Feeding Mbunas.

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Gary - 23 Dec 2004 20:03 GMT

Hello,

How many times per day do you think I should feed young Mbuna's? There are
14 in the tank.

I have been feeding them maybe 3 - 4 times a day, with only enough food for
them to have it all eaten within a minute.

They seem to have a much more aggressive appetite compared with other
freshwater fish.

Regards,

Gary.
PS - how should one pronounce Mbuna ?

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CanadianCray - 23 Dec 2004 20:17 GMT

It is VERY easy to overfeed Mbuna's. They always appear to be hungry, in
fact they will always eat even to the point that its bad for them. Consider
the fact that they can go for weeks at a time without food & be perfectly
fine. I personally feed mine once to twice per day MAX. It is also a very
good idea to vary the types of food you feed them. I switch up between two
types of pellet food & every other day or so give them frozen brine shrimp.

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> Hello,
>
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
> Gary.
> PS - how should one pronounce Mbuna ?

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NetMax - 23 Dec 2004 20:27 GMT

> Hello,
>
[quoted text clipped - 11 lines]
> Gary.
> PS - how should one pronounce Mbuna ?

Most mbuna are omnivorous leaning towards herbivorous, so the fry will be
picking at algae in between meals. I don't feed extra when I have mbuna
fry. I just make sure I feed in a way that some gets to the bottom. I
believe it is pronounced mbuna ;~)

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Deepseafisher - 26 Dec 2004 13:32 GMT

Also another consideration with mbuna is Malawi bloat. Its fatal and is
caused by too much protein. You are supposed to avoid live foods, and
feed a high concentration of vegetable matter. I have 6 yellow labs,
and every time I put any kind of vegetable in the tank, they go
absolutely nuts over it. Everything I have read on the subject is to
feed them once a day, and skip feeding them once a week to help prevent
them from contracting bloat. How big are they? Had any breed? My labs
just started breeding recently and its a pretty exciting thing. What
kind are you keeping?

http://www.cichlidfish.com/portal/forums

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steve@tropheus.demon.co.uk - 26 Dec 2004 14:43 GMT

>Also another consideration with mbuna is Malawi bloat. Its fatal and is
>caused by too much protein. You are supposed to avoid live foods, and
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
>just started breeding recently and its a pretty exciting thing. What
>kind are you keeping?

Mbuna should be fed more often than once a day. They really should
have small amounts frequently. Almost all Mbuna are algae eaters and
continuously scrape it off the rocks. Growing good algae in tanks
isn't easy.

I don't know what your "labs" are. If they are Labidochromis they also
eat the "live" food that lives in the algae. If they are Labeotropheus
their diet is almost 100% algae so they will live very well on a
vegetarian food.

Just a few of the Mbuna have weird diets and need to be handled more
carefully.

Steve

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Pet Forum / Aquaria / Cichlids / December 2004

Feeding Mbunas.