feeding mbuna live shrimp

[Mbuna]

Hi all,

I was wanting your opinions on feeding mbuna live shrimp. I feed mine on an average 2-3 times a week and the fish love it and its also great to see them hunting them down around the rocks. I have had a bit of success inducing breeding with this live food in the diet and was wandering if they could handle shrimp every day or even every second day?

chers

Harry

[canerod]

mbuna are basically a herbivore/omnivore, their primary food source in the wild is algae that grows on the rocks, along with any invertebrates living on the algae. If the opportunity presents itself they will also feed on plankton , fish fry, and crustaceans.

You should try to maintain that same balance in your tanks, ie feed mainly veg with a few tasty treats added to make it interesting. If you give them too much protein their health will suffer and you risk getting a disease called malawi bloat, which is more often than not, fatal

Bob

[jebe]

2-3 times a week is OK by me

It is hard to say that protein is the cause of bloat

Some of the foods used when keeping Tropheus etc are almost 50% protein, and the European shrimp mixes would be even higher. As Bob said If the opportunity presents itself they will also feed on plankton, fish fry, and crustaceans.

So as long as you don’t go overboard, I think it’s a good option. Most fish do better if given a live treat every now and then IMO

Cheers

justin

[r.d.m]

i feed mine (elongatus e yellows and maingano) frozen brineshrimp twice a week and lately ive been giving them mosquito lava once a week ,this is easily obtained by leaving a bucket of clean water in a shady spot for a few days then take your wife/ mothers kitchen sieve and tip the water through , a lot easier than hatching brine shrimp and not a big deal if the dog drinks the water as the wrigglers dive to the bottom, obviously when you tip the water out do it over your favourite plant or tree!

[Ash]

Is there any reason why you don't just tip the bucket in the tank, other than buffering for africans? I usually just dump it in as a quick feed & evaporation top up for my severum tank.

[r.d.m]

unfortunately ash i seem to get a lot of seeds and stuff in the water so i seive it but im trying to get a multi setup going ,the eggs hatch in 2-3 days but the larvae (wrigglers) last for 2 weeks before becoming pupae then mozzies so i need to get a 2 week cycle going,but its worth it as all the malawis go mad for them(sorry to hijack your post harry)