# any raw vegetable i should not feed my cichlids?



## cholile

i know some have more nutritional value than others and that the cichlids will enjoy some more than others. but are there any that are dangerous to feed them?


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## Robin

Well of course you should rinse any vegs you put in your tank just the same way you should rinse them for human consumption--maybe more so since the fish may be more sensitive to any residual insecticides left on the vegetables. (Everytime I look at a stalk at broccoli from the grocery store I think, _wow, sure am glad they got all those fat green worms off,_ and then I usually rinse the broccoli again. . . )

Other than that you just want to make sure you remove uneaten and disintegrating pieces of vegetables since like any waste they will eventually contribute to fouling your water. A large piece could find it's way into your filter where it could clog the media and this could potentially be very dangerous for your fish so if you're regularly feeding veggies I would check your filter a little more often.

I'm sure others will post with their favorite cichlid veggies. . .

Robin


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## Gibbs

I would just stik to the usual. Peas, brocolli, lettuce, cucumber, boiled carrot.
As for veges that are bad. I never have really thought about that  
There must be some


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## cholile

Thanks for the advice about washing them and removing what sits as waste. I have a reef-ready tank so no veggies every really clog the filter.

zucchini is actually the one i've given them so far that many, particularly the venustus and the few mbuna i have go for. they weren't big fans of the brocolli.

why boiled as opposed to raw carrots? I've heard everyone talk about peas so I'll have to try that. Are there any particular types of peas which they tend to prefer more than others?


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## cholile

here's a few i never heard anyone mention. radishes? onions? celery?

again, i'm not too concerned whether they're particularly nutritious, but i want to make sure they're safe before feeding them or any vegetable.


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## Gibbs

A raw carrot is hard enough for a human to chew through :lol: 
Imagine a poor little fish chewing on one, it would be like a never ending gobstopper. It would keep them occupied for a while though. Boiling it will soften up a little


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## css virginia

I feed Romaine Lettuce to my cichlids. They seem to relish it and consume it readily and it is gone in a short time. :fish:


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## cholile

What about leaves in general? If you know it isn't dangerous for humans does that mean pulling a green leaf or two off a plant outside is safe for fish after washing it?


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## Gibbs

You mean like grass and weeds and stuff.
I haven't heard of that one, i wouldn't be to inclined to do so, i'm sure there would be some suitable land plants but alot of them contain different types of chemistry that wouldn't be suitable for fish eg. Aleo Vera, euclyptis, saps etc


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## cholile

I didn't mean weeds and grass as much as green leaves from plants. For example, if I confirmed that the plant was safe for consumption for humans (just no one would try it) and/or an animal (e.g. a horse, cow or deer) then would it work for fish?

I too have never heard of it, but figured if green lettuce works well (of all the vegetables i've tried that and zucchiini have been the biggest hits) then why not a green plant? Of course I would never feed any plant leaves to a fish unless I knew they were safe, but I was wondering if there was a simple way to determine if a plant was safe or not. For example, by finding out if it was safe for people or llivestock type animals to eat.


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## Benevolent

For the first time, I fed my cichlids blanched red cabbage. They all lost their minds! Ate every bit. A peacock jumped above the water to get a piece off my finger.


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## Benevolent

They don't like tomato seeds or basil.


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