over feeding

[johnbrooks]

Almost 3 months ago, I was given a 29 gallon tank with 3 African Cichlids. Since, then I have added one crawfish. This tank was high nitrates (160 to 200) even after the change of the move.

With advice from Jon and emails from George.....the nitrates are now between 20 and 40. So, I will stop the 3 water changes per week and do a once a week change.

this tank had 3 fish from the Mbuna family and from Lake Malawi.

cobalt blue male 4 inches long
yellow lab female 2 inches long
rusty cichlid female 4 in long (larger than the blue male)

Getting to my question: The rusty has learned to eat from my finger tips and is getting more attention and more food. The others do not do this. Every morning I feed one large pinch of flakes purchased at critter and from their dispenser. maybe, guessing......15 to 20 flakes.

Today, I have hand fed the Rusty about 7 or 8 flakes in addition to the regular feedings. IS THIS TOO MUCH?

Everytime I sit in front of the aquarium, rusty comes right to the glass and wants me to hand feed her. Hard to resist.

OH. I hand feed the crawfish everyday. He has a little cave he hides in.
At feeding time he sticks his head out and two pinchers. I put a stick of food in his claws. Should I do this everyday? I intend to move the crawfish to a 3 gallon tank, alone, soon.

[davidtcb1]

Good post...and question.

Are you talking about the AquaDine food they have in the cylinders at Critter? If so, those bits/flakes of food are pretty large and dense. I would consider cutting the number of those down two about 4-6 per day. You should see your nitrates drop even further and you should have no problem reducing your water changes to once per week or ten days, etc. as long as you are adequately or over filtered. It also won't hurt to skip one day per week, where you don't feed at all.

[jon carman]

I feed small pinches several times a day. So instead of ever feeding them alot, I feed a little pinches about every time I go out there. That way they are always ready to eat, and excess is not getting turned into nitrates.

I would reduce the aquadine to about half that much, and then slowly increase it if their bellies begin to sink.

[johnbrooks]

The previous owner bought everything from the critter. So, yes, the food is from their tube dispensers.
I will cut back on the flakes, per your advice.

Now another thing. I feed them Romaine Lettuce. About a 2 inch square every couple of days. I bought a magnetic lettuce clip (will give my thoughts on the Product Review page, later). They eat the lettuce down to the clip. I have tried washing and freezing the lettuce square, but usually just wash it and put in the tank. Freeze or don't freeze? How much? and how often? Any suggestions?

Strange, the Cobalt Blue has never shown any interest in the lettuce, but the other 2 love it.
Thanks again for your help.

[davidtcb1]

I have had good luck with my mbunas with boiled squash and zucchini (you can keep frozen in slices then boil when needed and put in veggie clip) as well as dried sheets of seaweed on occasion. If it were me, this is something I would do randomly, maybe once a week as a treat. As long as your blue cobalt is eating the other food, I wouldn't worry that he doesn't have interest in the lettuce. Just a preference thing no doubt.