cichlid-fish-29 asked:
i have a 46 gal front bow aquarium with 9 malawi mbuna african cichlids and so far i have just been feeding them cichlid pellets but what else should i feed them? i know they are herbavores so should i give them spinach too, or even algae waffers? and how about those omega one veggie flakes? is there ever too much veggies or too much protein? what do you feed yours? what should i do?
i have a 46 gal front bow aquarium with 9 malawi mbuna african cichlids and so far i have just been feeding them cichlid pellets but what else should i feed them? i know they are herbavores so should i give them spinach too, or even algae waffers? and how about those omega one veggie flakes? is there ever too much veggies or too much protein? what do you feed yours? what should i do?
July 2nd, 2009 at 5:35 pm
Cichlids can be categorized into four groups, each with unique dietary needs:
Carnivorous: These fish prey on other fish, especially the fry of other species.
Herbivorous: These fish are grazers and subsist by scraping algae off of rocks.
Omnivorous: These fish have a variety in their diet, eating both plant matter, inverebrates, and small fish.
Micro-predators: These fish eat small invertebrates such as artemia and plankton.
It is important that you understand what group your fish belongs to, and then to feed them accordingly. For example, the Tropheus species of Lake Tanganyika are herbivorous. If you feed them lots of frozen or live foods, or even flake food high in fish meal, they may not take well to it and retaliate by contracting “Bloat,” the consequence usually being death.
Having said that, I should add that herbivorous fish do need some “meat” in their diet, and carnivorous fish need some vegetable matter in theirs. These should be seen as supplements however, and not as the main staple of their diet.
Many Cichlid foods are good and appropriate for all cichlids, be they carnivorous or herbivorous. What you want to watch out for are foods high in fat. You especially want to avoid anything that has beef heart or products from other warm-blooded animals
I hope this helps
July 4th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
Spirulina flakes or pellets are great for most cichlids from lake Malawi,there are many brands available with spirulina.
July 7th, 2009 at 9:14 am
If you follow any of the above, you won’t get amazing colors..
For my Malawi tank I use red shrimp, Hikara pellets, Live fish, Bloodworms, Plecocaine, Algae wafers and Brine Shrimp.
Changing there diet up alot and using different foods will make them amazing colors.. that and natural lighting.
using ‘one’ food forever won’t get great results.. fish are like us.. we can’t grow to our fullest off ONE food.
July 7th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
Buy frozen blood worms and feed them that once a week. They don’t like pellets so regular tetrafin tropical flakes will be fine. I had cichlids for three years and they bred in my tank at home with nothing fancy added, and since they only breed when they’re in perfect conditions, I assumed this method worked. Also they must have crushed seashells as substrate, otherwise they cannot build caves because they cannot pick up regular gravel with their mouths.
July 10th, 2009 at 7:21 pm
Mbunas are, for the most part, omnivores and can eat most “cichlid” foods sold at your pet store. You may want to add some variety by throwing in some romaine lettuce, frozen peas, brine shrimp flakes, shrimp pellets, krill and spirulina pellets.
If you know they are “herbivores”, then just throw in the lettuce, spinach, spirulina pellets, and frozen peas along with their “cichlid” food.
July 14th, 2009 at 5:31 am
Now you see why I direct people to professional forums? I cannot believe that someone would post they use feeder fish???? in a Malawi tank? WTF batman. That is literally stupid and insane at the same time, and what is even more dangerous, they have but one valid good point. Your stock will do better on a balanced diet, but don’t even consider the use of feeder fish. They do not eat this, it’s not even natural for them to have that there as well.
Use the Spiralina 20 flake food as the base food I mentioned last night. Mbuna are herbivores, they aren’t mixed into anything else, so you can throw out that person’s chart grouping. They missed the boat when you said Mbuna.
If you want to vary it up, you can use the blood worms and brine shrimp, 1 time a week to 10 days, as over use will lead to the Malawi Bloat I mentioned last night. If you need more supplimental foods? You can use store bought vegetables such as lettuce or zucchini. I’d chop it into very fine pieces, and boil it to take away any insecticides. I’ve been keeping and breeding numerous Malawi’s of different kinds, and now Madagascars and Victorians, I just cannot believe someone would be that ignorant to talk about using feeder fish. About the ONLY Malawi I could think of that might try would be Nimbochromis Venustus, and that’s a very very large growing Hap.
July 15th, 2009 at 7:30 am
i use aquadine, its a lot of vegtable matter, with brine shrimp once or twice a week…
However i DO plan on swiching to new life spectrum cichlid food, it seems to be the hot topic amungst new foods for cichlids.