Plant material for cichlids

[Crazy mike]

Offered a seaweed based sheet food to the cichlids in my 90 and they really seemed to enjoy it. It got me thinking about adding more plant based foods to their diet. What are your thoughts on this especially when it comes to vieja (Blackbelt) and amph species (Midevil). What plant based food would be the most beneficial? What terrestrial species are good to add to their diet? Are there any aquatic tank plants that grow quickly enough that can be added to a tank to allow grazing? Is plant material beneficial to species such as salvini? And how does a more plant based diet effect growth, if at all.
Thanks

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[virgil2090]

In my opinion, most cichlids would benefit from some plant/veg.matter in the diet, i feel the variety helps their overall health.I feed most of my cichlids a mix :spirulina flake and pellet, algae wafers.my fish::melanurus, chocolates, brasiliensis,sajica, freddies.my jagXtexas loves large sinking pleco wafers.

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[Crazy mike]

Bump
Any one else, input, personal experience, anything?

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[ehh]

I feed my midevil omega one algae wafers and emerald entree cubes. He likes them. He gets the wafers about 3 times a week. The cubes maybe once a week. The rest is nls.
But I haven't SEEN any difference in him though. I just tell myself the haired diet is good for him.

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[duanes]

Different species of cichlids need different amounts of vegetation in their diets. Most cichids are omnivores and need some, many Vieja eat fruit in nature along with insects and algae. xCichlasoma bocourti and pearsei are mainly vegetarian in nature and have long digestive tracts compared to other cichlids that allow them to get the most from this high fiber diet.
I feed my bocourti dandelions and other leafy weeds from the yard.



a few hours later

 

[apertoolfectcircle]

Different species of cichlids need different amounts of vegetation in their diets. Most cichids are omnivores and need some, many Vieja eat fruit in nature along with insects and algae. xCichlasoma bocourti and pearsei are mainly vegetarian in nature and have long digestive tracts compared to other cichlids that allow them to get the most from this high fiber diet.
I feed my bocourti dandelions and other leafy weeds from the yard.



a few hours later

cool idea, and so easy to just pick out of most yards. i wish i still lived where dandelions grow

 

[RD.]

Please keep in mind that there can be a significant difference between how a fish assimilates and utilizes aquatic based plant matter in the wild, and how a fish assimilates and utilizes terrestrial based plant matter in captivity.

Science has proven that at least with most species of fish studied to date, terrestrial based plant matter can potentially cause health issues, especially if fed in a raw unprocessed state, due to the anti-nutritional matter found in the vast majority of terrestrial based plants. Not a major problem if one is feeding limited quantities, but can cause some serious problems in at least some species of fish when fed at higher levels on a regular basis.

The presence of endogenous anti-nutritional factors within plant feedstuffs is believed to be the largest single factor limiting their use within compounded animal and fish feeds at high dietary levels. Table 11 summarizes the major groups of anti-nutritional factors present in plant feedstuffs with more specific examples given in Table 12. Although these factors vary in their individual toxicity to fish, a large proportion of them can be destroyed or inactivated by heat treatment processes (Tacon & Jackson, 1985).

Unfortunately toxicological studies have not been performed on the majority of these anti-nutritional factors; on a general basis however their presence in untreated foodstuffs normally results in anorexia, reduced growth and poor feed efficiency when used at high dietary concentrations. For review see NRC (1983), Hendricks & Bailey (1989) and Lovell (1989).

http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/t0700e/T0700E06.htm

Soybeans contain saponins which at higher levels have proven to cause damage a fishes intestinal cells. Peas contain phytic acid, tannins, and trypsin inhibitors, which again are not something that fish benifit from and can potentially cause negative health issues when fed in excess. Check out the list in the link above & be informed, not all plant matter is going to offer a nutrient boost for fish.

If one is wanting to increase the amount of plant matter in their fishes diet, my advice has always been to offer fish aquatic based plant matter. The fact that a fish enjoys eating something, doesn't necessarily mean that it's good for them.

 

[Drstrangelove]

Please keep in mind that there can be a significant difference between how a fish assimilates and utilizes aquatic based plant matter in the wild, and how a fish assimilates and utilizes terrestrial based plant matter in captivity.

Science has proven that at least with most species of fish studied to date, terrestrial based plant matter can potentially cause health issues, especially if fed in a raw unprocessed state, due to the anti-nutritional matter found in the vast majority of terrestrial based plants. Not a major problem if one is feeding limited quantities, but can cause some serious problems in at least some species of fish when fed at higher levels on a regular basis.



http://www.fao.org/docrep/003/t0700e/T0700E06.htm

Soybeans contain saponins which at higher levels have proven to cause damage a fishes intestinal cells. Peas contain phytic acid, tannins, and trypsin inhibitors, which again are not something that fish benifit from and can potentially cause negative health issues when fed in excess. Check out the list in the link above & be informed, not all plant matter is going to offer a nutrient boost for fish.

If one is wanting to increase the amount of plant matter in their fishes diet, my advice has always been to offer fish aquatic based plant matter. The fact that a fish enjoys eating something, doesn't necessarily mean that it's good for them.

Wow, as always, thanks for the post and the link. My takeaway from this is that if you want to make vegetation a regular or large part of your pet's diet, it's best to go for aquatic plants, and that if one uses terrestrial plants, it's best to heat them prior to serving. (Caveat is that heat alone may not make them palatable or safe, but it's a good precaution.)

I had intended to consider farming my own aquatic plants for my pets (something along the line of elodea, cabomba, najas, myriophyllum, hornwort, or ambulia.)