Mbuna nutrition

[CharlieTuna]

I'm a little confused about what I should be feeding my herbivore Mbuna. I have seen praise for NLS and Dainichi foods but in looking at their ingredients, the first one in both is fish based. I thought veggie eating Mbuna needed very little if any animal/fish matter? Should I feed a more veggie based food or are the above mentioned the best?

 

[Ryan75]

Hikari Cichlid Excel. It is all plant matter. Check out Petmountain.com. They have awesome prices.

http://www.petmountain.com/product/cichlid-food/11442-504469/hikari-cichlid-excel.html ---- Floating

http://www.petmountain.com/product/cichlid-food/11442-518303/hikari-sinking-cichlid-excel.html ---- Sinking

 

[Ryan75]

That ashames me that NLS sells Herbivore food with protein/meat in it. It's like they're trying to change them to Carnivores : /. But the Hikari Cichlid Excel looks good to me.

 

[Ryan75]

Ok nevermind. On Petmountain they didn't show all of the ingredients. I think they may have to put fish meal to give the fish some type of protein.

 

[shellies215]

Many Mbuna(in the wild) actually feed on small crustaceans and other organisms that live IN the algae growth, and also eat the algae along with them. Technically, they are omnivores, but too much protein can cause problems. NLS is only 34% protein, there is nothing wrong with feeding it to Mbuna as their daily diet.

 

[joecoulson]

Did a test with NLS and am a convert, feed it to my Mbuna with no issues, I d not daily feed anymore though. I have PLENTY of algae I grow with 4 T5's for 12 hrs a day.

 

[reptileguy2727]

It is not the protein itself that causes a problem in mbunas, it is the quality of the source. Mbunas can have problems when a lot of the protein is not high quality and easily digestible. The issue is that many foods include other things that when tested in a lab will increase the % on the label, but ar enot easily digested, or bioavailable, to the fish. This is what causes the problems with fish like mbunas. However, foods with only high quality protein sources that are easily digestible should not cause any digestive problems for mbunas, short or long term. I have fed mbunas for years on NLS exclusively, and have talked to many others who have done the same for even longer. The results I got with NLS are much better than I ever got with anything else (including Excel).

 

[NotoriousSway]

Many Mbuna(in the wild) actually feed on small crustaceans and other organisms that live IN the algae growth, and also eat the algae along with them. Technically, they are omnivores, but too much protein can cause problems. NLS is only 34% protein, there is nothing wrong with feeding it to Mbuna as their daily diet.

Exactly, this is called aufwuchs.

 

[CharlieTuna]

Thanks for the explanations. I will go with NLS as my favorite LFS carries it.

 

[Inglorious]

Since I switched to NLS I've noticed that my Mbuna have become much more colorful. I also treat them occasionally with leftover tropical flakes and bloodworms, but limit them to prevent bloat. They also like to snack on the zucchini that i keep in for my clown loaches.