# Can my africans overeat veggies



## linda521dawn (Aug 12, 2014)

I am just starting with the feeding of veggies. I put a piece of squash in the other day and pretty much the whole tank ate it. Yesterday I put in a piece of cucumber and my Auratis just hogged it. He ate at it for hours and wouldnt let any other fish near it. can he eat too much, get bloat? little piggy!!


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## pfoster74 (May 13, 2012)

I'm not sure one way or the other if too much veggie will cause bloat but i do know certain vegetables are very good for fish like auratus. auratus are possibly the highest aggression mbuna out there. I'm curious how big your tank is and what else you have in the tank. I have had good success with auratus and would be happy to offer advice if needed.


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## linda521dawn (Aug 12, 2014)

My tank is a 96 gal. corner tank. I have I have a few red top zebra, 1 sunshine peacock (lost 2 to bloat ), synodontis, electric yellow, colbolt, and 3 electric blue johannii, pleco, a powder blue,auratis, trewavase, and what looks like might be a rusty. Sorry scientific names too much to type. I know the auratis can get nasty but he is pretty peaceful so far ( except his hogging food). I started with an all male tank but have ended up with a couple females. want to go get more females now for balance but am nervous since everyone gets along so well. Overall 20+ africans in there now. all med sized a couple smaller


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## pfoster74 (May 13, 2012)

90g corner tank is that a cube style? african cichlids would do better with a longer tank vs a wider tank. not saying what you have will not work though. my understanding is that the peacock's are a bit more timid than mbuna. Melanochromis johannii Electric Blue are same family as Melanochromis auratus which can cause cross breeding or extra aggression between the males. I'm assuming for colbolt you are meaning ((Metriaclima callainos cobalt blue?) and powder blue might hybridize with your cobalt blue. you can leave the tank be and see what happens it may work. (i would trade in the peacock the auratus and the cobalt blue zebra). the other fish i would bump up all numbers to 5 or 6 of each. that would make it 5 species (red top zebra) (socolofi-powdered blue) (rusties) (electric yellow) (trewavasae). plus the cats. not sure what your footprint looks like so what i am currently suggesting may be too much. please lay out tank dimensions before you add or subtract anything.


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## pfoster74 (May 13, 2012)

other thing i did not take into consideration is the Melanochromis johannii Electric Blue females may look too similiar with the electric yellow's. with your catfish they should clear out fry so may not be a big deal. i'm not 100% sure on those 2 together if anyone knows please weigh in.


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## rennsport2011 (Oct 21, 2013)

Bloat can be caused by a number of different stresses, including a change in diet too quickly. I would be careful in feeding too much vegetables at once, to fish that haven't been exposed to it before, but if they are used to it, shouldn't be a problem.


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## linda521dawn (Aug 12, 2014)

my corner tank is a 96 gal bow front. not sure of dimensions but i did measure and use a calculator online to double check as I bought it used. that was awhile ago, dont remember dimensions now though. As for cross breeding i dont worry too much, I just let nature take its course and usually only one or so survives. I would not take them to a pet store. I do have another unused tank though, maybe I could make a new home for peacock. Hubby wouldnt be happy though...lol. My auratis was an accident as I was buying johnnii and when I got them home he was in the bag, so far he hasnt been mean yet but there are many fish way bigger then him in there.


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## pfoster74 (May 13, 2012)

yeah you can just leave things be and see how it plays out. if they aren't picking on your peacock and or your auratus for example isn't causing issues sometimes there is no reason to rock the boat.


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## linda521dawn (Aug 12, 2014)

thanks, my peacock actually does very well so far. He is one of the bigger fish in there, I think thats why no one bothers him.


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## linda521dawn (Aug 12, 2014)

Thank you all so much for input!!!!  I did start a new post with new questions I needed answered. Would love to hear from you.


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