Mbuna food at PetSmart/petco

I think I figured out what type of fish are in my adopted tank. One yellow lab, 4 red top Hongi, and... I’ll learn the names eventually. The aggressive little interloper. Anyway, I’m ordering the Northfin veggie food online for them since the four Hongi are veggie fish. It isn’t expected to deliver for a week or two, so I’m trying to find a food from a local store (which is only Petco and PetSmart, I think?) to hold them over. They are all pretty skinny I think, and I’m wondering if they aren’t excited about eating cause this food that came with them is for the carnivorous ones. Petco has seaweed sheets and algae wafers. Would one or both of those be okay to use til new food comes in?

Also, opinions on the... Repashy? A powder that gets mixed into a jelly like stuff. Opinions on that? It’s kind of pricey, so I wanted to know thoughts before I buy. Still have other things I need to get them, and I don’t get paid again for a bit D8

 

Aqueon mini chichlid pellets have always worked well for my Africans. I also use omega one and fluval veggie pellets. I prefer pellet foods because it seems less messy. Speaking of messy, while Repashy foods are great I think the Africans would make a big mess of it when they tear into it. I only use it for bottom feeders so they’re not tearing off chucks.

For treats I sometimes give them cucumber, squash, peas, broccoli and cauliflower. For all but the cucumber it is best to boil them for a few minutes so its easier to eat.

African cichlids will eat just about anything offered to them so if yours aren’t eating I’d be worried that they have other things going on.

 

I did see the omega one veggie on Petco, but it doesn’t seem to be available in my area. I’ll check again, though.

They are eating, but not much. They sometimes grab the food and spit it back out, and then look around for more. I’ve noticed them checking the substrate a lot, like they are looking for food. Considering deworming them too, just in case.

 

I think I figured out what type of fish are in my adopted tank. One yellow lab, 4 red top Hongi, and... I’ll learn the names eventually. The aggressive little interloper. Anyway, I’m ordering the Northfin veggie food online for them since the four Hongi are veggie fish. It isn’t expected to deliver for a week or two, so I’m trying to find a food from a local store (which is only Petco and PetSmart, I think?) to hold them over. They are all pretty skinny I think, and I’m wondering if they aren’t excited about eating cause this food that came with them is for the carnivorous ones. Petco has seaweed sheets and algae wafers. Would one or both of those be okay to use til new food comes in?

Also, opinions on the... Repashy? A powder that gets mixed into a jelly like stuff. Opinions on that? It’s kind of pricey, so I wanted to know thoughts before I buy. Still have other things I need to get them, and I don’t get paid again for a bit D8

I was under the impression Hongi are omnivores?

 

maybe? Everything I find when looking it up says herbivore, and the yellow labs said omnivore heavy on the veggie. By I’m new as of two days ago, so I’m only going off of google searches.
BUT I’m new as of so and so. Stop changing my words, phone!!

 

Labidochromis caeruleus (Yellow lab)
Labidochromis sp. "Hongi" (Red Top Hong)

As you can see, they are in the same family. Cichlids definitely need more of a vegetative diet to avoid Malawi bloat. Anything you see at Petsmart and Petco that reference mbuna and vegetable-based will be fine for the mean time. For example, Fluval, omega one etc. Northfin and New Life Spectrum are my two favorite foods for all of my cichlids.

If I may give some other advice as to keeping mbuna... I see the tank is 35 gallons and there is ammonia.

pH
I would invest in some Carib-sea cichlid substrate to naturally raise the ph into the 8.0 range. 6.8 is just a bit low for them. Or you could invest in some rocks that will raise the pH. Try to avoid the products that say they can raise pH. These will dramatically shock the fish and don't do anything to stabilize the tank permanently. Having stable pH is more important, but the health of your fish at 6.8 is going to take a toll on them in the long run.

Nitrate
The nitrates are through the roof, I think it would be a good idea to start doing some water changes every other day for a week, lets say 35%. From there a more consistent water change once a week would really be beneficial to your fish to ward off disease.

Tank Size
The tank is a bit small. I really wouldn't go less than a 40-gallon breeder for mbuna. It will make all of the difference when aggression starts, luckily Labidochromis are very low on the totem pole for aggression with cichlids, but infinitely more aggressive than community fish.

Temperature
The temperature at 77 is fine and it is rising so all good. I keep my tanks around 78-79 and 80 - 82 to encourage breeding.

In conclusion, keep doing your research and make some changes now that will avoid a lot of heart break and money in the future!

 

The fish ate voraciously when I got home today; I am feeling more comfortable with waiting on the NorthFin to come in if I can’t get the veggie food. It looks like the omega one food I wanted to try is available in my area. Just gotta wait till they are open again.

Tested again, and pH is 7.4 today I think. Ammonia the same today before and after water change, as is the nitrate... I’ve done three water changes in the two days, and I figured I should keep doing one a day until that is lowered drastically? Thinking I shouldn’t have brought so much of the water from the tank in the move.

The ph; someone suggested seachem lake salt and Malawi buffer for the pH adjustment. Do you think substrate and/or rock change over additives? (Or, before?) As well, I had to use tannins in my old tanks because the water at my dad’s was so hard/high pH even after water softener. Would it make sense to fill up my water change buckets with his well water instead?

Tank size, I’d love to do a bigger tank, but it’s not in the bank right now. If I need to rehome them then I will, but I’d like to try and keep them. These exact fish have been living together in this tank for an unknown amount of months/years in their previous owner’s home, so I’m hoping they’ll continue to get along well until I can save up (if not, rehoming it is!)

 

That's great that they are eating. They can go a very long time without eating because they will just forage around the tank looking for food all day. Not much else to do in a box haha.

How are you testing the water/ph? Test your water source and make sure there is no ammonia in it. I would continue doing the water changes until ammonia is zero, nitrite is zero and the nitrate is at minimum 30. Next time you don't have to really take so much water from your old tank. It doesn't hold BB as the substrate and filter do.

Cichlid lake salt is great, it is a blend of salts that will help replicate the natural lakes your fish are found in by adding magnesium, calcium, and potassium etc. As for the malawi buffer, yeah it's a good product, but you don't want to keep having to add it and spend money on it IMO. If you can consistently get water from your dad's well every water change, I definitely would.

Okay that is good that they were put in a smaller tank from a larger one. I would try and save up and wait for a $1 per gallon sale for a 40 breeder. But in the meantime just keep doing those water changes more consistently and get those parameters at a safe level.

Are you using prime? If not, it detoxifies 1ppm ammonia for 24 hours which will help.

 

I’m using the API freshwater test kit for pH, ammonia, and so on, and have another test kit coming in today for gh and the other h that I currently can’t remember. I did test the tap water for Nitrate after the third test of 160pp, but it came back 0. I can test it for ammonia today.

Found a Northfin that will ship overnight, so it’s coming tomorrow! Woo! Looking at the substrate you mentioned, and it’s not a bad price on Amazon. Waiting for the next paycheck, but I could do that easy. And the salt, I think. And I’m bringing the change buckets to my dad’s tomorrow to fill up. Totally forgot to grab them this morning