Good allround african chiclid pellet ?

[Toddster180]

Hi , I have a mixed African chiclid tank , with mbuna haps and peacocks , what is a good all round pellet to feed them ? Thanks

 

[Mogurako]

New Life spectrum Thera-A and Hikari Seaweed extreme

 

[Andrew McFadden]

I feed hikari and a flake food made by ( if I remember right) omega one veggie

 

[Convict2161]

NLS Thera A, Hikari and Serna are all good products.

 

[Mrc8858]

I feed NLS thera A and hikari gold/excel

 

[msumpter87]

Hikari gold has worked the best for me

 

[MetalHead88]

New life spectrum is great. Hikari gold is made more so for american and contains a lot of protein which can lead to african bloat. Remember mbuna are herbivores.

 

[Andrew McFadden]

EDIT to my last post

Hikari sinking cichlid Excel the bag looks like this and I've had no problems with it. I tryed the nls and I'm pretty sure it made my water way more cloudy then hikari. Just my opinion

 

[Mrc8858]

EDIT to my last post

Hikari sinking cichlid Excel the bag looks like this and I've had no problems with it. I tryed the nls and I'm pretty sure it made my water way more cloudy then hikari. Just my opinion

+1 NLS is much more messy then the hikari but my cichlids seem to enjoy the NLS more all around.

 

[Mogurako]

NLS doesn't really make the water cloudy persay they just break down faster because they don't really expand in water. Where as the hikari pellet expand allot then break apart ( in the fishes stomach) which can be bad for the fish if they eat to much.

I have noticed there are some particles in the water when NLS is fed but it goes away as quickly as it appears, never bothered me much or negatively affected the aquarium.

Moral of the story is cichlids are messy eaters, so get over it! That's why we filter 8-10x total volume per hour ya know?!

 

[msumpter87]

New life spectrum is great. Hikari gold is made more so for american and contains a lot of protein which can lead to african bloat. Remember mbuna are herbivores.

I keep a peacocks and haps mostly and they are carnivores so gold works fine. But yes I do agree a lot of protein for mbuna is bad.

 

[Fishie]

Omega 1 is pretty good low protein.

 

[tgodwin90]

If you're going to use pellets, soak them first. It will prevent the coarse pellets from irritating its insides and they will expand in their stomach if you don't. Anything low protein, no warm blooded animal ingredients. No blood worms.

 

[HUKIT]

If you're going to use pellets, soak them first.

There are five main factors that remove or destroy nutrients in food: heat, light, water, oxygen, and time. Allowing pellets to pre-soak deteriorates the water soluble vitamins that are being held together with the binding agents, when the pellets starts to crumble is when the bidding agents are compromised.

More importantly is choosing the correct pellet size that allows the fish to swallow the pellet whole, not chewing which again allows the pellet to release vitamins.

Because its not just high proteins that cause bloat, it's where the proteins are derived from. Just because it's high in protien doesn't mean it will cause gastrointestinal issues.

Proteins are made of amino acids which contain nitrogen, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, so as the fish is breaking these non-native foods down they in turn make a lot more nitrogenous waste which as everyone knows will effect water quality...another cause of Bloat.

The idea of excess protein causing bloat, or any type of gastrointestinal issues in herbivores, is completely inaccurate. Poor quality protein, as well as other hard to digest ingredients, can cause bloat, etc., but easily digestible high quality proteins will never cause any dietary issues.

 

[tgodwin90]

The loss of nutrients is negligible. I got all of that info from Ad Konings' Enjoying Cichlids. Mbuna should definitely have a strict diet as there digestive system is literally a straight line.

 

[HUKIT]

The loss of nutrients is negligible. I got all of that info from Ad Konings' Enjoying Cichlids. Mbuna should definitely have a strict diet as there digestive system is literally a straight line.

I'm sorry but I disagree, there have been all sorts of things that have changed with regards to the advancement of fish nutrition in the last 10 years since that book was released.

I think you'll fine very few experienced cichlid keepers/breeders that presoak pellets.

 

[tgodwin90]

Maybe you're right. When I feed them I use flakes just because it's easier to control how much each fish eats. When i use the pellets my alpha eats more than half of them. Then he pollutes my tank with long stringy waste just an hour later. But to get back on subject, omega one and hikari are both really good brands. They both have an extensive selection of color enhancing, growth enhancing....etc... its your preference. I've heard of people just mixing the pellets(sinking-floating) that seems like a good bet.

 

[Lady_Alia]

There are five main factors that remove or destroy nutrients in food: heat, light, water, oxygen, and time. Allowing pellets to pre-soak deteriorates the water soluble vitamins that are being held together with the binding agents, when the pellets starts to crumble is when the bidding agents are compromised.

More importantly is choosing the correct pellet size that allows the fish to swallow the pellet whole, not chewing which again allows the pellet to release vitamins.

Because its not just high proteins that cause bloat, it's where the proteins are derived from. Just because it's high in protien doesn't mean it will cause gastrointestinal issues.

Proteins are made of amino acids which contain nitrogen, carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, so as the fish is breaking these non-native foods down they in turn make a lot more nitrogenous waste which as everyone knows will effect water quality...another cause of Bloat.

The idea of excess protein causing bloat, or any type of gastrointestinal issues in herbivores, is completely inaccurate. Poor quality protein, as well as other hard to digest ingredients, can cause bloat, etc., but easily digestible high quality proteins will never cause any dietary issues.

This is an EXCELLENT explanation!! Thank you for posting it!

 

[Mogurako]

I keep a peacocks and haps mostly and they are carnivores so gold works fine. But yes I do agree a lot of protein for mbuna is bad.

I am going to have to fully disagree with this one. Sayings that all the haps "carnivores' isn't all that accurate, fish can typically broken down into more distinct categories. Haps can be roughly broken down into these categories:

• Piscivores: Such as Dimidiochromis compressiceps
• Substratum sifters: Such as Fossorochromis rostratus
• Detriivores/scavengers: Such as Cyrtocara moorii.
• Insectivores/crustacean eaters: Such as Lethrinops furcifer

Some of the haps are specialized predators/piscivores but a good portion of their diet still includes detritus made up of plant matter/algae, larva, ect when prey is not available. Don Conkel has stated ( I believe it was at a talk he did at ACA or CCA) that even fish that are know to be primarily Piscivores will still have a gut content of up to 60% detritus. Most of the food we feed our fish now is way to high in poorly derived proteins. Fish from all continents would be better off with a higher quality protein in smaller amounts and more fiber. I Believe the food Conkel feeds fish is roughly 14% fiber 22% protein and he is feeding fish like festae, Dovii, Trimacs and umbriferus all of which are large predators.

 

[Toddster180]

Thanks for the input , I think am gonna go for hikari gold and excel and mix them to get a balanced diet for the different species , also what fruit and veg can they eat from home ? I used cucumber slices and even a grape what about bananas ? Don't wanna cause them problems and give them something they not allowed. Cheers