# Frozen Food for Tanganyika fish, high protein diet or not?



## peter hardman (Apr 23, 2010)

Hi everyone, I would like some advice please on types of foods I should and shouldn't be feeding the following fish. 
I have 8 x Three lined cichlid or giant featherfins (Benthochromis tricoti) and 7x gold caps (Cyatharynx furcifer) from the African lake Tanganyika.

At the moment I'm feeding them New Life Spectrum pellets and Sera granugeen but should I vary there diet with some frozen foods? 
I am getting different answers from shops, some saying that I should be providing them with a high protein diet and others saying that a high protein diet is dangerous and would eventually cause digestive system problems leading to the death of the fish. I'm confused?

Are any of these frozen foods OK or are any a definite NO?
Posaqua pure vegie
Posaqua brine shrimp
Intra mysis
krill

Any suggestions and advice would be greatly appreciated. 
Many thanks.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Per the profiles, you've got one carnivore and one herbivore. I'd go with NLS Cichlid Formula. I feed it to all my fish exclusively as do others on this forum and they thrive.

I'm not commenting on any tankmate compatibility issues, hopefully someone who has kept one or both will chime in with any concerns.


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## greggb (Feb 4, 2010)

I tried the NLS small fish formula with my Lake Tangs (Calvus, Brevis, and Cyps) and they really like it more than the standard NLS cichlid formula. It has around 48% protein. I will say that IME protein-loving fish seem to know the difference and prefer the higher-protein food.

And of course if you gave kids the option they'd have ice cream for dinner every night. Point being their liking it doesn't necessarily mean that's what's best for them. But I like to see my fish happy, and if it didn't cause problems for them I'd give them ice cream every meal


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## BioG (Oct 12, 2008)

That's it, I'm switching from NLS+Dainichi to ice cream for all my tanks!! :lol: I hope they like SPumoni! :lol:


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## jzdanows (Jun 20, 2010)

carnivores need veges as herbivores need meat, so try and accommodate them both. My advice is read the labels,just as you do for your own food, and be sure what you are feeding them.


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## noddy (Nov 20, 2006)

I'm not sure about the brands that you mention but, mysis and cyclops is a good treat for Cyathos.
In fact to get the females in breeding condition, a little protein is reccomended.
I feed my Furcifers nls thera+a, hbh 8 veggie flake, hbh fenzy, cyclops eze flake and frozen mysis when I can find any. The Tricoti will have no problem with these foods. Sounds like a great tank, they should all get along well (providing it's big enough of course).


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## triscuit (May 6, 2005)

I view frozen foods as a treat for my Tang cichlids, all of whom seem to thrive on NLS. For the long term health of aquarium fish, a varied diet of not too much food seems best. As with any food and humans, eating too much is the biggest problem for fish in a confined space. Since they don't have many predators or much space to swim across, our wet pets require much less food than we think.

For my tanks, that means fasting at least one day a week and at least one weekend a month. It also means getting frozen mysis shrimp, green beans, and mosquito larvae on occasion.

Foods I avoid have land-based proteins- blood worms, beef heart, etc. I also avoid adult brine shrimp as not be a good source of nutrients.


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## jlynch76 (Mar 8, 2006)

First what is NLS? As far as what I like and use, is a mixture. I have always liked the Ocean Nutrition Line of food for flakes, they have three different kinds and can suit many fish. I also mix it up to though with frozen MYSIS & Frozen or fresh Brine Shrimp. I grow my own sometimes in a two ltr. I like the MYSIS best but if you have small fish the brine can work out very nice.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

New Life Spectrum Cichlid Forumula.


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