# best food



## sidneymysnake (Jan 17, 2008)

I have 6 melanochromis auratus ciclids and I was wondering what would be the best food for them? Right now they are eating tetra tropical fish food but as I near the bottom of the can (I only had a little left from my tropical fish so they haven't really eaten that much of it). They have had some feeder guppies in the past but I was wondering what would be best for them?


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

spirulina flake


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## sidneymysnake (Jan 17, 2008)

I can get that where? Petsmart? or do I have to go to LFS?


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I don't see it on petsmart's web site. But a veggie flake or cichlid pellet or flake would also work.


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## sidneymysnake (Jan 17, 2008)

Alright sounds good, thanks...does it hurt giving them live? I mean like once a week or once a month? I like giving them ghost shrimp and guppies once in a while so I was jus wondering. 

Also, what should I feed my pike cichlid? I just got him as well and he's eaten like all the feeder guppies I put in there so I'm assuming he likes those but what else should he be eating?


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

pike cichlids are piscavores in the wild. They need to eat meat, fry are good, fresh or frozen bloodworms, blackworm, glassworms, brine shrimp, or high-protein pellets (some pikes won't eat them) are all good foods. Some people feed them people food like frozen cocktail shrimp or whitefish.

Auratus are listed as "omnivores" but they need green stuff in their diet and you need to limit the amount of fat they get. Occasional protein rich treats are fine, but make sure they get veggies, too. Use caution when feeding worms. Read about "malawi bloat"


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## sidneymysnake (Jan 17, 2008)

Alright...thanks so much emc. You've helped out quite a bit today. I tried pellets with the pike before but he wouldn't even look at them and I just read up on the auratus eating a lot of veggies. Should I leave some like romaine lettuce and carrots in there with them or what, that is in addition to their flake foods?


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

You can try it. My yellow labs nibble lettuce. Remove anything uneaten. A green flake or pellet with a good % of spirulina is adequate for those fish, but variety enriches their lives.


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## sidneymysnake (Jan 17, 2008)

I was just thinking that leaving the lettuce in there would like encourage them to graze a little more. But I will definetly look for some flake/pellets for them. 

What could be causing one of them to keep turning from a bluish color with lite stripes to light colored with pale stripes? 

Again thanks a lot.


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## Obsidian (May 20, 2007)

It has taken my fish up to a day to go after lettuce. I felt it to make sure it was not rotting/slimy and left it for the second day. They ate most of it then


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

To change from light with dark stripes to dark with light stripe is normal for maturing males. http://cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=750


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## Guest (Oct 4, 2008)

Zuchini or cucumber is better than lettuce. IME, fish eat the zuchini before they'll eat letuce.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

I'd guess that your color changer is a male who is trying to "fade-out" to be less annoying to the dominant male.


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## sidneymysnake (Jan 17, 2008)

I only have one male though. All the others are yellow with dark stripes. Oh well. I would do zuchinni and all that but I don't have that jus laying around nor a constant supply. My fiance and I eat romaine lettuce a lot and so do our lizards so we always have that around.


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## lohachata (Jan 27, 2006)

if you are keeping mbuna like the autatus and others the best thing for you to do is leave your light on so you get a nice growth of algae on the rocks.(you do have rocks in there for them,don't you?)most of the rift lake cichlids are aufuchs feeders.aufuchs is algae with little critters in it.if you get a good algae growth going they will continually graze on it.then you can feed a good flake or a pellet like Plecocaine.


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## sidneymysnake (Jan 17, 2008)

I would do that but the pleco eats it before they do. He's a pig. I can try it but I just hate the looks of the algae too.


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

*Aufwuchs. 

(/end spelling nazi reign)


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## sidneymysnake (Jan 17, 2008)

What? I'm confused?


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

loha said aufuchs, it's actually spelled aufwuchs. I'm stupid about spelling/grammar, hah. Sorry for knocking the thread off-course.


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## lovejonesx (Feb 5, 2008)

fishbguy said:


> Zuchini or cucumber is better than lettuce. IME, fish eat the zuchini before they'll eat letuce.



I've noticed that with my Frontosas & various other cichlids. They LOVE zucchini & it has a little more nutritional value than lettuce.


A good spirulina containing food should be given to them regularly. It is (_as with almost all mbuna_) is mainly a vegetarian. Their dietary needs are crucial to their health, otherwise the fish may develop "*malawi bloat*" which is usually fatal. 



ljx


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## sidneymysnake (Jan 17, 2008)

Well I actually decided to just get rid of the ciclids. They were boring and really didn't do much. Auratus are supposed to be aggressive or something they didn't do anything. Thanks for all of the help. I am just gonna go find another more aggressive ciclid...kinda like my pike. He's perfect. Whatever goes in that tank is lunch.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Auratus are very territorial and aggressive toward other male conspecifics. I think yours were still on the small size since he hadn't finished changing color. They would have gotton meaner with age. There is a diffence between aggressive and predatory. The auratus chases other fish off his personal algae patch, the pike eats other fish that fit in his mouth. The pike is prob. fine with other big fish while the auratus would trash them. But if you want to see eating rather than chasing, the pike is a better fish for you.


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## sidneymysnake (Jan 17, 2008)

Well I love the chasing and all that too but I like things that eat other fish as well, hince why I have the pike. I can get the auratus back if I wish but yeah...I think I'm gonna go with a baby oscar or something of that nature that will eventually (within the next year) move into a 120.


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