Dry food for apisto's - what do you feed?

[Duffmanj]

I'm curious - what dried food to you all feed your apistos? Do you try and mix it up throughout the week? How much do you feed in relation to other foods (live/frozen)?

I'm running low and I'd like to try something new, so please suggest away - if you think any type is particularly good it would be useful to know the reason why.

Cheers!

 

[peterclarke666]

i use all sorts of dried foods for mine and they never get the same meal everyday always something different from tetra crisps, to cichlid algae pellets to jbl novo tabs, floating algae sticks crushed up, spirulina powders for young, aswel as various frozen and live foods i normally rotate dry food, frozen, live twice a week and then a fasting day on sunday apart from any fry that get microworms

 

[Mike Wise]

Me? I haven't found a dry food that my apistos will take right away. I've tried most of the dry foods suggested by other forum members, but my apistos will mouth it (at best) and then spit it out. Once it has set on the substrate and dissolved a bit they probably sift part of it out. They're just not interested. Maybe it's because they're mostly wild fish, I don't know. Back in the 70s & early 80s Mardel's Aquarien flake was quickly taken, but they changed the formula in the mid-80s. After that my apistos wouldn't touch it. I also had a friend doing genetic research using Xenopus frogs, which she feed 'frog brittle'. My fish loved it, but it would cloud the water if overfed. I don't know what it was or who made it. I see it - or something of the same name - on line, but I'm not willing to buy 10 lbs of the stuff just to test. My apistos are on an almost exclusive bbs/frozen food diet now.

 

[themountain]

I also had a friend doing genetic research using Xenopus frogs, which she feed 'frog brittle'. My fish loved it, but it would cloud the water if overfed. I don't know what it was or who made it. .

Interesting..I found this online http://www.enasco.com/page/xen_brittle seems to be a good source. I had luck with New Era diskus pellets...they are soft and slightly fast sinking.

 

[davidjp1982]

NLS Cichlid Pellets (took a long time to get them to accept it) and Hikari Algae Wafers which they go crazy over once a week.

 

[regani]

I feed mine mostly Ocean Nutrition Cichlid Omniflakes and NLS Grow, even the wild caught fish take it readily. But then I have had only a few wc fish so I probably just got lucky

 

[ErtyJr]

I have LOTS of foods I feed. Their main diet consists of dainichi color fx baby size pellets. I found that my apistos, even though they can swallow the baby size, which I believe to be .5 mm, they spit out the .5 mm. I bought a mortal and pestle and ground up most of it and my fish go apeshit over it and their color, from my apistos to my CPDs, has greatly improved. I also feed NLS Thera a .5 mm pellets, hikari micro pellets and hikari discus bio gold pellets. That's all for dry food.

For frozen I feed frozen cyclop-eeze, from a small syringe. My male comes up to the top and stares it down and tries to gulp down the whole thing in one big bite before it scatters and he has to chase it down.

For live food I feed blackworms from my culture, freshwater amphipods (scuds) from my culture, and daphnia from my culture.

They love the live food most of all of course.

Also occasionally my male chows down on the repashy "spawn and grow" gel food I put in for the fry in the tank. But I normally feed him the "Meat pie" formula on occasion as well.

 

[ErtyJr]

Interesting..I found this online http://www.enasco.com/page/xen_brittle seems to be a good source. I had luck with New Era diskus pellets...they are soft and slightly fast sinking.

If anyone tries this let me know how it goes. I love to vary my apistogramma' s diet and would buy it if I know they will like it.

 

[Duffmanj]

Thanks for all of the replies, loads of good info in there! I've found that my apistos take Dr Bassleer (http://www.bassleer.com/fish_food_biofish) quite readily, everything from the 'regular' to garlic and acai, but it's slightly more difficult to find online than some more recognised brands.

Mike/Peter, are there any particular frozen foods you find go down well? I tend to feed a mix of Daphnia and Cyclops, with mosquito larvae (live or frozen) when I can find it. There are plenty more available but I'm yet to try some of the more 'exotic' mixes, for instance the Discus mix which I think contains beefheart, or the mysis shrimp which I simply wasn't sure about!

 

[davidjp1982]

Such fussy fish - I just tried out the Hikari Micro Pellets that came with PFK magazine this month and despite them being a small orange pellet like the NLS Cichlid pellets they wouldn't even look at them!

 

[aarhud]

I feed everything I keep NLS (Wild apistos and tank raised). Keeping other fish that eat pellets in the tank with the Apistogramma helps.

 

[MonteSS]

Mine like the crumbles from Kens

 

[Evan]

I feed NLS pellets as well. I have only kept 20-ish species but all have eaten them eventually.

Never had much trouble with the wild caught fish. The ones I had trouble with were the juveniles from breeders. Probably because they had been raised on live foods.

 

[deliriouz]

Mine are fed on Sera viformo and Sera discus granules.