Homemade Food for South American Cichlids

[Lilyann]

I will be getting 6- 5 inch geophagus sveni next week and was hoping to make a homemade food to freeze for feeding.
Does anyone have recipes to share that they have used for South American Cichlids?
Or, is there a place on this site that lists homemade recipes that I can access?
Thank you!

 

[Kittiee Katt]

Please do not take this the wrong way as I do not mean any offence, but unless you're a fish nutrition expert you're unlikely to make a food with a balanced amount of nutrients for your fish that is better than a high quality pellet.

If you want to make your fish some homemade food go nuts, but probably stick to a high quality pellet such as New Life Spectrum as a staple and just use the homemade stuff as treats. At least, that's what I would do.

As for recipes I can't help. The only fish food I make is salad for my goldfish which is just assorted greens mixed together much like people salad but without the dressing.

Have you tried using the search function on MFK? That might yeild some results. I also suggest reading some of RD. 's posts on fish nutrition so you know what you're getting into playing with your fish's diet, and the results it can have on them.

 

[Lilyann]

I did, indeed, use the search function that is why after not coming up with anything, I posted the question.
Thank you, I will look for the referenced member's articles.

 

[Lilyann]

Anyone else have suggestions?

 

[Jhay3513]

Since you know what fish you’re buying I would do some studying of their natural diet in the wild and supplement your homemade food as a treat for them and use a high quality pellet like Kittiee Katt suggested. The nutritional deficiencies that your fish could suffer from could potentially kill them at would would seem like a random occurrence. I feed NLS Thera+A and supplement a Sunday treat every week that I rotate between frozen blood worms, frozen brine shrimp, and fresh scallops that I blend up myself

 

[Lilyann]

I already have NLS cichlid pellets in 3 different formulations that I was intending to feed.
It was never my intention, but it was assumed from the very start that was, to feed this homemade food exclusively.
Why not, it seems logical to me, start out by asking "Do you intend to feed this food exclusively?"
Far more preferable to : "Dont take this wrong but..."
The post was so snarky and judgemental that It is amazing to consider how, from the start, It was meant to ridicule.
I have been raising fish for 28 years, raised discus for 15... I would never assume that my "playing" around in the kitchen, whipping up whatever i like, would be adequate as a staple for my fish.
But, again, assumptions were made about me with no questions. Maybe e ask a few next time.

 

[Jhay3513]

I already have NLS cichlid pellets in 3 different formulations that I was intending to feed.
It was never my intention, but it was assumed from the very start that was, to feed this homemade food exclusively.
Why not, it seems logical to me, start out by asking "Do you intend to feed this food exclusively?"
Far more preferable to : "Dont take this wrong but..."
The post was so snarky and judgemental that It is amazing to consider how, from the start, It was meant to ridicule.
I have been raising fish for 28 years, raised discus for 15... I would never assume that my "playing" around in the kitchen, whipping up whatever i like, would be adequate as a staple for my fish.
But, again, assumptions were made about me with no questions. Maybe e ask a few next time.

You could have just as easily provided the above information in your initial post lol. It’s really not that serious. At the end of the day you can do what you want with your livestock. There is loads of info about Gel food on google and YouTube and plenty of recipes

 

[Lilyann]

You could have just as easily provided the above information in your initial post lol. It’s really not that serious. At the end of the day you can do what you want with your livestock. There is loads of info about Gel food on google and YouTube and plenty of recipes

Thanks, this has told me all I need to know about this community.

 

[PYRU]

https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/how-to-prepare-homemade-fish-feed.691941/

There's several threads I found this is one. Usually it's done like gelatin with whatever you want. It's expensive and labor intensive. Unless you had just a massive amount you need to feed then it would probably be better to just mix up some repashy gel. I use the morning wood pleco stuff for isopods (vivariums) and it creates a pretty decent size batch for not that much cash. Ive tried my own mixes in the past, but quickly realized unless I bought in big bulk I would lose my butt .

 

[Lilyann]

Thank you very much for taking the time to help. I will check this recipe out...
I use Repashy for my Oto's - great product.
A Repashy formulation had been suggested to me for cichlids before a few months ago and I completely forgot about it.
Much appreciated.