Hi, I am pretty new to keeping cichlids and I have 6 juvenile peacocks and one mbuna in my tank. I have had them for almost a year now.
Anyway, I started out with a few which my uncle gave me from a batch of babies from his cichlids. When I started, he gave me NLS to feed them, so I started with that. Well, then as I got more fish and researched different foods I got curious. Long story short, I keep a plastic bin with my tank and it now has a bunch of different foods in it. I have:
- NLS - tiny pellets were all they could eat when I first got them
- Omega One Cichlid also like 1mm pellets
- Fluval Bug Bites
- Xtreme Pee Wee
- Hikari Cichlid - bigger pellets I need to crush for them to eat
- Northfin veggie (primarily for mbuna, but peacocks eat it too)
- Northfin Cichlid
In the beginning I was curious to see what they would like best. As it would turn out, they eat it all just the same.
I have been feeding them what they eat right away in 2 minutes twice a day and fast them on Sundays. I have also been rotating pellets at each feeding, so NLS one morning, bug bites in the afternoon, Omega one the next morning, and so on.
Is there any harm in switching up their food like this? Should I be feeding mostly one type? Should I mix them all together and feed a buffet at each feeding? Any input from you seasoned keepers would be appreciated. Eventually, I suppose I will settle on one or a couple of pellets, but I need to use these up first.
Anyway, I started out with a few which my uncle gave me from a batch of babies from his cichlids. When I started, he gave me NLS to feed them, so I started with that. Well, then as I got more fish and researched different foods I got curious. Long story short, I keep a plastic bin with my tank and it now has a bunch of different foods in it. I have:
- NLS - tiny pellets were all they could eat when I first got them
- Omega One Cichlid also like 1mm pellets
- Fluval Bug Bites
- Xtreme Pee Wee
- Hikari Cichlid - bigger pellets I need to crush for them to eat
- Northfin veggie (primarily for mbuna, but peacocks eat it too)
- Northfin Cichlid
In the beginning I was curious to see what they would like best. As it would turn out, they eat it all just the same.
I have been feeding them what they eat right away in 2 minutes twice a day and fast them on Sundays. I have also been rotating pellets at each feeding, so NLS one morning, bug bites in the afternoon, Omega one the next morning, and so on.
Is there any harm in switching up their food like this? Should I be feeding mostly one type? Should I mix them all together and feed a buffet at each feeding? Any input from you seasoned keepers would be appreciated. Eventually, I suppose I will settle on one or a couple of pellets, but I need to use these up first.