Who Gives A Fish Forums

Hi, I'm looking to mix things up with my african cichlids' diet, currently I'm just feeding them flakes.

You mentioned African cichlids, so I'm assuming that's the species, but I just wanted to clarify, what specific type are you keeping?

Just saw this now, sorry about the delay. I've got 2 bristlenose, 2 sunnygold and 1 peacock in my tank at the moment. Planning on adding more to the collection soon.

For your bristlenose, you'll want to include some algae and driftwood in their diet. The sunnygold and peacock, on the other hand, will benefit from marine-based foods, with the peacock enjoying prawn, fish, and squid.

You can try looking for a frozen food called "marine mix" or "marine green" at a pet shop - these usually contain a mix of prawn, fish, and squid, along with some algae or plant matter in the marine green. If you can't find this, you could visit a fishing or bait shop, or even a supermarket, and pick up some frozen prawn or shrimp. Just be sure to defrost, remove the head, shell, and gut, and cut the remaining prawn tail into small bits before offering them to your fish.

Frozen white bait or blue sardines from bait or fishing stores can also be a good option - just defrost and cut them up into small pieces before feeding. In addition to these, you can use flake or pellet foods, and consider adding some frozen brineshrimp or mysis shrimp to the mix.

I usually feed my fish dry food in the morning, and then dry food followed by frozen or live foods in the evening. Just remember to monitor your water quality when introducing meat-based foods, as they can cause ammonia and nitrite spikes. Regular water changes and gravel cleans will also help keep your water clean.

Just had another thought, I was wondering if adding driftwood for the bristlenose would affect the pH levels in my tank. Also, I'm curious to know if the sunnygold would eat the prawn I'm planning to offer, or if it's mainly the peacock that would be interested in that.

Some types of driftwood can indeed affect the pH levels in your aquarium, but it's largely dependent on your water's general hardness and carbonate hardness. If your KH is high enough, it should help stabilize the pH and prevent any drastic drops.

As for the sunnygold, I've found that they tend to be opportunistic eaters, so it's likely they'll take to the prawn.

Thanks for the info