Jefft
Members
What I have learned is a variety of foods is good to feed. But best to read the back of the label and see what sorts of fillers are in the food. Ash, chemicals etc. are typically bad for your fish, make sure you are feeding something without these types of fillers and binders. I also learned tonight, meaty treats are bad for the Africans ie. brine shrimp and bloodworms which in the frozen form my fish LOVE and have been up to this point a 2 to 3 times a week treats for my guys. Those treats on such a high frequency will now be ending. I have had great success with Your Fish Stuff.com foods, Cichlids Cravers, Veggie Delight, Green Supreme are the ones I lean towards for my tanks. Repashy foods is another one which seems to come highly recommended I will be purchasing some of that tomorrow at our monthly meeting, if it is available. Will have to let you know how it works out. Also you can make your own food at home several videos on youtube for that. Go to youtube look up African cichlids home made food and watch the various videos available there. Most of the mixes I have seen are heavy on green leaf veggies (spinach, kale,) green leaf which is high in mineral and vitamin content, cucumbers, garlic is supposed to help with the digestive track. Finally in those homemade blends "mysis" shrimp and squid raw blended all together with other ingredients and frozen is another big hit.
Beeman
Members
Spirulina 20
dogofwar
CCA Members
NLS or Xtreme. My opinion of course...
Matt
Matt
chriscoli
Administrator
As long as I'm keeping within that fish's dietary needs, I like to offer them variety. Whatever I have....I like NLS, extreme, YFS brand, Kens.
I also fast them 1 or 2 days per week. I also offer veggies (canned and fresh) and algae chips to tanks with ancistrus pretty often.
I also fast them 1 or 2 days per week. I also offer veggies (canned and fresh) and algae chips to tanks with ancistrus pretty often.
its a good thing then that i havent started feeding them some meaty treats then and dont plan on now and ok please let me know how that food goes with them that would be great help. I have a common pleco in my tank and i feed him some hikari algae waffers every now and then and i always thought it was weird that my africans would try and steal his food specially my yellow lab that shares with an acei and they eat it! but veggies for now on is what i plan on feeding my little guys so they can grow up strong and healthy
but with a little bit of variety every now and then and they do fast once a week and they dont seem to mind it, meaning they're not by the glass begging for food.
Jefft
Members
Well, Africans are primarily omnivores yes they eat other live creatures but the staple of their diet is algae and other green growth underwater plants. So algae wafers are right up their alley as far as food goes. I have seen the same thing with mine toss the wafers in and your plecos don't get squat as the other fish will eat the wafers up. I just had a Met. Cobalt zebra die from either Dropsy or more likely bloat. Bloat is thought to be caused by pieces of undigested pieces of shell or other things sticking or lodging in the walls of the digestive track and intestines of the Africans as their intestines and tract is lengthy. The Repashy which I bought from Rachel is working out great by the way, easy to make sets quickly and the fish go nuts for it. If you are feeding fry as you refer to them as "little guys" Go to Yourfishstuff.com and order the .05mm Cichlids Cravers. Bill the owner told me a little higher protein diet for the fry is a good thing but there is enough algae and other veggie in the mix of the foods for the fry to do well on. Mine have been eating it since day 1 and it works great. The foods are available in different sizes if you are feeding fish a bit larger. When I ordered it only took a couple of days to get to me, shipped through Priority United States Postal.
no when i said little guys it wasnt referring them as to fry but my africans are still little all about 1 1/2 inches haha sorry if you understood fry from that.. but when you say the name rachel do you mean rachel from invertebrates?? how can i avoid for my africans getting "bloat"?? thats something i wouldnt want happening to my fish.. im sure noone.
Jefft
Members
Yes that is the Rachel to which I refer. lol.. From what I have read to avoid it simply feed the right things. Protein is not a bad thing for the fish just need to make sure you are heavier on the veggie end of things.
Jefft
Members
Mix it up feed more than just that one thing. You have a grocery list here on your thread of things to feed your cichlids my advice being the "least" among the more experience you have had speaking to you.
Spirulina 20....Zoo Med (one I will be ordering this week)
Cichlids Cravers...YourFishStuff.com
Green Supreme....YourFishStuff.com
Repashy Super Foods....Rachel
NLS......Another I am ordering
Extreme.....Another I am ordering
Canned and fresh veggies..
Homemade Fish Food Videos on youtube are great.
Cobalt
IF there is a BEST fish food out there the opinions of what it is will vary from fish keeper to fish keeper. It is best to have a wide variety of foods on hand and to mix it up. You would get pretty sick of eating the same thing day after day meal after meal. My advice look through all your replies and buy some of each recommended as money allows. I just went through this page and there is already an impressive list. Build up your food stores for your fish. I have a shelf of nothing but foods. YourFishStuff foods 3 lb bags last FOREVER. Your fish will love proteins just too much of it is not good for them.
Spirulina 20....Zoo Med (one I will be ordering this week)
Cichlids Cravers...YourFishStuff.com
Green Supreme....YourFishStuff.com
Repashy Super Foods....Rachel
NLS......Another I am ordering
Extreme.....Another I am ordering
Canned and fresh veggies..
Homemade Fish Food Videos on youtube are great.
Cobalt
IF there is a BEST fish food out there the opinions of what it is will vary from fish keeper to fish keeper. It is best to have a wide variety of foods on hand and to mix it up. You would get pretty sick of eating the same thing day after day meal after meal. My advice look through all your replies and buy some of each recommended as money allows. I just went through this page and there is already an impressive list. Build up your food stores for your fish. I have a shelf of nothing but foods. YourFishStuff foods 3 lb bags last FOREVER. Your fish will love proteins just too much of it is not good for them.
Pat Kelly
CCA Member
Everyone has an opinion and what works for one person may not work for another.
I feed 90% NLS and have for years. Why?
Never had a problem with it and I used to have a source for it for cheap. Don't have the cheap source any more but I continue to use it.
Is it the best? Who knows but like I said, never had a problem so I stick with it.
Go to conventions and you usually get samples of other brands. Almost all seem good and again have not had a problem. I use them at times too.
I am old and stuck in my ways so the NLS will stay for now. LOL
Heck I even have an empty bucket on the table next to my bed so that the lamp sits higher. Keep wanting to take a picture. lol
I am such a fish geek.
I feed 90% NLS and have for years. Why?
Never had a problem with it and I used to have a source for it for cheap. Don't have the cheap source any more but I continue to use it.
Is it the best? Who knows but like I said, never had a problem so I stick with it.
Go to conventions and you usually get samples of other brands. Almost all seem good and again have not had a problem. I use them at times too.
I am old and stuck in my ways so the NLS will stay for now. LOL
Heck I even have an empty bucket on the table next to my bed so that the lamp sits higher. Keep wanting to take a picture. lol
I am such a fish geek.
jonclark96
Past CCA President
Jeff - If you need to order food, you'd be better off to go to the Catfish Convention this weekend and buy it in person. I'm sure there will be multiple vendors there selling their wares. If I remember correctly, Kensfish was at the last one.
Jefft
Members
I was seriously thinking about getting down that way. Any idea how far it is from our area in Maryland? Well heck its Herndon Mapquest here I come.
Yup, 1hour 13 minutes Millersville to Herndon may just take a drive down that way. I picked up 6 lbs of cichlids cravers and Green Supreme from YourFishStuff at the ECC auction also won one of the raffle bags full of food stuffs. Bought Repashy from Rachel at the CCA meet this past Saturday, couldnt stay for the talk. I was bummed about that but such is life. I am good for food really just like I said wanted a bit of Variety.
Yup, 1hour 13 minutes Millersville to Herndon may just take a drive down that way. I picked up 6 lbs of cichlids cravers and Green Supreme from YourFishStuff at the ECC auction also won one of the raffle bags full of food stuffs. Bought Repashy from Rachel at the CCA meet this past Saturday, couldnt stay for the talk. I was bummed about that but such is life. I am good for food really just like I said wanted a bit of Variety.
Jefft
Members
pictures.
Show us what you do with your homemade food. Take some pictures for us Hit us up with the recipe.
oh alright jeff i understand now what you are saying about mixing it up and it makes lots of sense thank you for the help i have the spirulina and i ordered the cichlids craver yesterday and im planning on making some homemade food today
Show us what you do with your homemade food. Take some pictures for us Hit us up with the recipe.
alrighty will do. and i used broccoli, peas, cucumber, zucchini, garlic, apple, and kiwi boiled it all for about 2 minutes, took the skin off everything i could and then blended it until it turned into very little chunks. i rolled it up in a freezer bag and am going to freeze it over night and will feed tomorrow morning cutting out a small portion and thawing it a little. i will let you know what happens tomorrow and post up some pics if i figure out how to do that lol.
Jefft
Members
Sounds like a solid recipe. I put mine in little ice cube trays. Be warned though homemade food will make a bit of a mess be preapred to clean your filter sponges a little more often.
KJacks
Members
See this post is alil older bit was curious as to how well the homemade recipe worked.. i currently use repashy i make my own mix with green solient , super green and meat pie. I also have the community plus repashy .. then i use hikari i think its gold excel.. plus i have omega one veggie pellets..
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