# Food Question Survey



## Cichlasomatic (May 13, 2005)

Hey, I have a 150G (plus large wet dry) packed with Mostly Peacocks and other Haplochromines. After having a bad experience with a bad batch of New Life Spectrum pellets. I had switched to feeding Ocean Nutrition sinking African Cichlid veggie pellets and Ocean Nutrition Flake as my staples and I have since enjoyed good results. I'm just curious what other people are feeding their Aulonocara. Before switching I was feeding Ocean Nutrition Flakes with New Life Pellets. The New Life grew fungus as did the rest of the batch at my Fish Store where I work. Around the same time my Peacocks started getting Bloat and many died. I hadn't previously seen Aulonocara bloating, just some of my early Tropheus years ago. I was also feeding shrimp pellets sporadically, which I stopped when bloating occured. I was wondering if it was the bad New Life or the shelly coating of the shrimp pellets that most likely bloated my fish, or was it the combination? Anyhow just curious what people are using and if anyone had experience similar issues.


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## corrie22 (Oct 11, 2008)

My fish all all too big for flake, so I don't use that.

You know, any food will mold when it gets wet. But a loose pellet like NLS and Dainichi, will mold in a hurry.

Resist the temptation to over feed, no matter how much they beg. Overfeeding will bloat a lot a fish that you would normally not think of.

I recently ran out of the food that I normally feed, so I thought while I was waiting on it to come in, I would try some different foods.

Tried a couple of NLS, Lord did that food make a mess.

Order a bag of Dainichi, if I thought the NLS was nasty, I hadn't seen anything until I tried Dainichi. Even a bigger mess, and forget trying to soak it ahead of time. By the time you feed it, you might as well pour a mud mess in the tank.

Went back to my old food as soon as more came in.
Clean, does not melt and fall apart, gives great color, and small enough that all the different size fish eat it.

Xtreme aquatic foods cichlid diet

(the preceeding was a paid anouncement - are you guys listening? I need a discount! LOL)


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## F8LBITEva (Nov 9, 2007)

My fish eat the food so fast there isnt time for it to get cloudy.


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## corrie22 (Oct 11, 2008)

I feed pellets, so I try to soak it for a minute or two first.


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## Joea (May 25, 2004)

It's likely the seals on the NLS were somehow compromised and moisture got in, which caused the mold. Don't judge the food on this unfortunate and uncommon incident; it's an excellent food. I feed it to all my fish, exclusively.

Bloat isn't always caused by diet. More often than not, it has nothing to do with diet but rather, other circumstances such as stress. There's no way of knowing what caused your fish to get bloat without knowing the history of the tank, fish and water parameters, as well as diet.

Soaking NLS isn't necessary. I've never had any messy experience with it either.


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## Dewdrop (Nov 20, 2007)

NLS is the only food I've ever used. I don't see where it's messy either, but that could be because I've never used anything else :lol: . Maybe you are over feeding? I feed alot but I also try to feed real slow so not much at all makes it to the bottom of the tank. I have noticed that at the bottom of the can, some of the food is kinda powder. I guess from getting pinches out some breaks up and settles to the bottom of the can. I use this powder to feed fry. Saves me from smashing up pellets for them and puts it to good use :wink: .


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## venustus19 (Aug 30, 2007)

i also use NLS... before getting into the hobby more, i just used like wardley's you get from the big box stores... now i use NLS, and my fish are much more colorful, and i also do not notice a cloudy mess either... i put 2 good sized pinches of 1mm pellets in, and now with my little guys in the tank as well, i put 1 good pinch of the NLS(not sure what it is called) crushed/baby formula... the food is usually gone within a minute or 2, and water stays pretty clear... i love it.


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## hey_wood1981 (Apr 7, 2004)

corrie22 said:


> Order a bag of Dainichi, if I thought the NLS was nasty, I hadn't seen anything until I tried Dainichi. Even a bigger mess, and forget trying to soak it ahead of time. By the time you feed it, you might as well pour a mud mess in the tank.


you aren't supposed to pre-soak dainichi. also, i noticed it didn't take as much at feeding time to satisfy my peacocks. i used it with great results. it helped bring out colors in sub-dominant males.

quote from dainichi website-"Pre-soaking washes out vitamins, color enhancers, other nutrients, and lowers the performance of the food. All Dainichi foods have a low inclusion of starches to prevent excessive swelling in the digestive tract. Pre-soaking of Dainichi cichlid food is absolutely not required nor beneficial!"


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## jordanroda (May 4, 2006)

I use Nls, tank never cloudy...cuz my trophes eat it way to fast... :lol:


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## corrie22 (Oct 11, 2008)

Now they tell me! LOL

Everything you read, says to soak pellets before you feed them.

Thanks hey_wood!


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## Joea (May 25, 2004)

corrie22 said:


> Everything you read, says to soak pellets before you feed them.


Old school thinking. It was believed that by soaking pellets, the food was easier for the fish to digest and therefore wouldn't lead to bloat. It had a small level of merit but the fact was that most pellet foods years ago (and many today) were made with cheap fillers that were hard to digest in the first place. High-nutrition foods like NLS and Dainichi don't have the cheap fillers and are easily digested.


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## morningsky (Apr 22, 2008)

I feed NLS also, but ran out recently and decided to try a cheaper food and one of my fish became very sick. From now on I am sticking to NLS my fish love it and I have never had a problem with it making a mess.


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