firestorm Posted January 13, 2009 Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 Clout is a great medication for internal infections, but can be too strong for the more delicate species of fish. Metronidazole also works well for some internal problems, jungle parasite clear is another. I feed only spirulina wafers to my tanks that have algae eaters like plecos, shrimp, SAE's. The rest of them get a diet of different types of NLS foods, and the odd frozen or fresh treat. Romaine lettuce, skinned peas (have to be pre cooked), cucumber, zucchini, and veggies like that are great treats to feed your herbivorous fish Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishful Thinking Posted January 13, 2009 Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 I have full faith in NLS. I have all of my fish eating it, including both of my tropheus tanks. As algae browsers in the wild, Tropheus in captivity are known for having digestive issues and I have had absolutely no problems. In my opinion, clean water and NLS is a great combo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lana Bollers Posted January 13, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2009 Thank you all for your replies! I think I will stick to the NLS... My fish seem to like it, and they like the flakes I sometimes give them as a treat, or the frozen brine shrimp... I don't give them those very often...but once in a while I sure do... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callie Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 sorry for any repeat I didnt read them all. I like to feed mine Ocean nutrition Formula One and two. formula Two is for herbavior/omnivor fish and the other is an omnivor diet with a slightly higher protien. They are both great and the herbavior diet works well for vegitarians. I noticed excellent poo passings lol and a difference in general health. It is packed with vitamins and the fish actually get enough greens out of it. HBH super soft spirilina pellets stink and most fish will not eat them. At least not mine. its a good food if you can get your fish to eat it. You asked about making your own food. I have made some in the past. I went to the farmers market and made sure everything I bought had no addatives, herbacides/pesticide, and the meat was pure, in the sense the animal did not eat herbacide/peticide covered food. There are also some human liquid all round vitamin mixes that you can put into the food. I did this and I have not had any problems. Some of my fish like the food and others dont. You can also use Gar Gar (I think thats whats its called) for a gellitin base to hold it together. i couldn't find it so I used prawns. The prawns work good Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PiscesGirl Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 IMHO and not meaning to over concur, NLS is the way to go... not too shabby advise and info too!! But seriously Neil, I really wish you guys would sell online!! I only have one store I can get to here and I wouldn't go there if you paid me! Besides, I am sure some remote members here would agree??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boom Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 I like pizza loaded with everything. Meat, cheese, veggies, bread (crust) which is a pretty complete diet. But if I ate a loaded pizza every day twice a day, I would eventually get sick of it. My point is that NLS is a great food (I feed it to all my fish as their PRIMARY food), but I also like to change it up for them a few times a week. Ocean nutrition 2 flakes, frozen brine shrimp, frozen brine with spirulina, algae wafers, zuchinni, earthworms in the summer, etc. Every second or third day at least one of the feedings will be something like this. I don't feed junk foods. But do change it up. If nothing else, it keeps them interested in their food. (Not that Africans really need help in that dept., but you get my point!) Boom :boom: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lana Bollers Posted January 14, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 Well I know I get sick of food if I have to eat the same thing day in and day out... but I was unsure of the fish, our brains are bigger, well at least I would like to think they are...LOL I will mix it up with what I have here, I do have some spirulina flakes, frozen brine shrimp and the NLS, when those things run out, I will just repurchase those... I will also feed some worms and so forth when supplies are available... Lana Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RD. Posted January 14, 2009 Report Share Posted January 14, 2009 (edited) Frozen brine shrimp is a massive waste of money. 80%+ of the contents are water, and once that water is removed those brine shrimp contain almost zilch for nutrient content. BBS have their place in feeding certain species when they are at the fry stage of their life, but that's where brine shrimp should begin & end. If you feel the need to incorporate a fresh/frozen marine based protein into your fishes diet once they are beyond fry stage, feed krill. Personally I wouldn't feed either/or to mbuna, such as in your tank Boom. Flake food (including NLS flakes) are another huge waste of money for any fish over 3-4 inches. Even with smaller sized fish, pellets are far more nutrient dense, and far more stable in water. The water soluble vitamins & minerals in flake food leach out into the tank water at a tremendous rate. Flakes also require a somewhat higher starch content to keep the ingredients properly bound. With regards to fish getting bored, I have never understood why people feel the need to interject human emotions into their pets. Fish don't get bored of eating any type of food that satisfies their olfactory senses &/or taste buds. While there are some species that are indeed ultra finicky, African cichlids certainly don't fall into that category. Fish also aren't capable of knowing which food is more nutritionally sound, so the fact that they prefer one food, over another, should never influence a fish keepers choice of foods. In the wild Harlequin shrimp eat only the feet of the Starfish, do they get bored of this diet? Do Butterfly fish get bored of only eating coral polyps in the wild? Do Monarch butterfly caterpillar get bored of only eating milkweed? Do Koala bears get sick of eating eucalyptus leaves? Of course not! All of my fish eat the same food day in & day out, and even after years of eating the same food I don't dare open the lids to the tanks when I feed them, unless I'm wearing a raincoat. (I drop the food directly in front of my filter outlets) My fish actually watch me across the room & go into a frenzy when they see me simply pick up the container of food. Bored, sick of it? I don't think so. lol Below is a photo of some African cichlids that are waiting to be fed, that at this point had been eating the same dry food every day for over 2 yrs. Do they look bored to you? I have no problem with anyone who enjoys supplementing their fishes main diet, but please don't feel that you must, for the sake of the fish. Also, choose your foods wisely, some are nothing more than a big waste of money, and in some cases can do more harm than good. Edited January 15, 2009 by RD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JORG Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 Very well said RD --- In my opinion you should buy a good quality pellet food and stick with it. Unless your specific fish requires frozen food leave that stuff at the store--IMO giving fish various treats and stuff causes them stress even if they gulp it up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lana Bollers Posted January 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 Oh okay, I have the frozen brine here I think from July and the flakes are here from then too, I did feed just some spirulina flakes this afternoon... Should I just throw that stuff out? I normally feed the NLS cichlid formula for everything over 2" and for my dolphin fry they get the NLS grow... I love your dolphins! their big ole lips look so kissable...not that I have kissed a fish...well not as an adult anyway...LOL... I just love the dolphins... I can not wait until my lil one's grow up... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RD. Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 I'm not about to tell anyone that they should start throwing food out, the reality is that the vast majority of freshwater fish will get by just fine on any of the numerous commercial foods on the market. Are some better than others, absolutely, just as any other type of pet foods on the market you'll always have your good-better-best categories. This is precisely why whenever one of these discussions come up you'll have various opinions about various products. I'm sure there are tens of thousands of aquarists who swear by Wardley products, and dog owners who swear by Purina dog chow. To each their own, but there are some food stuffs that I do think keepers of African cichlids should avoid, and I simply have never believed that fish must have a rotation of various foods in order to thrive. Give them a high quality food, and spend the rest of your efforts keeping the water quality pristine, and giving the fish a low stress environment, and you'll be golden. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lana Bollers Posted January 15, 2009 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 Right now I will work on being silver....LOL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boom Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 To each their own. Boom :boom: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firestorm Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 I have to agree with Neil on this one. My african cichlids honestly don't care what they eat as long as they're being fed. Everytime I open the lid on the tank, they always make a nice little puddle on the floor, and have gotten me wet before. I have been feeding them mainly the 1mm and 3mm cichlid formula NLS for a year now, and they don't seem to tire from it. I do try to mix up their diet a bit, but just by feeding them other NLS products. I have had alot of frusteration with other products before, my big fish like oscar and JD's seem to just spit most other foods through their gills and it wastes alot. The hikari pellets and the tetra sticks are big ones for being wasted because they break apart so easily, and it's only polluting the water column. Now I feed them the 3mm NLS pellets, and I don't see as much being spit out their gills as with the other brands of foods. Even my non cichlid fish get NLS products and they love it. My rummynose just go crazy for the optimum flakes and the small fish formula pellets. Just think, most of these fish eat either meat or veggies in the wild, so why would you feed them products containing mostly wheat and other starchy products. When I look at foods to compare them, I always make sure the first couple ingredients are something they would naturally eat, not wheat or other grain products. Lana, you can definitely supplement their diet with spirulina wafers, there is nothing wrong with that. I do it sometimes too just to give them a change every now and then. My tropheus duboisi have mostly ever been fed NLS pellets, and rarely get algae wafers, but they are thriving and healthy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
punman Posted January 15, 2009 Report Share Posted January 15, 2009 I spent over $400 on a group of juvenile mail-order tropheus in the late spring and was uncertain about feed as I heard they needed "vegetable matter."I also heard they were a sensitive fish and sometimes hard to maintain or even keep alive. I had been using NLS for my other cichlids and decided to just do the same with these guys. Not one of thiry tropheus got sick or died. In fact they started breeding two months after I got them and they were two inches and under when I got them. So for eight months it has been nothing but New Life Spectrum and they go crazy at feeding time. They don't seemed bored with their food. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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