[rozzomono]

Im new to African Cichlids. I went to my local tropical fish supply and purchased what i thought were electric yellow african cichlids. It might sound weird but im telling u that when i bought these two fish they had that distinctive yellow color that your typical electric yellow should be. When i put them into my aquarium, it seemed like over a course of a few days they both started to look orange. The exact same color as a gold fish. When i went back to the store, I checked the aquarium i plucked them from and all the electric yellow's had the typical neon yellow color. Im looking at them right now, and im telling u, they have the same color as a fruit orange. They're doral fin is just like an electric yellow's with the very tip top a little black in color. I dont understand what the deal is? Is it my lighting? I have a 150 gal tank with 4 florescent lights on top. Im so confused? Has this happend to anyone else?

 

[Fogelhund]

Would really need to see a picture to judge properly. What are you feeding them?

 

[Super Turtleman]

I agree...a pic would be nice. They sound pretty cool looking though...

 

[copasetic]

sounds to me like typical electric yellows hybrid with red zebra's

 

[justin323]

^agreed, pics would be best though.

 

[cichlidaholic]

Is there any black on the dorsal?

 

[rozzomono]

Im feeding them Cichlid Staple and brine shrimp/ blood worms 2-3 times a week

 

[rozzomono]

Im going to get some pictures up hopefully today.

 

[cichlidaholic]

I wouldn't feed mbuna bloodworms. They are believed to cause bloat.

 

[Aquanist]

I wouldn't feed mbuna bloodworms. They are believed to cause bloat.

For herbivores that is. With carnivorous and/or omnivorous that's nothing but excellent food. Yellow Lab being omnivorous it doesn't do any harm to feed bloodworm. Feeding them high in spirulina diet then again can result in black/dark patches on the fish. I have had I sprengerae, L. caerulaeus, C. afra and M. cyaneorhabdos for a few years and mainly carnivorous diet has so far resulted in 0 cases of bloat.

 

[cichlidaholic]

I wouldn't feed mbuna bloodworms. They are believed to cause bloat.

For herbivores that is. With carnivorous and/or omnivorous that's nothing but excellent food. Yellow Lab being omnivorous it doesn't do any harm to feed bloodworm.

Sorry, but I respectfully disagree for all mbuna. :thumb:

 

[why_spyder]

Sorry, but I respectfully disagree for all mbuna. :thumb:

I, too, disagree that bloodworms can/should be fed to mbuna.

 

[why_spyder]

I think Shwaine made a good point about bloodworms

As for bloodworms, I suppose the biggest issue depends on how they are harvested. Anything harvested from random freshwater locations can possibly carry freshwater pathogens into the tank. This could induce internal infections that could be mistaken for a blockage and might even be untreatable by standard aquarium medication. This would be more an artefact of the collection environment than the food though. I've had midges (biteless, small mosquitos) lay eggs in a tank before and the fish suffered no ill-effects from snacking down on this sudden windfall of larva. Midge larva are smaller than bloodworms of course (bloodworms are the larva of a larger mosquito species), but eating larva is something many fish in the wild would do if they got the opportunity. It should be a sparse treat though (to replicate the intermittent nature of finding such a treat in the wild), unless you've got fish that would eat insects in the wild as their primary food.

found here

 

[TheeMon]

Sorry, but I respectfully disagree for all mbuna. :thumb:

I, too, disagree that bloodworms can/should be fed to mbuna.

bloodworms killed off half my population of demasoni...

 

[cichlidaholic]

Sorry, but I respectfully disagree for all mbuna. :thumb:

I, too, disagree that bloodworms can/should be fed to mbuna.

bloodworms killed off half my population of demasoni...

There are far too many risks involved as far as I'm concerned.

And besides that, Ad Konings advises against it, and that's good enough for me! :lol:

I do feed bloodworms to my Bolivian rams, and have fed them to JD's in the past, but when it comes to my cichlids from Lake Malawi, a good quality fish food is all they get.