Cichlid not eating

[maveric3030]

i recently bought two new cichlids from a LPS. ones a 3-4 inch bi-colored peacock and the other is a red top aristochromis 5-6 inch. i bought some pellets that the dealer recomended. i got 3mm stick pellets made by xtreme. its been about a week they are not taking any food. anyone have any idea of what i can do that will get them eating?

 

[HUKIT]

Are they making any attempt at food? Mouthing then spitting? Or just not interested? If it's the last one don't worry they'll come around. Remember these fish can for over a month without food so I'm sure they're just stressed.

 

[Gus]

Mine took a couple of days till they started eating. Also, I read somewhere that pellets are not the best thing to feed them. I feed mine this:

Tetra Cichlid Crisps - Food - Fish - PetSmart

and they go totally nuts over it.

 

[Dovii]

Blood worms or shrimp

 

[maveric3030]

im gonna buy a few different types of food to get em goin. i tried frozen bloodworms as well but they just floated away. im probably goin to go with somthin like wat gus said or spirulina flakes. how bout really small feeder fish. then i dont have to worry bout vacuuming up the food they dont eat

 

[Dovii]

Guppy would do it I got small cichlids too I feed them blood worm and baby pellet and sometime live

 

[mfdrookie516]

I would urge you to be very careful in feeding bloodworms, live foods, and any other foods with high protein in that tank. The fish you have require very different diets. Those mbuna will get bloated, and ultimately die if left untreated, with alot of protein in their diet. A hex tank is also usually not a good tank for africans, as most of them are small (less than 75 gallons) and do not allow them the room they need to swim.

The aristochromis will get very big, up to 11". I would suggest rehoming that fish, and deciding on whether you want to keep sa/ca cichlids or africans. They should not be, IMHO, kept together because of the different dietary and environmental needs.

 

[fan4guppy]

The aristochromis will get very big, up to 11". I would suggest rehoming that fish, and deciding on whether you want to keep sa/ca cichlids or africans. They should not be, IMHO, kept together because of the different dietary and environmental needs.

I heavily agree with this too as SA and Africans do have different methods of showing aggression. I can see problems in the future.

With Cichlids we are not dealing with

 

[mfdrookie516]

With Cichlids we are not dealing with

whats that mean?

 

[fan4guppy]

whats that mean?

butterflies have no agression .,..

 

[mfdrookie516]

Oh, gotcha... Dont know what I didn't get it

 

[maveric3030]

the 35 hex tank is long gone. i have a 75 gallon tank with a bi-colored peacock, the aristochromis, electric yellow and a rubber lip pleco, so they have plenty of room. i finally had some success today. both the peackock and the aristochromis ate 1 pellet each out of a couple i dropped in. so for the 2-3 weeks i had em thats 1 pellet for the peacock and the 3rd for the aristochromis. the only other thing they might be eating is the couple of cabomba plants i have. ive noticed parts of the stems are bare. i know cichlids rip up plants in general but are they ok for them to eat?