Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)
Hi,
John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.
I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.
With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.
I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.
If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.
I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.
I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.
Thank you
Darragh Sherwin
Feeding cichlids
- Axolotl (mark gethings)
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I realise different cichlids have different dietary needs but I was wondering what do you feed your cichlids and what do you think of what I am feeding mine (Flower Horns), is there anything I am doing wrong or should change?
Under the understanding that feeding little and often helps to reduce aggression I have been doing the following:
Twice a day, morning and evening/night I feed supa tropical fish flakes.
Then once a day at lunch time I alternate between blood worms and "gamma blister - cichlid diet".
Also wanted to ask has anyone used "gamma blister - cichlid diet" and what are your thoughts on it? It contains Beef heart, white fish, gammarus shrimp and spinach.
Cheers.
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- Axolotl (mark gethings)
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- JustinK (Justin Kelly)
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Better to dump the flakes for cichlid sticks or pellets. I use New Era cichlid pellets (black tub)
Theyre sinking food, but if yours will feed from the surface then theirs more choice with floating food.
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- jeff (Jeff Scully)
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Hi guys,
I realise different cichlids have different dietary needs but I was wondering what do you feed your cichlids and what do you think of what I am feeding mine (Flower Horns), is there anything I am doing wrong or should change?
Under the understanding that feeding little and often helps to reduce aggression I have been doing the following:
Twice a day, morning and evening/night I feed supa tropical fish flakes.
Then once a day at lunch time I alternate between blood worms and "gamma blister - cichlid diet".
Also wanted to ask has anyone used "gamma blister - cichlid diet" and what are your thoughts on it? It contains Beef heart, white fish, gammarus shrimp and spinach.
Cheers.
sorry for the late reply
I would change the flakes for cichlid pellets flake are only for small fish imo, gamma blisters are cool i also give mine wax worms, and crickets as a treat and they love it and veg wise every 2 days i give either courgettes, cucumber, peas, broccoli (stems), lettuce, and i throw in the odd plant once a month and every 2 wks i give some algae wafers, im one of very few that does this but i think it does the fish great great colours grow well and less aggression
jeff
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A life making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing at all.
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- JustinK (Justin Kelly)
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I add the veg for plecos but the cichlids to eat it too.
It should be part of their diet anyway.
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- stretnik (stretnik)
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Kev.
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- Axolotl (mark gethings)
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my cichlids will not eat pellets, floating or sinking (although I think they may nibble at the sinking pellets), I have tried both. they also will not eat veg although I have only tried the plants in the tank and peas.
As regards ash content, I already check for that, the "supa" food I use now has 5.5% ash whereas the "aquarian" food I used to use (which I believe is very popular and in most pet stored and supermarkets) is 14% ash.
May I ask why I should reduce the the blood worms and is it ok to feed the "gamma blister - cichlid diet" as often as i do?
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- colly130 (Colin)
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Colly
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- jeff (Jeff Scully)
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Thanks guys,
my cichlids will not eat pellets, floating or sinking (although I think they may nibble at the sinking pellets), I have tried both. they also will not eat veg although I have only tried the plants in the tank and peas.
As regards ash content, I already check for that, the "supa" food I use now has 5.5% ash whereas the "aquarian" food I used to use (which I believe is very popular and in most pet stored and supermarkets) is 14% ash.
May I ask why I should reduce the the blood worms and is it ok to feed the "gamma blister - cichlid diet" as often as i do?
i had the same prob with mine not eating pellets and especially a new fish, they use to go for them and spit them out go for them again and spit them out but after a while like a week or two they get use to them they are use to getting soft food but all of a sudden the food is hard a little trick i done for a few days was to soak the pellets for about 5mins in a cup of tank water before feeding them this helps them to get use to it and reduce the soaking time day by day till its straight in from the pack and like i said to me any flake food is not enough for any cichlid (they like to be full)
and its the same with veg introduce slowly bit by bit and say you were going to try it on a saturday dont feed them on friday they will be hungry and try anything
as for bloodworms ect. they should only be giving as a treat their good for them but dont get all their needs out of them like us eating steak its good for you but you cant survive on it you need other stuff
jeff
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A life making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing at all.
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- Axolotl (mark gethings)
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So should I just cut out the flake food entirely and they will eventually start to eat the pellets and cut down on the bloodworms too? Oh and try the veg again?
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- jeff (Jeff Scully)
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Where the tongue slips, it speaks the truth.
A life making mistakes is not only more honourable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing at all.
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- JustinK (Justin Kelly)
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