Feeding

[lynn]

Should I be feeding anyting other than the tetramin flakes to my cichlids.  Seems like I read someone was feeding frozen brine shrimp or something.

Thanks.

[CichlidFan]

Re: Feeding

Flakes in my opinion are a staple part of most cichlid fishies diet, but some cichilds need other protien and minerals that come from pellets and or frozen. In short, your labs will be fine eating only flakes, they will not starve, but they may enjoy a variety of other items from time to time. Again, the others will have more to say on this.

CF

[eklikewhoa]

Re: Feeding

To get a cichlid a good amount of food to satisfy it flakes are lacking....IMO I prefer a small portion of pellets vs. a large portion of flakes.

As CF stated dry foods will be their staple which is fed for the most part of the time.....you can supplement with some sort of frozen/live food once or twice a week and though not necessary they will love you for it!

[mrairportjunke]

Re: Feeding

yeah i agree with eklikewhoa.  i feed flakes but im tryin to get my to the small pellets.  but those little buggers are picky eaters.  they hold out and now that ill give in with the flakes.  lol.  and i give a variety of frozens,  bloodworms, mysis shrimp, brine shrimp, spariala (the slime stuff)  dont konw how to spell it.  lol

[eklikewhoa]

Re: Feeding

If you are having trouble getting them to eat here's what I would do....

stop feeding for a day or two...maybe even three.....while you are fasting them go pick up some cichlid formula NewLifeSpectrum or even Thera+A in the 1mm form.....feed a tiny pinch or even half a pinch and if they eat good....do so for a few days just to peek their interest in it and I bet you after that they will be going crazy for the stuff!

Every single fish/invert/bottom feeder/coral in my house gets NLS and everything literally jumps out of the water come feeding time. Keep in mind though that with NLS it is so packed with the goodies that a little goes a long way and overfeeding is not hard to do with pellets. Keep them on a scheduled feeding and you should be good to go...


I feed frozen/live occasionally as well.....Hikari brand is what I prefer only use.....brine, mysis, krill, daphnia, spirulina enhanced brine, squid and blood worms. Find out what kind of fish you have though and make it a habit to know a little about what you are buying so that you can better provide for it cause there are some fish that are herbivores and those have longer stomach tracts like cows and high protein foods or meaty foods can cause problems.

[mrairportjunke]

Re: Feeding

hey that new life spectrum food you talkin about.  you really satisfied with it?  where you get yours???

[eklikewhoa]

Re: Feeding

I have like 5 little tubs around the house....different formulas, different fish...etc.



I love the stuff...I will never feed my fish anything else!!!!!! Mike has some...CityPets.....FishGallery...FishRanch.....24 9 Tropical.....

[mrairportjunke]

Re: Feeding

yeah well i have a mix of fish.  in my main tank i got the african mix and some loaches, 2 balas, pleco,  my loaches will come up and eat at the top with everyone but they are flake eaters. they turn threre noise to the pellets.  do they sink or float or what???  my severums in my other are really picky.  i tried to fast them for a couple days and they will eat the pellets but not very much.

[Mzungu]

Re: Feeding

What kind of pellets have you tried?

[eklikewhoa]

Re: Feeding

Fast them for a few days...

My clowns when I had them would eat out of my hand......NLS floats momentarily then sinks.

[lynn]

Re: Feeding

They have no problem eating.  I just wanted to make sure I'm giving them the right thing.  I'm feeding tetramin tropical flakes and tetracolor tropical granules.  The only only ones the go to the top to eat are the 5 convict fry.  They are seem ok eating this.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: Feeding

IMO NLS is probably the best staple available.

[CichlidFan]

Re: Feeding

I feed my little buddies the following:

Flakes * New Life Spectrum * Frozen Blood Worms * Frozen Brine Shrimp * CR45

The flakes and NLS & CR45, they get daily, the frozen stuff is like once or twice a week treats.

CF

[lynn]

Re: Feeding

what is NLS?

[fishlady]

Re: Feeding

NLS =   New Life Spectrum
it's a cichlid formula fish food