NUTS after eating

[TRDfan]

why do my mbuna cichlids go nuts after eating?? I have 2 red zebra, 2 OB red zebra, 2 yellow labs, 2 mainganos

they are pretty civil with each other 90% of the day till feeding time. feeding time and upto 1hr afterwards they go nuts chasing each other around the tank.

They eat new life cichlid pellets 5/7 days, 1 day homemade veggie mix, 1 day bloodwarms/brine shrimp....if that matters

 

[Wy Renegade]

In nature, male Mbuna are territorial, meaning that they set-up and establish territories in order to eliminate competition for food and resources. It could be, depending on how you feed (i.e. if you are feeding in only one spot) that you are forcing the fish to cross these established boundaries at feeding time and as a result they are having to reestablish those boundaries after every feeding. Just a thought.

 

[NyteGTI]

mine do the same thing. the larger 2 of my 3 female auratus starting chasing each other in a very tight circle. Also my dominant yellow lab male will police the tank for a while before going to his cave & hiding waiting for food to drop in front of his cave. surprisingly the Kenyi don't bother each other, they just steal all the food with their huge mouths lol.

and I feed across the whole tank evenly

 

[TRDfan]

ahhhhhh....thanks for the tip guys. Now i know what i might be doing wrong. Im feeding in one spot all the time (where the hood opening is...lol) . maybe this will relieve some tension if i spread it

 

[NyteGTI]

if you have decent flow, your pump/HOB will push the food all over the tank if you don't have a feeding ring. I used to feed in only one spot & the pellets would reach the other side of the tank and start to sink before they all were gobbled up. but generally it's better to try to spread so the mbuna don't need to leave their respective caves/areas

 

[TRDfan]

I turn my filter off when feeding them cuz sometimes the pellets gets pushed down to the bottom of the tank but now i shall spread it around to avoid any violence...lol