cleaned out the pond in late fall, the bottom was filled with seeds.
I have also watched salt water fish come near shore, daily, to eat leaves and fruit from certain selected trees. Seems certain fish are attracted to only certain fruit species.



My bocourti, and former pearsei were ravenous, and indiscriminate leaf eaters.

dandelions before

after

 

[Rivers2k]

^^ very informative the thought never would have entered my mind.

 

[Modest_Man]

Just an FYI, apple seeds contain a cyanide compound that can be released when they're crushed. Swallowing whole isn't an issue, but a smaller fish that chews them up could have problems. They're also pretty barren of nutrients. The fruit flesh is where the good stuff is.

 

[RD.]

The seeds won't be digested or utilized in any significant manner, and as Duane stated will simply pass through the gut. An exercise in futility.