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Best retail flake/pellet food for SA cichlids (Apistogramma)

slipstreamv2

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
10
Location
Jersey City, NJ
I'm placing a decently sized order from Bigals.

Which of the flake foods is most nutritious for apistos?

If available, are color-enhancing flake foods have any cons (less protein, etc?)

OSI Cichlid flakes (supposedly 46% min crude protein)
O.S.I. Vivid Color Flakes
O.S.I. Flake Brine Shrimp
TetraColor Tropical Flakes (package I have says 49% min crude protein)
Hikari Cichlid Pellets (seems only 29% min crude protein - I thought hikari was a good brand?)
Aqueon ???
others (available on bigals)?

Is there any other factors which I should consider when buying apisto flakes?
 

Mike Wise

Moderator
Staff member
5 Year Member
Messages
11,202
Location
Denver, Colorado, U.S.A.
It really depends on the fish. Some ignore all brands of flake food and others eat just about anything. I have better succes with marine flake food - but it should be kept fresh!
 

Mizu

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
15
The only dry food my apistos have ever readyly <---(not sure about spelling) accepted was hikari. My first apisto only ate live worms, he would ignore frozen and dry food competely.
 

ed seeley

Moderator
Staff member
5 Year Member
Messages
577
Location
Nottingham, UK
All my fish get a red Granular crumb from www.ta-aquaculture.co.uk as well as frozen food.

It's very well-priced and apsitos, Westies and killies all love it and they can all be fussy at times IME! Problem is the postage may be a killer for you guys, but maybe you can source it from someone in the states?
 

tjudy

Moderator
Staff member
5 Year Member
Messages
2,822
Location
Stoughton, WI
I feed very little prepared food to the apistos, but the food a few will eat is a crumble/granular food made by Zieglar that I buy from Kensfish (www.kensfish.com) called Ken's Premium Growth in sizes #00 and #1. I use Ken's flakes for everything that will eat it. He has a wide variety and better prices. Ken is a nutritionist who formulated all his own foods. They are very high quality.
 

LeviathanGirl

New Member
5 Year Member
Messages
98
Location
Fort Bragg, NC
I will deffinatly agree with Ted on this. I also feed Ken's foods to my fish. I've not had many problems getting my fish to accept them. I buy several flake foods and combine them according to what I'm feeding. I do feed New Life Spectrum Growth formula and live food also. I'd say my fish have a 50/50 diet of prepared/live with some fresh vegetable matter here and there. Each of my tanks has a bristlenose pleco and I feed them fresh zuccini on a daily basis. Most of my cichlids will nibble on the zuccini as well.
 

Lisachromis

Moderator
Staff member
5 Year Member
Messages
361
Location
Canada
All my fish go for flakes and tetrabits. They also go for pellets (mainly NLS). I can't say that any of them refuse their food. Fish that get too picky tend not to last too long in my tanks unless I REALLY like them.:rolleyes:
 

Apistomaster

Active Member
5 Year Member
Messages
703
Location
Clarkston, WA
I feed mostly live brine shrimp nauplii and black worms to my SA Dwarfs.
The rest of their diet consists of frozen blood worms, Tetra Color Bits, Earthworm flakes and Earthworm Sticks. They also eat my beef heart blend I make up for my Discus.
Basically, I treat them just like Discus except I keep them cooler.
www.kensfish.com and www.aquaticeco.com both sell earth worm sticks and flakes.
 

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