I have 4 electric yellow labs, 2 cobalt blue zebras, and 1 red blotch zebra. I have had them for about 7 days now. I have been feeding them twice a day. about 40 pellets in the morning ( about 5 pellets each and they are the very very small gold cichlid pellets) I then feed them after I have dinner or just before I go to bed. I have fed them frozen brine shrimp twice within the 7 days. I noticed about 3-4 days ago that one yellow cichlid looked a bit fat. I now notice that my red blotch looks like its going to explode and 2-3 other cichlids are also very fat. Is this bloat??? How do I fix it? I have no clue what I am doing???? I will try and get a picture
Cichlid bloat?
- Thread starter mariah
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CameronCade
Aquarium Advice Freak
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- Dec 29, 2012
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I think your feeding them to much. Just my two cents.
yeah i am prob feeding to much. Should I wait it out and not feed tomorrow until like noon and only a little bit and see if they get smaller?? if not then is it bloat??
Mumma.of.two
Aquarium Advice Obsessed
Stop feeding them brine shrimp. Its not good for them and they don't need it IMO. Fast them for a few days then try feed them some greens such as blanched, squashed, deshelled peas or zucchini. It's also a good idea to fast your fish once or twice a week. I agree that you are feeding them too much.
I am cutting the pellets down to about 16 -20 and only once a day. I fed peas tonight with no skin. Should i give them just 3 peas again tomorrow? Then fast them and start with the pellets after that? I was maybe thinking of doing the epsom salt but how do i do it?
Mix the epsom salt with 3 cups of water and pour slowly into tank. Don't redose unless you are changing water, then redose what you took out only. I wouldn't feed them tomorrow. Let them...clear out their systems and do a water change soon.
Malawi Freak
Aquarium Advice Addict
Don't feed them for a few days. There is no need to feed them twice a day also.
I am adding epsom salt tomorrow and only feeding once a day. Fed them peas last night and basically all of them are skinny but the orange big one is still big. I am not feeding for 2 days (so one more day) and then I will fast them once a week at least and feed them peas once a week or once every two weeks. They have pellet food, frozen brine shrimp, i have freeze dried bollodworms but i dont really like them, and can i feed them flaked tropical nutrafin max with omega 3 and yeast??
I think you feed too much, just like the others have stated. It's bad for fish and bad for your water quality. I would feed lightly every other day and feed peas once a week. And no more live or frozen black worms. I've heard many African cichlid owners experiencing trouble with this protein rich food. Also they come with nasties. I only own African and its a parrotfish. I sometime only feed him once every 4 days with food that is low in protein, and he's 4 years old!
bigbanker
Aquarium Advice Addict
Please keep in mind that the brine shrimp and blood worms contribute to bloat. "Meaty" foods should not be fed to africans
Okay i won't feed brine anymore. I also heard though that feeding just pellets and flakes with bloat them... from everything being dry
Okay, can they then have tropical fish flakes?
bigbanker
Aquarium Advice Addict
Oops I meant to say Africans! Most flakes and veggies should be fine
I feed mine tropical fish flakes once in a while, i know a man that only feeds his tropical flakes and hes had his years!
I feed mine a frozen malawi mix thats all vegetables once a week, put a slice of cucumber in every day and sprinkle a few NT labs tropical food pellets for the smaller ones every other day, someone correct me if im wrong but this works for me. I have ordered some new life spectrum and spirulina flakes after reading thats the best thing for them ideally but ill see how they work for me.
I also drop a slice of boiled potato in there ever few days for my pleco
I feed mine a frozen malawi mix thats all vegetables once a week, put a slice of cucumber in every day and sprinkle a few NT labs tropical food pellets for the smaller ones every other day, someone correct me if im wrong but this works for me. I have ordered some new life spectrum and spirulina flakes after reading thats the best thing for them ideally but ill see how they work for me.
I also drop a slice of boiled potato in there ever few days for my pleco
erikmoseley
Aquarium Advice Addict
Also from one newb to another... I'm feeding NLS Thera a pellet and spiralina flake but (I know it's common sense) just make sure you don't feed them too much of "the correct food" like I'd been doing. I now am trying to get ammonia back from .25 to zero. I think sometimes we (i did!) get the mindset that hey they're supposed to eat this, I did my research, and they eat it all every time I put some in and think its ok. Only creating problems for ourselves in this exciting hobby! Best of luck to you
Okay the things their food is going to consist of will be peas, cichlid gold pellets, nutrafin max plus yeast and omaga 3 flakes, and maybe some algea waffers since my plecos need them
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