How important is cichlid food for a cichlid

In my 26 bow I have 7 golden white clouds, a clown pleco, 2 neon rainbows and heres where my question comes in... an angelfish and a german blue ram(yay!). I had no idea that my angelfish was a cichlid, and now I have another cichlid in my tank(the gbr). The question is: How important is it to get specific pellets for cichlids? I don't want to run out and buy a bunch more food if I don't need it. I currently feed my fish Ocean Nutrition community flakes, frozen daphnia once a weekish and a small peice of an algae wafer every once in awhile for my pleco. Do my cichlids need a pellet to munch on or will this diet be more then enough? If so, what kind?

Quick story: I fed my fish and I was watching how much my brand new ram eat, I didnt think he had really grabbed anything so I fed a bit more and wet them to sink. The only one he went for was a GIANT(half his body size+) flake that my angel was too busy to care about. He went to it and ripped some off and ate it, my angel did the same thing. They would take peices of this and blow them back out, trying the peice again, or just leaving it. Bad flake?

 

In my opinion specific food cichlid isn't essential, but is healthy for the cichlid. Like think of it as people food... You can live off of McDonalds all the time, but is it necessarily healthy... No.

 

Well then what kind? My angel and my ram both hang out pretty much at the bottom, even during feeding. Sinking pellets? Also what brand?

If it was just me I would probably pick up the small size sinking hikarI cichlid gold. They also have like bio plus and this and that... What do you think I should get?

 

I feed my comunity tanks NLS Thera +A it is a pellet food. and the ones that have cichlids as well get NLS sinking cichlid pellets. I also feed flakes (I rotate foods) and bloodworms.

 

Um Food is food? Lol fish have to have it!

 

Welcome to FishLore!

Some cichlids, like yours, require more protein in their diet than others because in the wild they eat high protein foods. Other cichlids, like Mbuna cichlids, get bloated if they eat too much protein as they are mostly vegetarians in the wild. I suggest getting a type of cichlid food that is high in protein and add some during your normal feeding. It doesn't really matter with your other fish if they get some. Eating food that is higher in protein boosts their immune system and makes their color much brighter.

 

InThey would take peices of this and blow them back out, trying the peice again, or just leaving it. Bad flake?

Not a bad flake. They are either making the piece a more manageable size to eat or they are letting it absorb some water first.

I don't feed species specific food to any of my fish. I give a variety and they all look great, so whatever I'm doing seems to be working really well.

 

Good morning,

I also suggest feeding your fish a variety of foods. Some of your fish may even enjoy raw or blanched, Romaine lettuce, cucumber, zucchinI and I'm sure others will chime in with more selections. If you can get some veggies into your fishes diet it would be good.

I also feed my fish treats such as presoaked freeze dried krill and presoaked freeze dried earthworms, twice a week. These foods I marinate in Garlic Guard which helps to boost the fishes immune system.


Garlic juice from minced garlic in a jar will also work. Links below:
https://www.fishlore.com/aquariumfi...r-just-an-example-for-those-needing-it.62705/

Fresh Garlic Recipe to make your own juice:
"Benefits of garlic:

Purifies blood; detoxifies; lowers cholesterol levels; lowers blood pressure; blood thinner; prevents blood clots; boost immune system; prevents heart disease and strokes; destroys cancer cells; muscle relaxant; antibiotic; antifungal; suppresses growth of tumors
Using a medium size bulb; peel cloves apart, snip off ends; microwave cloves for 5 to 10 seconds to pop hulls; remove hulls; cut the length of the cloves in thin slices; place in cup of hot (from tap) water; cover, and let sit at room temperature for 12 hrs; mash the cloves and strain for immediate use; refrigerate until needed. good for two to three weeks.
The longer the cloves soak, the stronger the solution."

The information above comes from the link below:


Vita Chem for additional vitamins:


I use a wide variety of pellets, sticks, sinking and floating, wafers, as a staple.

Caution, don't over feed your fish!

Ken

 

I tried feeding my fish freeze dried bloodworms one time... They didnt really get into them. How do you presoak your food? I obviously understand the concept but is there anything specific I need to do? When I get home from a trip I'll check out the high in protein pellets for cichlids and pick one up.

 

Good afternoon,

All freeze dried foods should be presoaked (not flakes or pellets/sticks) to prevent the food from swelling in the fishes stomach and cause bloating/constipation.

I use a small fruit bowl, add Vita Chem, Garlic Guard and dilute it water and soak the food for 5 or 10 minutes. Pour it into a net and then I can hand feed from there.

Ken

 

When I supplement their diet with cucumbers, I slice very thin slice and put it on a butter knife and put in the tank. The knife weighs and holds the cucumber down for the fish to enjoy their meal.

 

I somewhat disagree. Varied diet is great! Keeping your particular cichlids on their particular staple food, I do find important.

 

Going back to the main question... specific cichlid food is not important. However a diet tailored to your fish is important.

 

Going back to the main question... specific cichlid food is not important. However a diet tailored to your fish is important.

Pricesly Larry! The proper HikarI brand though I do find is the best staple. Not disagreeing with you though, just simplifying.

 

been breedind cichlids for years and there's no benefit whatsoever to species defined food. Food is food. Ken hit the nail on the head. Presoak anything freeze dried and give a good variety. ALL my fish eat algae flakes. ALL my fish ignore the cichlid bloodworm pellets. ALL love anything frozen such as daphnia, bloodworm, artemia and amazingly the best flake food ive ever used is Tetra Pro crisp. Neon pink discs that crumble easily between your fingers for the tiny fish but remain intact for the larger. I think manufacturers bank on people buying particular types of food. Only fish I know that won't touch algae flakes are my bumblebees but then again their mouths are smaller than pin heads lol

When I supplement their diet with cucumbers, I slice very thin slice and put it on a butter knife and put in the tank. The knife weighs and holds the cucumber down for the fish to enjoy their meal.

that's very interesting. Ive not yet mastered the art of keeping vegetation down and zuchinnI is the most annoying vegetable for dissolving and dispersing round the whole tank lol

Merged back to back posts. Feel free to respond to more than 1 member per post.
Thanks!
Ken

 

So I understand that creating a varied diet for my fish is a important part of their life. But there are SO MANY choices! I figured that I would find a sinking pellet to feed my cichlids, and what better than a cichlid food. I did a bit of research on three kinds of hikarI cichlid foods and I'd like to know your opinion(s) on their ingredients. The ingredients will go in the order Protein, fat, fiber, moisture, ash.
Gold 40,4,4,9,12

Bio Gold+ 45,5,2,15,(1% phosphorus)

Staple 35,4,5,10,9

Each of these has their own little thing about why there stuff is great yeah yeah. But what this really comes down too is what in the food, right? The cichlid bio gold+ seems like the best choice because it has the highest protein level... Right? It does have a slightly higher moisture content, but no ash. Other than that all of the levels are about the same.
On another note...
I would like to get some freeze dried stuff. Between Tubifex worms, Bloodworms, Brine shrimp, daphnia, krill, spirulina brine shrimp and ocean plankton I have no idea what to get! How did you guys choose what to buy?

 

to be honest I don't get caught up in brands. Frozen bloodworm and frozen dapnia is pretty standard. Same as dried tubifex and bloodworm. Not much to choose as really they are the same thing in different coloured tins. Only thing I would say is with the algae wafers, choose the best you can afford as all your fish will enjoy them. Ive tried a few but keep coming back to HikarI as its slimline and dissolves the second it hits the water. Ive tried a few brands and some stay solid for hours which makes my fish agitated. Again, I would avoid the cichlid specific sinking bloodworm pellets. Expensive and none of my brood would eat them.

 

This is the cichlid pellet I use, it was recomended tome by a person I trust, and the fish love it

 

My fish do the same thing. They swallow the whole thing and spit it back out. I think I ts normal.

 

I must have very spoilt fish Lexi. I tried that one and as I only feed sinking food at night after lights out, when I came down in the morning the pellets had dissolved and were clumped in all my bacupa plants. Took forever to get out lol. Actually I have a large bag full of tiny cichlid pellets which I had shipped from Africa and cost me a small fortune - still sitting under the tank uneaten. The dog seems to be quite partial to them though hehehehe

 

What size pellet(HikarI brand) should I feed my angel and GBR? I was told from a random person at a fish store in lincoln nebraska that I should feed them baby pellets because even the smallest size is big enough for oscars and will swell in my fish's stomach

 

That is part of the reason I got the NLS pellets. Someone gave me a bag of hakarI minI pellets, and my rams can't eat them they are too big.

 

oh! Thank you that clears up some confusion.(This guy was a bit... odd. Made me wonder)