Feeding young cichlids

[fishgirl]

I bought some african cichlids about four days ago, thy're about 2cm big, what do I feed them? I've tried mini floating pellets and mini sinking pellets, but they don't appear interested in either. Some advice please! :help:

[Demi ^_^]

Hmmmmm, maybe some finely crushed fish flakes? Or a cube of frozen blood worms? Gosh they must be tiny!

[sailor]

A lot of people including myself are feeding their cichlids a type of food New Life Spectrum also known as NLS. The growth formula works great for small juvenile fish. If they do not eat it right away, wait a few days and try again. Eventually they will eat when they are hungry. It will not hurt them if they do not eat for a couple of days.

[NickFish]

I noticed you've reposted this in the proper section,
Thanks.

[jbeining75]

nls makes some really small pellets. Thats what I feed my african tank, even the firemouths and danio eat em.....

[Cichlid*Newbie]

my cichlids are the same length/age...and they wouldn't eat the pellets..i tried flakes last night and they devoured them!

[jman]

that's about right you can feed brine shrimp when their mouths are big enough

[Cichlid*Newbie]

I had bought some Krill? it stinks so bad though.

[jman]

breaking the krill down is real good but yeah i know i feed my clowns krill everything in that tank loves it and in my planted aquarium when broken down they love it to

[Nick89]

I actually switched to Hikari again as my oscar didnt seem excited around meal time. Now i just show the bag of hikari and he goes crazy. Also, never go by what the back of the food container or bag says and feed your fish how many they can eat within 3 minutes. Thats way too much..if i did that my oscar could easily eat 20 pellets (medium sized ones too) which is way too much for any fish... Just to get an idea a fishes stomach is the size of their eyeball. So only a few pellets is good. I feed my oscar 2-3 medium hikari pellets. It's just a scheme they use so people feed more than nessiscary, and keep buying more and more food quickly.

[toddnbecka]

The diet depends on what type of African cichlids they are. Some species will develop bloat if they're fed too much protein. NLS is actually pretty safe for just about any of them though.

[Pr0eve]

crushed flakes and BBS is what I use only if their month are big enough to eat it.. if not then micro foods will be needed..

[Becikeja]

Hey Soxfan18 - 2-3 medium pellets a day for an Oscar. Seems on the light side. But I agree, with you that 3 minutes worth would be way too much.

[darrenwild]

have you tried newly hatched brine shrimp that is the very best food 4 young cichlids

[sandy_n]

I actually switched to Hikari again as my oscar didnt seem excited around meal time. Now i just show the bag of hikari and he goes crazy. Also, never go by what the back of the food container or bag says and feed your fish how many they can eat within 3 minutes. Thats way too much..if i did that my oscar could easily eat 20 pellets (medium sized ones too) which is way too much for any fish... Just to get an idea a fishes stomach is the size of their eyeball. So only a few pellets is good. I feed my oscar 2-3 medium hikari pellets. It's just a scheme they use so people feed more than nessiscary, and keep buying more and more food quickly.

The same thing applies to feeding dogs!

[sandy_n]

I bought the NLS small fish formula...it is so small it looks like a seasoning that you would sprinkle on your food. It's very small.

[Cichlid*Newbie]

I got some last week as well, they love it...i just feed them that and cucumbers now...all that other food i guess i have to throw out.

[duce]

u should be feeding then baby brine shrimp frozen or u can make them ur self . u can get the eggs in ur lfs v easy to do and closer to their real diet ,
wat cichlids have u got because u have to be careful.if u feed bloodworm to mbuna malawi they can get bloat and die .crushed flakes would be good aswell .its good to vary their diet.
i have noticed that spirulina was v good food if u can get it :19: