# Recommended Food?



## Electricyellow3 (Nov 11, 2017)

I currently have some African cichlids and South America cichlids such as electric yellow lab, pink convicts, firemouth, ob peacock, electric blue acara, red zebra, and kenyi and was wondering what food would be beneficial for all of them. I am currently using tetracolor tropical granules and thought about switching to NLS cichlid formula. Would this be a good choice and if so/not do you recommend anything else? Thanks


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## DutchAJ (Dec 24, 2016)

I use NLS based off of a lot of recommendations from members here.


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## Electricyellow3 (Nov 11, 2017)

DutchAJ said:


> I use NLS based off of a lot of recommendations from members here.


So the NLS cichlid formula seems to be the one. I heard also that if you feed them blood worms or brine shrimp it can make them aggressive. Not sure if that is true. I'm sure they get tired of boring pellets all the time.


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## DutchAJ (Dec 24, 2016)

I've never fed blood worms or brine shrimp to my mbuna, but they always attack the food like they're starving, so they don't seem to be getting tired of it yet!


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## Electricyellow3 (Nov 11, 2017)

DutchAJ said:


> I've never fed blood worms or brine shrimp to my mbuna, but they always attack the food like they're starving, so they don't seem to be getting tired of it yet!


This is true. My friends are always like you must be starving them. I feed them once a day. They are just naturally hungry lol


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## BlueSunshine (Jul 13, 2014)

These are the foods I can recommend. The fish love them, colors are great and growth is excellent.
Extreme Aquatic Foods- cichlid peewee
Northfin Cichlid Formula and Northfin Veggie Formula

The difference is I noticed less fish waste with the Northfin Foods


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## Electricyellow3 (Nov 11, 2017)

BlueSunshine said:


> These are the foods I can recommend. The fish love them, colors are great and growth is excellent.
> Extreme Aquatic Foods- cichlid peewee
> Northfin Cichlid Formula and Northfin Veggie Formula
> 
> The difference is I noticed less fish waste with the Northfin Foods


Great, thanks! I may try both just to see what works best. I've just heard a lot of good things about NLS


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## punman (Oct 24, 2003)

I used New Life Spectrum and nothing else for 13 years. Loved it and still do.
Two years ago I tried NorthFin. It looks good for ingredients and my fish like it so I now use both.


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## Old Newbie (Feb 18, 2017)

Electricyellow3 said:


> I currently have some African cichlids and South America cichlids such as electric yellow lab, pink convicts, firemouth, ob peacock, electric blue acara, red zebra, and kenyi and was wondering what food would be beneficial for all of them. I am currently using tetracolor tropical granules and thought about switching to NLS cichlid formula. Would this be a good choice and if so/not do you recommend anything else? Thanks


Are all of these fish in the same tank? The Yellow Lab, Red Zebra and Kenyi are all vegitarian and the rest are omnivore. The Mbuna (vegetarians) may not do well on a generic "cichlid" diet.


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## Electricyellow3 (Nov 11, 2017)

Old Newbie said:


> Electricyellow3 said:
> 
> 
> > I currently have some African cichlids and South America cichlids such as electric yellow lab, pink convicts, firemouth, ob peacock, electric blue acara, red zebra, and kenyi and was wondering what food would be beneficial for all of them. I am currently using tetracolor tropical granules and thought about switching to NLS cichlid formula. Would this be a good choice and if so/not do you recommend anything else? Thanks
> ...


Yes they are all in the same tank. Had them for about 8 months now. That's why i was trying to find something that would benefit all of them. I read that the NLS contains protein and vegetables for different varieties. Any input would be appreciated as I don't have another big tank to separate them.


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## Old Newbie (Feb 18, 2017)

I would feed a combination of foods making sure the Mbuna are getting something like NLS Algae Max regularly.


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## noddy (Nov 20, 2006)

Electricyellow3 said:


> Old Newbie said:
> 
> 
> > Electricyellow3 said:
> ...


NLS and Northfin are great foods for both omnivores and herbivores. I feed NLS thera+A, Northfin cichlid and Northfin veggie to all my fish.


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## james1983 (Dec 23, 2007)

NLS will work for everyone, I used thra-A in all of my tanks. 1mm or 3mm depending on fish size.


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## Electricyellow3 (Nov 11, 2017)

Great, thanks everyone! I'll go ahead and order the NLS cichlid formula then.


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## Electricyellow3 (Nov 11, 2017)

Just ordered the NLS cichlid formula and the Thera A as well. Hope they like it!


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## fish_gazer (Nov 9, 2017)

I have New Life Spectrum (floating and sinking), NorthFin (veggie and cichlid), Omega One Cichlid (sinking) and Tetra floating pellets. And which do my fish go bat **** crazy for? The Tetra pellets!

It's very upsetting because Tetra was the one I began with and is supposedly an inferior product, so I have spent a ton of money on all of these other brands for no good reason.

They do like the NLS sinking pellets, but at 1mm, they just don't seem to do the job for my fish who are all 4 inches plus.

Blah.


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## Electricyellow3 (Nov 11, 2017)

fish_gazer said:


> I have New Life Spectrum (floating and sinking), NorthFin (veggie and cichlid), Omega One Cichlid (sinking) and Tetra floating pellets. And which do my fish go bat #%$& crazy for? The Tetra pellets!
> 
> It's very upsetting because Tetra was the one I began with and is supposedly an inferior product, so I have spent a ton of money on all of these other brands for no good reason.
> 
> ...


Yeah I'm hoping that my fish like the NLS but I did get it for a good price on Amazon. We shall see how they like it.


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## punman (Oct 24, 2003)

You often hear about how tropheus need a strict vegetable diet. I had tropheus for three years and fed only NLS cichlid formula and never lost an adult fish.
I did not keep my tropheus with other fish. But that was not for dietary reasons. It had more to do with fish personalities and stress. All my tanks got NLS.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

fish_gazer said:


> They do like the NLS sinking pellets, but at 1mm, they just don't seem to do the job for my fish who are all 4 inches plus.


I feed the 1mm to all my fish through 8 inches. I bought a larger pellet size 1X because I acquired a full size borleyi who would not eat. I suspect he had a vision problem.


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## punman (Oct 24, 2003)

I am using some 4 mm size pellets for my adult Frontosas (6.5 - 11 inches). Not saying they would turn away from 1 mm but I feel it is less number of pellets to put into the tank - so less pellets getting lost in the rocks or sucked into filter and so on. This way I can feed them four times faster and they find the food quicker.

Pellets too big are not good either though, as fish too small will break off pieces and make a mess.


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## fish_gazer (Nov 9, 2017)

DJRansome said:


> I feed the 1mm to all my fish through 8 inches.


Yes, it was after reading a post from you that I ordered that particular brand and size on the spot. My boys like it and eat it, it just seems to be scattershot. Whereas with the 2mm floating pellets, it's boom, boom, boom - done.

I tried the floating 2mm pellets from NLS, but they spit it out. It's weird. I don't know what to make of that.


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## Electricyellow3 (Nov 11, 2017)

punman said:


> I am using some 4 mm size pellets for my adult Frontosas (6.5 - 11 inches). Not saying they would turn away from 1 mm but I feel it is less number of pellets to put into the tank - so less pellets getting lost in the rocks or sucked into filter and so on. This way I can feed them four times faster and they find the food quicker.
> 
> Pellets too big are not good either though, as fish too small will break off pieces and make a mess.


Yeah I deal with that now. They eat but spit out particles so I figured it may have been too small for them. Can't wait for NLS to arrive and see how they like it.


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## Electricyellow3 (Nov 11, 2017)

DJRansome said:


> fish_gazer said:
> 
> 
> > They do like the NLS sinking pellets, but at 1mm, they just don't seem to do the job for my fish who are all 4 inches plus.
> ...


You must be the infamous DJR everyone speaks of on here. I'm glad to get some of your knowledge! Thank you


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