food and colour

[yellow]

over the last few weeks ive strayed away from your more conventional forms of fish food(ie pellets,flakes) and have started feeding my centrals are diet consisting of red ramshorn snails(thier favourite) prawns and fish.ive been doing this and say every third day feeding them pellets so that they dont become accustomed.since doing this ive noticed many changes in thier behaviour thier now the most active ive ever seen them and are just generally looking healthier.theyve also doubled in size but the biggest change of all has been in thier colour.theyve always had good colour but since changing thier diet thier colour has become much more vibrant and intense.my male jaguars jag pattern is now a deep purple and hes constantly has his breeding pattern.my females have also put on considerable weight and are now full of roe.its obviously benn more expensive to feed them in this way but the ramshorns i breed myself and fish and prawns you can get relatively cheap.it works for me because ive now tapered down my fish keeping to a few select central american species that i love to insure thier still around for years to come.it works out for eveyone too because as onn as thier fry are big enough im going to give them away to anyone who wants them.just though id share this to see if anyone else has noticed this

jason

[Ducksta]

Definately live/fresh foods have always been great breeding conditioners.

I also find the difference in prepared food astounding.

Prime example the severums I got from the March auction. I was told by the former owner they had been fed 99% ORCA pellets for their whole life. I have been feeding them what i consider much higher quality foods (OSI, HBH, brine shrimp, some fresh seafoods, and the odd fry culls) and their base colour looks healthier but the colour hasn't changed noticably. What has changed is the spangling and spots around the head are now vivid orange instead of the pale yellow they were for the first 2 weeks.

That and the fact they have a successful spawn is making the decision to move them on harder to bring about.

[OscarTerror]

i feed my americans mostly frozen foods like chopped prawns and whitebait and have foudn the growth rates to be much greater than on the hikari gold pellets they had previously been getting..

it works out cheaper for me this way as I buy the frozen foods in bulk for my tankbuster but I still alternate with the pellets/flake and once a week they might get some live shrimp if they have been good

my growth rates have been a lot higher than my mate who has the same fish, he only feeds pellets and frozen packet foods like bloodworm and brine

so it has worked well for me too

[burgoid]

where do you get the prawns and whitebait in bulk wat kinda prawns r they

[Ant]

I've also seen the difference in prepared food. I've been using the more expensive tetra Jumbomin with very good results on the colour of the fish. The Orca pellets are very good for growth, not good on colour. My fish wont eat anything else but the jumbomin and orca.

Anthony

EDIT: My fish just made a liar out of me, i gave him some small spirilina pellets and he eat them straight away

[OscarTerror]

where do you get the prawns and whitebait in bulk wat kinda prawns r they

←

mossops and the fish markets, not exactly sure what type of prawns they are,

just good quality frozen prawns

[burgoid]

ur not talking table quallity r u.

[Ducksta]

Why not? They are generally cheaper/kg than bait - and you know they are clean.

[burgoid]

really?

[Ash]

I used peeled table quality prawns from woolies once

I like my fish & the prawns were on special

[Ged]

This was the mix that was outlined at the last NSWCS meeting

John's Home Made Mix

250gms Green Prawns

250gms Mussel Meat

200gms Salmon Steak

200gms Scallops (including roe)

200gms Carrots

200gms Capsicum

Tsp or 5 Tablets Spirolina

You can add multivitamins, garlic, spinach, peas or green vegetables.

Increase the amount of vegetables for Malawi species.

Blend the mix up in a food processor and then freeze into required portions

Gerard

[Ducksta]

200gram frozen bait prawns $6

fresh green prawn $20/kg

Of course prices vary but I have found green prawns when on special work out much cheaper and I buy them as bait also

Green prawns are apparently coated with a 'formulin' (I think??) solution which means it is safer to peel them and not feed the shells. Bait prawns wont be treated and can be used whole (plus they are smaller)

[burgoid]

would you still add the carrot, capciscum, and the garlic for predators like dovii. wat are there benefits?

[Ged]

Most cichlid food recipes include a vegetable component to balance the crude protein, fat and fibre proportions. The garlic is used to fight internal parasites. You have to remember that you should not drastically alter your fish's diet. It is best to slowly introduce it to them and observe for changes.

Ged