try frozen bloodworms, and soaking the pellets in the bloodworm "soup" and feeding it all at the same time. they may not identify it as food. A varied diet is imo the best way to go. pellets make up about 50% of my Oscars diet. and depending on the type of cichlids you have you want to meet their specific nutritional needs. Most are blanketed but a few species need more protein or more veggies in their diet. Hikari is a good brand of food, but imo it in and of itself is not enough for most fish. You can also try crickets, feeders of healthy nature (quarantined at home in a seperate tank for a few weeks, idealy home bred as well), earthworms, panworms. various frozen foods such as krill, bloodworms, brine shrimp, silversides, veggie meds, squid, beefheart. All depedning on what species you keep, and their size. freezedried krill, bloodworms, crickets, mealworms ( though these are low in nutritional value and if feed live thier mandible can do internal damage to a fish if not properly chewed)
personally I do not reccomend ever starveing a fish to get it to eat what we want it to eat. a weak fish is prone to disease, and infections. I've seen people starve their fish to death simply because they where to lazy to perpare and offer it a varied diet. Pellets can be and should be the base of a healthy diet. But few pelleted diets are "complete" ime.
EDIT: and if i read your sig and not just your post.. lol you have a good mish mash if youw ill try anything and everything to see what your fishs preferences are, and find a reasonable balance bewteen what they like, and whats healthy.
The only problem is, my fish won't eat it. They're used to FD bloodworms that float mid-level. My question is, how would I go about weening them to pellets? I tried the "feed nothing but pellets until they eat it" routine, but they still didn't eat any. Help! 
