All of my fish were wild caught, and I got them ranging from 3-4". They wouldnt eat anything but live. But I found a trick that worked. Thaw a cube of frozen bloodworms or mosquito larvae in a cup. Get a mid sized eye dropper and suck a few of the bloodworms into the dropper. When you put them in the tank, squirt them in there with a little force so it looks like they are alive. Once they took to those I started introducing tiny pieces of raw shrimp mixed in with the bloodworms squirted with the dropper. As they grew I could eventually drop bigger and bigger pieces of raw shrimp in. I have never been able to get any of my cichla to eat pellets though. Now they will eat just about anything I drop in the tank with the exception of pellets. Raw shrimp, raw chicken, raw fish fillet, silversides. I give them a little extra nutrients by stuffing Hikari food sticks in the silversides. They are shaped and sized perfectly to slide right in the mouth or the butt of the silverside. I even stuff a food stick down the throat of live feeders before I drop them in.
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