Need Some Advice! Help...

[sunsplash76]

Hello All~
Well, I think I am having trouble with the food I feed my large cichlids. I have been feeding them hotmouth cichlid sticks. The problem is this: I break the stick into smaller peices for them, but they still manage to spit out a zillion particles of it into the tank. I also have medium size pellets which is a bit neater. Anyways one of my cichlids wasn't eating and that is unusual, so I tested the ammonia. It registered on the chart which isn't good. I did another partial water change since the reading and have not fed them anything. I am thinking of doing another small change of water today as well. Could it be the food particles that is causing the ammonia? Should I switch to flakes instead? seems that would be neater. I just thought the stix would be heartier. HM.... They didn't care for the freeze dried shrimp I got. What food should I feed my african cichlids that will satisfy them and not dirty the tank and spike the ammonia? Anyone have cichlids and what do you feed yours? Live food a good option? They seem to be doing much better now, but I don't want this problem to come back. Also, should I go buy some of that ammonia lock stuff I saw in the pet store? It converts the ammonia into nitrates or something right? I still need to learn about that stuff... HELP>>>>>> ~Melissa~

 

[CRaZeeeBiTcHisH]

overfeeding will cause a lot of stuff to rot in the tank basically , and release ammonia--how much and how often are you feeding them? is your tank overstocked? how long has it been setup?definately do what you have to do to keep the ammonia at a tolerable level for the fish , and some are more sensitive than others...., but i don't like to use any more chemicals than i have to--your tank sounds like it isn't fully cycled or the fish are way overstocked or way overfed..., do an awesome gravel cleaning, move all the deco to clean under it...and do your partial water change--you do need low levels of ammonia to cycle through ..let me know if i am way off base here--perhaps with a little more info we can get to the problem....best wishes for your fishes!

 

[fishfreek]

I will chime in only because I know of her tank setup.

Sunsplash is the member with the 55 gal tank that had comets in the tank first and then finally got 2 cichlids. Just this last week she got the blue cichlid posted on another post.

I belive its a combo of things. First its still a new tank not fully 2 months old yet I belive. This means that the tank is not finished fully cycling. In fact a new tank is not fully mature for several months.

Overfeeding is probably the culprit and the additional bioload of the third fish.

I would suggest feeding once per day and cut the amount fed down also. A well fed fish can go many days with out additional food being added to the tank.

Unless you have fish that are skin and bones there is no real fear of starving them to death.

 

[sunsplash76]

Thank you both for the advice! I really appreciate it. I think I was over-zealous in my feeding, though I thought I was being stingy :? I was feeding twice a day with two cichlid stix and a pellet or two. The stix are no more because they would be spit out into a million peices. I went out and bought cichlid flakes which should be much neater. I also added the proper amount of ammonia lock to make sure the problem is fixed. I will do a water change in a few days. Adding the ammonia lock though it gets rid of the problem will still have the test show up as having ammonia still. I have not fed them since yesterdays ammonia detection and I will not feed them till tomorrow night. Now that aaron said the fish won't starve to death, I will cut the amount I feed.

The tank is indeed only a few months old and I have 3 fish in it. The third fish was just added. I hope I learned a valuable feeding lesson and others should be cautious and learn from it. Thanks to you both.
~Melissa~

 

[reefrunner69]

The stix are no more because they would be spit out into a million peices. I went out and bought cichlid flakes which should be much neater.

Sorry, hate to be the one to break it to you (I was hoping Crazy would) there is no such animal with cichlids. They are messy eaters, plain and simple. The only cure for the mess is water changes with gravel vacuuming. I would recommend a python type water changing system (Lee's makes a version that is cheaper), makes them a hell of a lot easier, which means your more likely to do them often

 

[Hara]

I have 5 freshwater tanks, ALL of them, including the ones with cichlids, get a ground up beef heart mixture. My fish are all healthy, happy, active and reproducing. I highly recommend going through the little bit of extra work (cheaper in the long run) to make your own food. My fish get fed twice a day and I have never had any ammonia show on the test kits(after cycling that is).

 

[Anemoneman]

WOW 8O
Great looking fish. I love the color of the last one. What do you call it?

 

[reefrunner69]

Hara, you do know that red bellied pacu, although a member of the pirrhana family, is not a carnivore, right? They live in the amazon river eating fruits that have fallen from the trees to the river. They require vegetation in their diets. I hope you are adding vegetable matter to your homemade food...Oh yeah, 5", you ain't seen nothing yet, that fish get's upto about 2'-3' in length. Good luck!

 

[Hara]

yep, that is true for the Pacu, but believe it or not, that is a Silver Dollar.
And yes, there is some veggie matter in that mix.
Here is another pic of him, then you can see a little bit better.

 

[Hara]

That last pic is of a German Ram.....he knows he is good lookin too, silly fish

 

[reefrunner69]

Okie dokey, still looks like a red bellied pacu to me, but I'll take your word for it. You aren't taking the LFS's word on it, are you? I hope not, cause small pacus look just like small silver dollars, until they get about 3-4" n length, that's when they take on a longer rather than round appearance. Silver dollars stay round. Nice fish, either way.