Gill Passman wrote:
"Elaine T" wrote in message
m...

Samuel Warren wrote:

Okay, I added 6 Black Neon Tetras and sure enough the cichlids came out

from

hiding. So the dither fish idea worked.

I also started to feed the cichlids some Tetra-Min "Crisps", they seem

to

enjoy that very much. I have krill, dry blood worms, algae tablets,

flake

food, frozen blood worms, frozen brine shrimp and some frozen Veggies

from

feeding my community tank, so I think I should be able to vary their

diet.

The cichlids are still too small to consume the Tetras, but if they

should

ever do that is the way of nature.



I wanted to reinforce what Tim said since you've posted about feding
high-protein foods again. Mbuna are herbivores and get bloated and die
if fed high protein foods. Don't feed krill, bloodworms or brine
shrimp. Even the Tetra-Min crisps aren't intended for these fish. To
keep them healthy, feed algae-based foods or specialty foods made for
specifically for mbuna.

--
__ Elaine T __
__' http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__


Just bought my first Mbuna's (Yellow Labs) for my new tank yesterday and LFS
suggested Spirulina Cichlid Sticks, Daphinia, krill, brine shrimp and
cucumber which kind of ties in with the research that I did. He told me to
totally avoid any bloodworms etc.

Now confused......


Yellow labs IF you're talking about Labidochromis caeruleus are a little
different from rock dwelling mbuna. They're omnivorous open-water fish
from Lake Malawi with a more flexible diet and les susceptibility to
Malawi bloat. There was another thread on labs here a while back, and
if kept alone, they do best on a pretty even mix of spirulina and
protein foods. Your Powder blue mbuna (Pseudotropheus socolofi?) are
the ones I talking about being herbivorous and susceptible to bloat.

For this mix of fish, my understanding is that you will still need to
feed mostly algae based and vegetable foods. Maybe someone who's kept
this combination of fish can suggest how often to offer the higher
protein foods because I've only kept tanks with the strongly herbivorous
mbuna and never fed anything like krill. My best guess would be only a
couple times a week.

--
__ Elaine T __
__' http://eethomp.com/fish.html '__