(wayne p) wrote in
om:

I was wondering if there is a live food I could feed to my
cichlids as a treat? I have a 55 gallon tank with about 15
cichlids at about 3 or 4 inches long.I feed them cichlid
flakes,african sinking pellets or staple floating type pellets
rotating them every couple of days so each is happy.Every once
and awile as a treat I offer them krill crumbleing it for
them.They love it.I have tried to make the tank enviroment as
natural as possible with many stones arranged as caves and real
plants that most seem to play and hide in and around and a
couple of others that stop at nothing to pull each plant up.I'm
new at this and have had this tank for about a year.I guess
becouse I want it as natural as possible I wonder often what
most (wild) cichlids eat.Most of mine are african with a couple
of jack dempseys,convicts,electric yellow,electric blue and a 5
or 6 inch algae eater to help clean up.Thanks for any advice.

I would recommend that you first do a bit more research on your
fish. Different cichlid species have different dietary preferences
and needs. They also have different natural habitats -- some
naturally occurring in rocky areas, others in open sandy areas,
others with lots of plants. You have a very wide variety of
cichlids in the same tank. Frankly, I do not believe there is any
live food, or any tank environment, that will be natural or
entirely appropriate for all of them. But if I had to pick one
live food, it would probably be live brine shrimp or live fish fry.

Meph