I bought a couple little guppies for my cichlid for the first time and he wont touch them. Hes an african bumble bee cichlid and hes about 7 inches long. I wanted to try him on live fish, he eats worms and flakes and the little cichlid balls. What am I doing wrong???
2006-12-18 03:42:21 · 6 answers · asked by Lyssa B 2 in Pets ➔ Fish
He could just be not hungry. Did you leave the guppies in the tank for a couple days? I bet there will be fewer guppies tomorrow :)
However, he may just not see them as food... Kind of rare with cichlids, but he doesn't need live foods if he's feeding well on worms, flakes and cichlid pellets. Live food should not be staple diet, anyway.
If he is eating fine, there probably isn't any reason for concern. Leave the guppies and don't feed him (well, feed a pinch for the guppies) and see if he gets hungry.
The only concern to be had is if he is sick. A 7" bumblee should be in a 50 gallon minimum, with hard water and lots of rockwork and caves. Water changes should be done at a maximum of 50% every week, minimum 30% twice a month. Is he exhibiting any symptoms like clamped fins, inactivity / lethargy, lying on the bottom or floating at the top, frayed fins, white spots, etc?
2006-12-18 03:49:14 · answer #1 · answered by Zoe 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Bumblebee cichlids (pseudotropheus crabo) are herbivores and are predominently "vegetarian".
They have some opportunistic omnivore tendencies and may attempt tol eat small fry (smaller than the guppies) as well as worms, etc. It's showing little interest in the guppies because your cichlid is NOT a carnivore.
Providing this type of fish worms or fish as a regular part of it's diet will lead to the 'malawi bloat' (an often fatal intestinal disease which can be caused by a diet too high in protein).
Stick to a food with less than 45% protein content (preferably lower than 40% unless spirulina based).
2006-12-18 08:45:47 · answer #2 · answered by Kay B 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I would not feed any of my cichlids live fish. You have to realize that nutritional value is a major concern for feeding fish and live fish just do not sustain enough nutrients for these fish to be actually healthy on. Fatty Liver Disease is one reason lots of domestic fish die due to all the saturated fat that the fish eating only feeder fish are consuming. Because a good feeding response is one of the criteria that most of us use to decide whether or not a fish is healthy, this is an important thing for any pet shop to be able to demonstrate to us as potential buyers. So, adding feeder fish to a tank of Oscars is one of the best sales techniques available to a retailer, this is the main reason fish stores feed live fish, but the majority probably feed a variety of flakes also. If it were me i would stick mainly to fish flakes or frozen food which make up a complete diet for a tank of healthy fish.
2006-12-18 07:29:37 · answer #3 · answered by Taylor S 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This type of cichlid is not a fish eater, he is actually more of an herbivour. Live fish and worms are actually not healthy for him and are best avoided or you risk him getting a potentially fatal condition called Bloat. Stick to flakes and pellets, and if you want to give it a treat, try mysis shrimp or brine shrimp.
2006-12-18 04:50:47 · answer #4 · answered by Ghapy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Kind of odd for him not to eat them. Leave them in there im sure he will have a good snack!
2006-12-18 04:38:52 · answer #5 · answered by angelmwilson 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
perhaps he doenst like sushi, you could try grilling the fish. my personal favey is steaming the fish and seasoning with a little garlic salt. lemon works nicely as well.
2006-12-18 04:16:10 · answer #6 · answered by Amber 2 · 0⤊ 7⤋