Homemade Food for South American Cichlids

[Lilyann]

Funny, I assumed it would have been Tetra Color Bits, which seems to be a fave among discus folks, yet IMHO is a crap food full of low cost low quality fillers. Bio gold I wouldn't think would be an issue, but I have never fed it. Was it the formula supposedly designed for discus? If so I'm surprised that formula would cause gastrointestinal, or swim bladder issues. Seems odd, but I have never experimented with that particular formula.

I used to be a mod on cichlid forum many years ago in the Health/Nutrition folder, I know the author of that article, and own a number of Ad's books, and IMO that diet does not add any nutritional benefit to a diet of TherA mixed with AlgaeMax, in fact, I would say that it falls far short. BTW - years ago in one of Ad's books he stated something along the lines of; cichlids that are only fed commercial pellets will soon lose their color when kept in captivity. That was around the same time the Euro mix was a hot topic. Kind of funny stuff looking back, and just goes to show how little many people really understood about fish nutrition years ago. Unfortunately much of that misinformation from yesteryear still lingers today.

Interesting... as with fish nutrition in the aquarium, the same with aquarium husbandry, water chemistry, and the like...
Much of the same out-moded methods are continued without any real analysis regarding their continued effectiveness. Or, for that matter, if the concepts that encouraged these methods were sound to begin with.
Anyways, can your recommend a more up to date text, academic journals, and/or authors on cichlid diet/ nutrition in the aquarium. I am attached to a University so I have access to databases online to research information.
Thank you.

 

[RD.]

Those were all young Stendker fish, still growing out, and all raised on NLS pellets.

 

[Lilyann]

View attachment 1281906 View attachment 1281904 View attachment 1281905

Are those yours? Stunning specimens!
Were these fed on a pellet diet?
Beautiful shape and color

 

[Lilyann]

Those were all young Stendker fish, still growing out, and all raised on NLS pellets.

No way--- I mean wow! Are they from Hans?

 

[RD.]

I doubt that you are going to find any academic papers on the optimum diet of Geophagus sp. kept in captivity. This is where hands on experience comes into play. So for what it's worth that's my 2 cents, others may have other ideas as to what best suits your specific species.

 

[Lilyann]

I doubt that you are going to find any academic papers on the optimum diet of Geophagus sp. kept in captivity. This is where hands on experience comes into play. So for what it's worth that's my 2 cents, others may have other ideas as to what best suits your specific species.

Your two-cents was much appreciated.

 

[RD.]

Yes, I believe that he imported those particular fish from Hans. He had met Hans at a trade show a number of years back in PA I think? I know that Stendker feeds BH, as does Hans, so I was shocked that he converted the entire lot of discus to pellets, in 1 week. I saw them on week 2, and they were swimming up to the surface and hammering the NLS pellets like there was no tomorrow. I was gobsmacked! lol

 

[Jhay3513]

Interesting... as with fish nutrition in the aquarium, the same with aquarium husbandry, water chemistry, and the like...
Much of the same out-moded methods are continued without any real analysis regarding their continued effectiveness. Or, for that matter, if the concepts that encouraged these methods were sound to begin with.
Anyways, can your recommend a more up to date text, academic journals, and/or authors on cichlid diet/ nutrition in the aquarium. I am attached to a University so I have access to databases online to research information.
Thank you.

I followed this same advice from RD. with my Haitiensis before I converted them to pellets
I got this article from him and saved it on my phone for reference http://nlsfishfood.com/nutrition-articles/facts-fish-nutrition/ It took my Nasties 3 weeks to switch but now they snatch it up and have put on significant growth and increased finange.

 

[Hendre]

NO BEEFHEART, NLS pellets almost exclusively. Yet his fish were large, colorful, in great overall condition, and spawned on a regular basis. I don't think Al et al on Simply Discus believed me. lol

US beefheart has been known to intefere with discus fertility due to widespread steroid use...

My discus breeding friend feeds pellets to his adults (Can't remember brand) and then benkers frozen mix with his own mix of ostrich meat with a bit of garlic + mineral additives. Crazy growth and had a +-500 egg spawn recently. Beefheart is overrated lol

 

[Lilyann]

Yes, I believe that he imported those particular fish from Hans. He had met Hans at a trade show a number of years back in PA I think? I know that Stendker feeds BH, as does Hans, so I was shocked that he converted the entire lot of discus to pellets, in 1 week. I saw them on week 2, and they were swimming up to the surface and hammering the NLS pellets like there was no tomorrow. I was gobsmacked! lol

Yes, beef-heart has always been the "go-to" protein source for raising up discus juveniles and I have followed that method up until my last batch of juveniles.
I now feed a more varied diet, with beef-heart only contributing 1/4 of their diet.
I now do flake, freeze-dried black-worms with spirulina, blood-worms, and beef-heart.
I think they have been much healthier in doing so.
I haven't tried Stendker's. I do look at Han's offerings on occasion.
My next group will be wilds-- Trombetas, most likely.