I feed all my fish KOI pellets, have been for years. Every now and then I feed them shrimp but that's rare.
What are you feeding vieja's
- Thread starter jaws7777
- Start date
Jaws - that mix of food will be fine for your fish.
Duane, the same thing takes place in nature with apparently no ill effect.
http://limnology.wisc.edu/personnel..._Functional-Ecology-LT-cichlid-gut-length.pdf
Which basically is just saying that a fish with a long gut is capable of extracting more nutrients from low quality food, vs a fish with a short gut. That doesn't mean that by providing that same fish with a more nutrient rich food it is causing stress on the fish, which in the case of the fish in this study it certainly was not. Throughout the dry to rainy seasons it become a case of feast or famine for most species of fish, and they either adapt to the change in diet, or they cease to exist.
In the wild, the various species of cichlids have evolved & adapted to living in certain niches, which over time has forced them to become specialized feeders. Their long digestive tracts are designed as such so that in nature they can break down the complex plant matter that they consume, which doesn't mean that they can't properly assimilate more easily digestible forms of protein.
The vast majority of fish are opportunistic feeders, and most are omnivorous to a certain extent. Cichlids classified as carnivores don't just eat meat, any more than a herbivorous cichlid just consumes vegetable matter. While I believe, and my experience has been, that fiber is for the most part a non issue, that certainly doesn't mean that one should be feeding a diet high in just meat to herbivorous fish. It's all about balance, and a high quality pellet or flake will contain a good balance of amino & fatty acids from aquatic animals such as krill, fish, shrimp, etc, accompanied with the nutrients from aquatic plant matter such as kelp, spirulina, and various micro algae. BTW - commercial kelp meal is very high in iodine, so much so that warnings are often placed on bags of feed destined for horses due to the potential of iodine toxicity. Again, it's all about balance in a closed system such as an aquarium.
Duane, the same thing takes place in nature with apparently no ill effect.
http://limnology.wisc.edu/personnel..._Functional-Ecology-LT-cichlid-gut-length.pdf
Which basically is just saying that a fish with a long gut is capable of extracting more nutrients from low quality food, vs a fish with a short gut. That doesn't mean that by providing that same fish with a more nutrient rich food it is causing stress on the fish, which in the case of the fish in this study it certainly was not. Throughout the dry to rainy seasons it become a case of feast or famine for most species of fish, and they either adapt to the change in diet, or they cease to exist.
In the wild, the various species of cichlids have evolved & adapted to living in certain niches, which over time has forced them to become specialized feeders. Their long digestive tracts are designed as such so that in nature they can break down the complex plant matter that they consume, which doesn't mean that they can't properly assimilate more easily digestible forms of protein.
The vast majority of fish are opportunistic feeders, and most are omnivorous to a certain extent. Cichlids classified as carnivores don't just eat meat, any more than a herbivorous cichlid just consumes vegetable matter. While I believe, and my experience has been, that fiber is for the most part a non issue, that certainly doesn't mean that one should be feeding a diet high in just meat to herbivorous fish. It's all about balance, and a high quality pellet or flake will contain a good balance of amino & fatty acids from aquatic animals such as krill, fish, shrimp, etc, accompanied with the nutrients from aquatic plant matter such as kelp, spirulina, and various micro algae. BTW - commercial kelp meal is very high in iodine, so much so that warnings are often placed on bags of feed destined for horses due to the potential of iodine toxicity. Again, it's all about balance in a closed system such as an aquarium.
BTW - your fish always look great, Duane! This isn't a case of a right or wrong way to feed these fish, I just don't want to see people stuffing their fish with low nutrient food such as they would consume in the wild, and sparing the higher quality nutrients that they need to thrive in captivity. Obviously you don't, but some of the more inexperienced members might if they felt that feeding lots of greens from their fridge was the ideal diet for their fish.
My argentea and synspillum are fed omega one shrimp pellets, Hikari Cichlid Gold, fresh market shrimp, frozen bloodworms, emerald entree and algae wafers. The pellets make up the staple of their diet with the others fed a couple times per week.
I put mine in my natural tank that has alot of plants and gets alot of sun. He's not really interested in eating what I give him except to compete with his pals- daphnia is the exception for almost any fish though
My baby syn chews on Hikari omega one floaters and herbivore sinkers. Sometimes he'll eat bloodworms and mysis. Mostly he grazes a lot. He does like zucchini as well now that I remember I have seen him next to the otto's on that
My baby syn chews on Hikari omega one floaters and herbivore sinkers. Sometimes he'll eat bloodworms and mysis. Mostly he grazes a lot. He does like zucchini as well now that I remember I have seen him next to the otto's on that
No problem, I see discussion as a very positive thing, and many times my responses/opinions are added to create a situation of where questions are raised.
Many fish, Vieja included will go thru different feeding phases as they age.
Most start out when young as carnivorous, eating small crustaceans along with algae, and switch to plants as adults.
And I also agree, cichlids are very plastic in there ability to adjust to environmental changes that vary with natural changes in food supplies.
Take Herichthys minckleyi from Cuatro Cienegas.
There are 3 trophic morphs that will hatch out of any 1 spawn, a mollusc eater, a fish eater, and a detritus feeder, each with a distinctive jaw formation.
If there is a plethora of snails, that morph, will dominate until the snails have been decimated, the piscivore may then temporarily dominate, while many snail eaters die (or not), and then, when fish become scarce, the detritivore flourishes.
I tend to think all cichlids have more or less, the ability to do the same.
Whether our aquarium fish has a certain bent toward one food, and can adjust in a single generation or another is basically a guessing game, and we may only may get an inkling of the inability to do so when some unknown digestive blockage appears, or when HITH infects without an apparent cause.
Any well produced, and nutritious pellet should work.
A more prevalent problem came up while I having an interesting discussion with the curator of fishes from our local zoo this weekend.
Though small, cute, red tail catfish are very popular, and sold regularly in even the small LFSs here, they very seldom are donated to the zoo.
He believes few make it to size, because they end up dead from being fed non-nutritious, pest, and disease ridden feeder fish.
Many fish, Vieja included will go thru different feeding phases as they age.
Most start out when young as carnivorous, eating small crustaceans along with algae, and switch to plants as adults.
And I also agree, cichlids are very plastic in there ability to adjust to environmental changes that vary with natural changes in food supplies.
Take Herichthys minckleyi from Cuatro Cienegas.
There are 3 trophic morphs that will hatch out of any 1 spawn, a mollusc eater, a fish eater, and a detritus feeder, each with a distinctive jaw formation.
If there is a plethora of snails, that morph, will dominate until the snails have been decimated, the piscivore may then temporarily dominate, while many snail eaters die (or not), and then, when fish become scarce, the detritivore flourishes.
I tend to think all cichlids have more or less, the ability to do the same.
Whether our aquarium fish has a certain bent toward one food, and can adjust in a single generation or another is basically a guessing game, and we may only may get an inkling of the inability to do so when some unknown digestive blockage appears, or when HITH infects without an apparent cause.
Any well produced, and nutritious pellet should work.
A more prevalent problem came up while I having an interesting discussion with the curator of fishes from our local zoo this weekend.
Though small, cute, red tail catfish are very popular, and sold regularly in even the small LFSs here, they very seldom are donated to the zoo.
He believes few make it to size, because they end up dead from being fed non-nutritious, pest, and disease ridden feeder fish.
Wow thanks guys this was very informative.
Rd I think you are correct about the comment regarding inexperienced keepers feeding their fish low nutrient foods because they are herbivores. I admit that I am one of them as I was going to feed mostly veggie based foods either ways thanks guys I will just mix it up a little more
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Rd I think you are correct about the comment regarding inexperienced keepers feeding their fish low nutrient foods because they are herbivores. I admit that I am one of them as I was going to feed mostly veggie based foods either ways thanks guys I will just mix it up a little more
Sent from my SPH-L710 using MonsterAquariaNetwork App
