Feeding Africans

[Convict2161]

How often do you feed your Africans? I've been doing every other day. Is that ok. I've been reading about the bloat issue, some say every 3rd day to minimize possible bloating issues.

 

[mfdrookie516]

As long as you feed a good quality food, not high in protein, bloat isn't usually an issue. I fed my mbuna NLS cichlid formula once every 2-3 days. I think it's all a matter of personal preference and maintenance. Some people would rather feed every day and do a little more gravel vacuuming and such, where others would rather feed more sparingly.

 

[garfy]

I feed once a day.However once a week I remove all my rocks,Cichlid stones,Plants and bog wood and do a 30 - 40% water change with a syphon so I get all the debris out of the tank.The water stays crystal clear and the fish are healthy.Plus my water parameters are always excellent
I have my eye on the fluval fx5 and will probably end up getting 2 of them.Looks like an awesome filter

 

[Convict2161]

I feed once a day.However once a week I remove all my rocks,Cichlid stones,Plants and bog wood and do a 30 - 40% water change with a syphon so I get all the debris out of the tank.The water stays crystal clear and the fish are healthy.Plus my water parameters are always excellent
I have my eye on the fluval fx5 and will probably end up getting 2 of them.Looks like an awesome filter

It would literally kill me if I had to break my tank down for real it would. That's why I may try those Cichlid rock caves, it would make clean up so much easier. It took hours upon hours to get my set up.

I wonder who else if any have issues like that. I mean I try to get what I can but it's so heavily scaped with lots and lots of little nooks and crannies for them I'd just hate to break it all down. I know one day I'll have to do it but just not looking forward to it. I wonder if that's why on YouTube a lot of tanks look rather plain...

 

[garfy]

Maybe that's why so it's easier to clean.Some of the debris always gets into the sand so I have to stir that up a bit as well to get it all.Takes about 2 hours a pop but it's well worth the effort

 

[mfdrookie516]

I would do something similar every month or two. I'd clean one spot, pile up all the rocks, clean the rest, then rescape. I had a LOT of rock to move too. I never had an issue with water quality, and I didn't make a big effort to vac anywhere that wasn't easy to get to on a weekly basis.

 

[garfy]

Another thing lol do you have any idea how much decoration I would need to fill my tank like yours haha

 

[Convict2161]

Another thing lol do you have any idea how much decoration I would need to fill my tank like yours haha

LoL a truck load!!

 

[garfy]

Yup and a shed load of money lol

 

[Convict2161]

I would do something similar every month or two. I'd clean one spot, pile up all the rocks, clean the rest, then rescape. I had a LOT of rock to move too. I never had an issue with water quality, and I didn't make a big effort to vac anywhere that wasn't easy to get to on a weekly basis.

Same here. I do what I can where I can reach. I don't make a huge ordeal out of it. I test and do my water changes.

 

[Convict2161]

Yup and a shed load of money lol

Bet it would look sweet though! I mean it looks awesome now.

 

[garfy]

I feel that I have to vac big time every week lol it's just me and I don't see it doing any harm but it just plays on my mind that there could be ammonia producing debris in that sand.It has to go lol

 

[mfdrookie516]

Or a creek? Mine were all free

 

[garfy]

Those all real rocks?

 

[mfdrookie516]

Yep, every one of them. I estimated it to be 300-350lbs.

 

[garfy]

Jeez that's a lot of rock!!!! What size is the tank?

 

[mfdrookie516]

5' 150g. But... back on topic...

 

[Convict2161]

Nice tank man...

 

[joejeff]

The bloat issue can be elevated by soaking food so it doesn't float when you give it to fish. I feed me Africans a relatively small amounts everyday. The cleaning are an unfortunate burden of rocks. I think you have to do the big clean once a month. The weekly's don't require full clean out. But a lot of stuff can get trapped and decay.

 

[Mogurako]

The bloat issue can be elevated by soaking food so it doesn't float when you give it to fish. I feed me Africans a relatively small amounts everyday. The cleaning are an unfortunate burden of rocks. I think you have to do the big clean once a month. The weekly's don't require full clean out. But a lot of stuff can get trapped and decay.

Soaking pellets doesn't do anything for Mbuna, they have very long intestinal tracts that are designed to process algae and do best on vegetables and low protein pellets like NLS.