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Borelli not voracious eaters?

miniman

Member
Messages
43
Hi guys,

My Borelli when it is food time are not very fast eaters at all, they are the only fish in the tank until Wednesday this week when I am getting some dither fish, but was just wondering will they pick up their eating speed or hunger if you will when other fish are around or will i have to carefully feed them seperately?
 

MacZ

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,958
Location
Germany
What are you feeding?
But generally, as dwarf cichlid prefer to eat near the bottom, it's advisable to add dithers that are not too greedy so food might get past them.
 

miniman

Member
Messages
43
What are you feeding?
But generally, as dwarf cichlid prefer to eat near the bottom, it's advisable to add dithers that are not too greedy so food might get past them.
Thanks mate I’m feeding them a mix. Frozen brine and then DRP1 dry food. They much prefer the frozen obviously.

The rasboras should be ok with them as I’ll make sure food gets to the bottom but just hope they eat quicker haha
 

MacZ

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,958
Location
Germany
Feed the Artemia thawed, suspened in water with a pipette if necessary, that way you can "shoot" it past the rasbora.
Is the dry food flakes or pellets? If flakes, toss it, change to a granulate form. Also avoid dry foods with high filler percentages (fishmeal, grains, starches etc.).
 

miniman

Member
Messages
43
Feed the Artemia thawed, suspened in water with a pipette if necessary, that way you can "shoot" it past the rasbora.
Is the dry food flakes or pellets? If flakes, toss it, change to a granulate form. Also avoid dry foods with high filler percentages (fishmeal, grains, starches etc.).
It’s granules. Attached what it is here for you. If there’s any better suggestions I am all ears but this stuff is highly recommended in Australia anyway. Not sure if it’s great or not!
 

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MacZ

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,958
Location
Germany
well, at least wheat flour and fish meal are not the main ingredients. I have no brand recommendations. I usually go by specs, and my preferred specs for dry foods: As little starches/grains/legumes and sugars as possible, no fish meal (mollusks and crustaceans are good) and no yeasts.
The protein content is quite high. 30% to 10% fats is great, this one has 50 to 11... strong stuff.
 

miniman

Member
Messages
43
well, at least wheat flour and fish meal are not the main ingredients. I have no brand recommendations. I usually go by specs, and my preferred specs for dry foods: As little starches/grains/legumes and sugars as possible, no fish meal (mollusks and crustaceans are good) and no yeasts.
The protein content is quite high. 30% to 10% fats is great, this one has 50 to 11... strong stuff.
So this is ok?
 

MacZ

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,958
Location
Germany
So this is ok?
Not really. For comparison: Most live and frozen foods have a ratio of protein to fats of 20-40 : 10-15.
So this food here is very rich in protein. This can become a problem depending on the fish. A predominantly herbivorous or omnivorous fish will not do well with a 50% protein food.
For Apistos 30% would be a good average to go by.

Edit: This is a long term problem. For the moment it's fine, maybe do a fast day extra a week, until you can switch to another product. Long term I would switch for sure.
 
Last edited:

miniman

Member
Messages
43
Not really. For comparison: Most live and frozen foods have a ratio of protein to fats of 20-40 : 10-15.
So this food here is very rich in protein. This can become a problem depending on the fish. A predominantly herbivorous or omnivorous fish will not do well with a 50% protein food.
For Apistos 30% would be a good average to go by.

Edit: This is a long term problem. For the moment it's fine, maybe do a fast day extra a week, until you can switch to another product. Long term I would switch for sure.
Thanks.

I’m having trouble finding “products” with your recommendations though. I know you don’t like naming products but if you could pm me some brands I could check if I can get in Australia that would be amazing
 

MacZ

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,958
Location
Germany
I’m having trouble finding “products” with your recommendations though. I know you don’t like naming products but if you could pm me some brands I could check if I can get in Australia that would be amazing
I have no brands to recommend. The stuff I'm feeding right now is a label of a german petstore chain and I think it's nonesense to recommend any german brands for you to get them shipped half-way around the planet, paying triple of what your local brands cost, just for 5% less protein.

As I feed dry foods only when I'm working a lot I rather recommend feeding frozen and live and offering dry foods only when more convenient.
 

miniman

Member
Messages
43
I have no brands to recommend. The stuff I'm feeding right now is a label of a german petstore chain and I think it's nonesense to recommend any german brands for you to get them shipped half-way around the planet, paying triple of what your local brands cost, just for 5% less protein.

As I feed dry foods only when I'm working a lot I rather recommend feeding frozen and live and offering dry foods only when more convenient.
Thanks.

Unfortunately I’ve looked all over the net just then and found most foods have 40-45% protein with maximum 11% fat. Can’t find anything less
 

MacZ

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,958
Location
Germany
Unfortunate. Then move away from dry foods and stick to live and frozen. Feed dry only when it's most convenient.
 

anewbie

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,366
What are you feeding?
But generally, as dwarf cichlid prefer to eat near the bottom, it's advisable to add dithers that are not too greedy so food might get past them.
While this is generally true; my d50 decided he prefers the flakes i feed the top feeders over the bug bites and now hangs around the top when i feed them; and then goes back down - to be honest they never hung around the bottom in the same sense the other apisto species i've owned.
 

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