Feeding My Fussy Midas Cichlid Fish

Hey guys,
I’ve got a question about my Midas Cichlid, as he’s really fussy and won’t eat a few of the hikari cichlid pellets I buy for him and my Oscar’s.
Does anyone know what type of food/pellets that he might eat? I supply all my fish mealworms and he won’t really eat those either. The only food he’s been eating is some left over stuff that I’ve had tucked away that I used to feed my angelfish, and it’s not in anyway a good healthy diet for him, and I’m nearly running out and I don’t know what it’s called cos I put it in a different container.
So if anyone out there has one of these guys, could you point me in the right direction what to buy him that he will actually eat? Preferably something available in Australia. I’ve attached a photo of him as well as the Hikari supply I already have that he won’t eat. When he was younger he used to eat the Gold, but now he’s just eating some left over food that’s really not for him. He’s still very active and isn’t undernourished or anything, but I worry that eventually he may be. I’ve even tried some dried lavea and crickets but he won’t even eat those. All he really wants and love are frozen bloodworms. But I’m sure that’s not a complete diet for him.

Any ideas, brand, pellets, crisps etc that I can try for him? He’s getting quite large now, around 25cm. I just love the grumpy little turd to bits and I wanna look after him.

cheers guys

 

Have you tried bug bites cichlid pellets? They float, so if he prefers sinking foods my cichlids seem to like Azoo ultra fresh royal cichlid - it appears to have good ingredients. All fish seem to love vibra bites but they are a bit small for a Midas cichlid and the ingredients aren't great. Omega one cichlid pellet are good but small also.

Live food - earthworms maybe?

 

Have you tried bug bites cichlid pellets? They float, so if he prefers sinking foods my cichlids seem to like Azoo ultra fresh royal cichlid - it appears to have good ingredients. All fish seem to love vibra bites but they are a bit small for a Midas cichlid and the ingredients aren't great. Omega one cichlid pellet are good but small also.

Live food - earthworms maybe?

Cheers for your reply… I wouldn’t have any idea where to get earthworms. I actually got an Azoo brand for tropical fish and it’s small as well, but I’m pretty sure he’s not eating those either. I haven’t tried Omega brand yet. I’ve been looking online and I move found many different cichlid types of food from wholesalers I’m sure, as it’s their own brand and nothing I have heard of. I guess that’s why I’m asking so I don’t keep buying food that he’s not going to eat and money is just wasted. Let’s face it, fish food aint cheap for large fish haha. I think the food he’s eating now is the Sera (brand) tropical sinking bites. There’s no way that’s a complete nourishment diet for him. I’ll check out Omega or another Azoo. Or the Bug bites I haven’t tried either, I thought they only came in flames. I’ve noticed he prefer sinking food as well. It amazes me the personalities fish actually have lol I wish he was like my Oscar’s, as they will eat bloody anything haha

 

The Azoo ultra fresh Royal Cichlid sinks and the pellets are quite large, might be worth a try. My severum, blue acara, and Cichlasomas like it, as do the angelfish, the Uarus don't but they are more vegetarian and the Mesonauta don't usually eat sinking food..

 

The Azoo ultra fresh Royal Cichlid sinks and the pellets are quite large, might be worth a try. My severum, blue acara, and Cichlasomas like it, as do the angelfish, the Uarus don't but they are more vegetarian and the Mesonauta don't usually eat sinking food..

Perfect. Thank you. I’ll check it out and get some today. Cheers. You’re a legend

 

I'm not a big Hikari fan. I tried feeding it to big Cichlids years ago with negative results.
I second the live food suggestion. Grasshoppers & Crickets are usually easy to come by.
I use Omega One large grain sinking Cichlid pellets. It's good stuff. A cheaper option would be Tetra's large Cichlid sticks.
I know a lot of fish keepers consider Tetra foods subpar & outdated, but I still use them.

 

Yes actually most fish love the tetra colour granules, including larger cichlids. The ingredients don't seem that good but I use it occasionally.

It is probably a good idea not to try to feed him every day. try every 2 or three days and see if he gets hungrier.

 

I'm not a big Hikari fan. I tried feeding it to big Cichlids years ago with negative results.
I second the live food suggestion. Grasshoppers & Crickets are usually easy to come by.
I use Omega One large grain sinking Cichlid pellets. It's good stuff. A cheaper option would be Tetra's large Cichlid sticks.
I know a lot of fish keepers consider Tetra foods subpar & outdated, but I still use them.

I don’t think the Omega One large grain sinking Cichlid pellets are available in Australia? Otherwise I would buy it

 

I don’t think the Omega One large grain sinking Cichlid pellets are available in Australia? Otherwise I would buy it

Same here, I have only only been able to get the small ones, and the, only occasionally. They are good though.

 

I don’t think the Omega One large grain sinking Cichlid pellets are available in Australia? Otherwise I would buy it

Have you tried New Life Spectrum? Probably the large (3mm) pellets would suit. Thera A if he’s really fussy. It’s widely available here in Australia.

 

You can also pre-soak the food in a little tank water and some Seachem Garlic Guard just before feeding; lots of fussy fish respond well to garlic in their food, surprisingly!

 

Most fish will eat when they get hungry enough, I know probably not what you want to hear, but its true. If you stop with other foods, and feed what you want they will ignore it at first since they want what they like but as time goes on they will break and eat what you give them.

This happens a lot raising baby fry, when it's time to transition to dry foods from brine shrimp, they want the brine shrimp but in a week or so, they break from that and will eat what's available and get used to the new food they don't like as much after that. And it happens faster just switching and not slowly feeding both, they will just wait for the food they like except for the greediest fish and it won't progress.
It even works with "will only eat live and nothing else" types of fish. They can be broken to freeze dried or frozen, or to pellet when they get hungry enough and understand its food even if they prefer what they like.

I would do a easy to get, affordable, decent staple food that isn't a problem and supplement with fish vitamins to juice up the nutrition on it and just break them of the other foods for good if it's going to cause problems.

Some people opt to mix up their own fish foods and freeze portions. This works also. Main point is to get the fish on a nutritious staple, and not fill them up with junk foods they like the taste of better than whats good for them. I also don't do "treats" I find when I did it caused problems for the fish to eat their regular foods. They'd hold out for treats like tubifex instead.