# Malawi cichlid diet



## Metroballah (Aug 26, 2010)

I currently feed a mix between Ocean Nutrician : omni flakes and veggie flakes and every other day feed a cube of frozen Hikari Spirulina Brine Shrimp. Also put in a small sheet of green seaweed for a treat. I feed them 3 to 4 times daily. Only as much as they will consume in 2 mins.

Is this up to par?


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## smellsfishy1 (May 29, 2008)

Too much food, not only that but too much open food containers.
Seaweed seems messy with little benefit and if your fish are large I would say brine shrimp is a no go.
Krill would be a much better option if you want to go frozen treat or even freeze dried.
Also consider switching over to pellets for less mess and more value in food weight.

They should have one single staple food that provides them with all that they need.
Having multiple containers open at any given time will result in nutrition loss from air exposure.
Pellets offer the best value and is easier to gauge how much food they eat.

If they are aggressive eaters and eat fast try once or twice a day whatever they can consume in less than a minute.
Two minute meals are too long and 3 or 4 times daily is over kill.
Consider making two smaller meals or one moderate sized meal.


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## Metroballah (Aug 26, 2010)

Why no brine shrimp? I will take your advice on less feeding. But these fish are insane.. They flip out when I walk by and when I do feed, it's like blood in the water for sharks... Do you have a specific brand name you recommend?


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## shane2sweet1 (Aug 4, 2010)

I sometimes use pacific plankton as a treat once a week or so, my mbunas refuse to eat it but my haps seem to enjoy it. Is that bad? I don't know, if they like it I suppose they will keep getting it a treat unless its really bad for them. But I've doing it for about 9 or 10 months and no ones dead.


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## soulpride (Aug 30, 2009)

NLS pellet 1mm cichlid formula. brine shrimp is too small for sub-adult to adult cichlids it will take alot of brine shrimp to feed sub-adult to adult cichlids. but good for fry and juvenile . NLS pellets is for all type of cichlids such as herbivore, carnivore, and omnivore all in one package and can still feed them treat once a week or once every 2 week :thumb: .


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## Metroballah (Aug 26, 2010)

I'm not familiar with the abbreviation "NLS"


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

New Life Spectrum. And brine shrimp too often provides too much protein, I usually give them a cube once every 2-3 weeks.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

There are probably close to a thousand different Malawi cichlids. Their diets vary widely, from fish that are nearly pure herbivores, to carnivores eating other cichlids, and everything in between. A diet that might be appropriate for one Malawi cichlid, could kill another.

To determine what is an appropriate diet for your cichlids, we need to determine which Malawi cichlids you are keeping.


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## Metroballah (Aug 26, 2010)

I have 2 electric yellows, 2 auratus, 1 orange zebra, 1 albino zebra, 1 bumblebee, and 1 Blue johanni


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## Number6 (Mar 13, 2003)

*Metroballah*
you could drop back to just the omni flakes and you'd still be set.

Fish do not need "treats". :thumb:


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## soulpride (Aug 30, 2009)

NLS pellet will work for this group and if you want to feed brine shrimp once a week or once every 2 week will be ok.


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## torin32 (May 24, 2010)

These fish should only be fed spirulina flakes or pellets any meaty food can cause bloat mostly mamal meat I would say brine once in a while should be ok. In the wild they would eat mostly green veggies of rocks that is why there is no need for plecos in a mbuna tank.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

torin32 said:


> In the wild they would eat mostly green veggies of rocks.


A generalization that is plain false for some on his/her fish list.


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## torin32 (May 24, 2010)

mbuna eat mostly spirulina algea and larva insects in the water. What else do they eat please explain if I am incorrect. I wouldnt want to be giving false info to others? Here is one of many articles i have researched. This was taken right from this webpage lol. Not trying to sound like a arse just trying to educate myself and others. I dont want to give false info.

Foremost, Mbuna are algae-grazing cichlids. In the wild, they spend the hours of the day scraping algae found covering the rocky substrate. Mbuna have long intestines (4x their body length) designed to extract the proteins and carbohydrates from the hard-to-digest algae.

Website http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/feeding_mbuna.php its from this site.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

torin32 said:


> mbuna eat mostly spirulina algea and larva insects in the water. What else do they eat please explain if I am incorrect. I wouldnt want to be giving false info to others? Here is one of many articles i have researched. This was taken right from this webpage lol. Not trying to sound like a arse just trying to educate myself and others. I dont want to give false info.
> 
> Foremost, Mbuna are algae-grazing cichlids. In the wild, they spend the hours of the day scraping algae found covering the rocky substrate. Mbuna have long intestines (4x their body length) designed to extract the proteins and carbohydrates from the hard-to-digest algae.
> 
> Website http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/feeding_mbuna.php its from this site.


I had never read that article, but I should arrange to have it removed. The diets of mbuna range from algae grazers as they are often known for, to those who consume as much algae as protein from larvae, and crustaceans. Labidochromis are algae pickers, they pick the crustaceans and larvae from the algae, and any algae intake is incidental and a minor part of their diet. Other fish such as some of the larger Melanochromis (Northern Blue,) are pure predators of juveniles cichilds. Ps. crabro specialize on picking parasites from large catfish. Ps williamsi catch flies, by jumping out of the water. Genyochromis mento are scale and fin eaters of other cichlids. Cynotilapia afra, particularly the females feed on the plankton columns.

ALL cichlids are opportunistic feeders, and will eat fry, shrimps, or plankton when they can in the wild. The most vegetarian of the bunch is Labeotropheus, but they too will consume insect larvae, copepods and crustaceans.

The natural dietary requirements of mbuna is wide ranging.


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