Livingstonni care and feeding.

[tcarswell]

I got a livingstonni cichlid he is 6" right now. In my malawi cichlids book it says to feed them live guppies but I dont feed live. Plus the livingstonni enjoys taking silversides and really loves krill. Could a livingstonni be raised on a diet of krill and silversides with the occasional NLS pellets he snatches from his tankmates??? (He does not seem to like them as much but he does eat like 5 1mm pellets of nls a day.
Does anyone else keep them ? They are like a malawi Oscar I love him coolest fish

 

[tcarswell]

Oh and he is in a 90 gallon with plenty of filtration

 

[RD.]

Not sure what books you've been reading, but any/all Malawi haps can be successfully raised feeding NLS. (just like your other fish)

 

[Wimmels]

My Livingstoni breeding group is thriving on dry food(eg pellets) I only give them frozen or live food once in a while.

Frozen food is anything coming out of water. Cyclops, smelt, shrimp etc.

Live food composes mostly of fry that is not growing fast enough or not up to the standards I desire for selling fish or crossbreeds. I don't give livefood from outside my own aqauriums. This to reduce the risk of introducing parasaites and so on from outside

 

[tcarswell]

Oh I had no idea..... Damnit. Well at least I got the NLS part taken care of.

Theres a risk of introducing parasites feeding frozen???

 

[greenearthlawns]

you have a pic of him? sounds like a good score!! have you tried bigger pellets? 3mm nls cichlasoma formula would be good for that size fish as a staple and I would feed him frozen mysis, daphnia, krill, whatever on the side minimally mabye 1-3 days a week along with omega one algea discs as a supplement a couple days a week if it were me... what do you have him in with for tankmates? what size tank? just curious... I was gonna get one but the lfs said he might be too agressive for the mix I have of not that i beleived them bc i have read that many people keep them successfully in a community tank, I ended up choosing the nimbochromis fusco instead I have 2 of them not sure if they are m/f and I know they are gonna get huge I've heard of them getting to 12 inch + but not sure they actually get any bigger than 9 inch...guess I'll have to wait and see...

 

[krichardson]

Yeah,you dont have to feed them live food and just about any over the counter cichlid food will do,when I had mine I was giving them Tetra JumboMin.I read that they had a tactic of lying on the bottom to play dead and then they would snap up any small fish that would get close enough but they never did this in the tank.

 

[tcarswell]

you have a pic of him? sounds like a good score!! have you tried bigger pellets? 3mm nls cichlasoma formula would be good for that size fish as a staple and I would feed him frozen mysis, daphnia, krill, whatever on the side minimally mabye 1-3 days a week along with omega one algea discs as a supplement a couple days a week if it were me... what do you have him in with for tankmates? what size tank? just curious... I was gonna get one but the lfs said he might be too agressive for the mix I have of not that i beleived them bc i have read that many people keep them successfully in a community tank, I ended up choosing the nimbochromis fusco instead I have 2 of them not sure if they are m/f and I know they are gonna get huge I've heard of them getting to 12 inch + but not sure they actually get any bigger than 9 inch...guess I'll have to wait and see...

LOL! thats the only other NLS i have is 3mm cichlasomma thats a score too. I just tried feeding him NLS when I got home he is not very interested but well see he will be hungry He was up to eating 4-5 thumbnail sized krill same as the bichir 2X a day. Im snapping a pic of him real quick.

Ok here he is sorry again terrible photo's from the sony cybershot 3.2 lol old school

Oh and he also does not lay on his side waiting either he hangs out near the top anytime I walk by and when food goes in he is without a doubt the fastest and most aggresive... Unless its NLS lol he will have to learn to love it

 

[Wimmels]

you have a pic of him? sounds like a good score!! have you tried bigger pellets? 3mm nls cichlasoma formula would be good for that size fish as a staple and I would feed him frozen mysis, daphnia, krill, whatever on the side minimally mabye 1-3 days a week along with omega one algea discs as a supplement a couple days a week if it were me... what do you have him in with for tankmates? what size tank? just curious... I was gonna get one but the lfs said he might be too agressive for the mix I have of not that i beleived them bc i have read that many people keep them successfully in a community tank, I ended up choosing the nimbochromis fusco instead I have 2 of them not sure if they are m/f and I know they are gonna get huge I've heard of them getting to 12 inch + but not sure they actually get any bigger than 9 inch...guess I'll have to wait and see...

Haha, your LFS says livingstonii are aggressive so instead you bought fusco's? My are you in for a thing. A livingstonii is a guppy compared to a Fuscotaeniatus.

My fusco was probably one of the most aggressive fish I kept untill now and believe me I have kept and stil keep a lot of fish.

 

[RD.]

When it comes to feeding fish you can make things as complicated as you want, or as simple as you want. I don't feed any type of 'supplements', just a well rounded high quality staple food, and most of my fish would be considered show quality.


P.S. - all nimbos have the potential to become hyper dominant given the right circumstances. A lot of it depends on the individual personality of the fish. With the exception of my adult male rostratus, my 5" juvie male fusco will take on any fish in my tank, and wins every battle every time. (with haps that are easily twice as large as him)