[CardinalSin]

Hello to all. New guy here. Also new to fish in general. I need to know how much I should feed the fish in my tank. I have a 50 gallon tank. I have 10 African Cichlids in there, 1 algae eater, 1 blue lobster, 2 parrot cichlids, and a spotted catfish. How much do I feed them? What kind of foods? How often? I'm afraid I'm feeding them too much because my water is just a little bit cloudy. Just a little bit. Any help?

 

[cturner]

Has your tank been properly cycled? You could have cloudy water because of a bacteria bloom. You have quite the mixture there for a 50 gallon tank. In my opinion your parrots should be in a different tank by themselves. I would also take out the lobster because when it molts and your cichlids are larger he will get picked on and possibly killed. As far as feeding them it all depends on what size they are. What I feed my cichlids is NLS (New Life Spectrum) and some cichlid flake too. Feed as much as they will eat in about 30 seconds. If they are small then a few feedings a day is good to do with good filtration and lots of water changes. I'm sure someone else will chime in with what they think is best and what they would do.

 

[CardinalSin]

I figured the Parrots shouldn't go with the rest of my cichlids but my wife wanted them and the Petsmart guy said it would be fine. What's the worst case scenario if I keep the parrots in there??

The cichlids I have grow to about 5 or 6 inches so hopefully they wont be big enough to harass the lobster. Hopefully .

Thanks for your reply. I look forward to more.

 

[cturner]

Worst case....the other fish could be too much action for the parrots and cause stress to them, possibly leading to illness or death (worst case).

 

[Boomr99]

and the Petsmart guy said it would be fine.

Well that's your first problem. You listened to a Petsmart employee.

The cichlids I have grow to about 5 or 6 inches so hopefully they wont be big enough to harass the lobster.

Not sure what you mean by this... it doesn't require a big fish to pick on that lobster. A 5" fish is easily big enough to kill it.

Do you know what type of cichlids you have? Is the tank cycled?
We can't recommend what to feed until you can tell us what type of cichlids they are.
For now a general sinking cichlid pellet like NLS, Hikari or other brands will be fine.

 

[edouthirt]

The cichlids I have grow to about 5 or 6 inches so hopefully they wont be big enough to harass the lobster.

I tried a blue lobster / african cichlid combo and the lobster didn't even last til the cichlids were adults. I would suggest taking him out too!

But as far as feeding goes... I do the same as cturner... as much as they can eat in 30 seconds... but I do it twice a day... even for the adults. With good filtration and weekly water changes, it seems to be a very healthy and active (lots of spawning) environment.

Good luck!

 

[CardinalSin]

The type of cichlids I have are electric yellow and blue, acei, jewel, peacock, and various other colors such as powder blue, black/yellow, albino, beige/black stripes. Everyone seems peaceful at the moment. I've seen everybody scatter when my lobster comes out to eat. Hopefully this level of respect lasts for a loooooong time.

 

[cturner]

Can you post pictures of the fish that you have???

You still didn't answer the question that we are all waiting to hear the reply to. Was your tank properly cycled?? Since cloudy water was one of your original concerns.

 

[Cook.MN]

Well, one night your cichlids are going to have a lobster dinner

Sorry mate, it's inevitable.

 

[MalawiLover]

The type of cichlids I have are electric yellow and blue, acei, jewel, peacock, and various other colors such as powder blue, black/yellow, albino, beige/black stripes. Everyone seems peaceful at the moment.

With those species you listed (even without the unknown ones) your tank is not going to be large enough once they reach sexual maturity. The acei, black/yellow , beige/black (likely a Ps. crabro and/or M. auratus) are not suitable for a 50 gallon tank (they get too big and/or are to aggressive for the space alotted). It is very important that you get your fish all identified.

Having cichlids is very different from having a tropcal community tank. There are very specific guidlines for compatability due to the great amounts of aggression and territorial issues that happen with cichlids. Everybody is fine while they are all juveniles, but when they reach sxual maturity (way before they reach physical maturity) they will begin to fight and possibly (more like "will definitely") kill off any they don't want around.

This is the hardest thing for new cichlid keepers to accept. Any one of you fish could easily claim an entire 50g tank for himself and cause world war 3 trying to get everyone else out of his territory.

 

[cturner]

Well put MalawiLover!!

 

[CardinalSin]

Can you post pictures of the fish that you have???

You still didn't answer the question that we are all waiting to hear the reply to. Was your tank properly cycled?? Since cloudy water was one of your original concerns.

Yeah, I waited 6-8 weeks for the cycling period. I never considered doing 25% water changes every week though. I'm thinking with the amount of food I feed them I should change the water frequently.

 

[CardinalSin]

The type of cichlids I have are electric yellow and blue, acei, jewel, peacock, and various other colors such as powder blue, black/yellow, albino, beige/black stripes. Everyone seems peaceful at the moment.

With those species you listed (even without the unknown ones) your tank is not going to be large enough once they reach sexual maturity. The acei, black/yellow , beige/black (likely a Ps. crabro and/or M. auratus) are not suitable for a 50 gallon tank (they get too big and/or are to aggressive for the space alotted). It is very important that you get your fish all identified.

Having cichlids is very different from having a tropcal community tank. There are very specific guidlines for compatability due to the great amounts of aggression and territorial issues that happen with cichlids. Everybody is fine while they are all juveniles, but when they reach sxual maturity (way before they reach physical maturity) they will begin to fight and possibly (more like "will definitely") kill off any they don't want around.

This is the hardest thing for new cichlid keepers to accept. Any one of you fish could easily claim an entire 50g tank for himself and cause world war 3 trying to get everyone else out of his territory.

****! ****! ****!!!!! **** you Petsmart employees!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If I remove my two parrots will it help a little bit? I really do not want to remove my other cichlids or my lobster. I also can't afford a whole nother tank setup for these guys. This sucks bad. Thanks for educating me though guys.

 

[CardinalSin]

Hey guys. I was wondering. I have a 30 gallon tank with one angel, two glass fish, one glass catfish, one blue flame gourami, one blue dwarf gourami, one black ghost knife, one algea eater, three dwarf puffers and a spotted leaf fish. Can I take my parrots out of my 50 gallon and put them in there?? I haven't had any issues in this smaller tank. The gouramis are peaceful and my puffers are happy as long as they have plenty of snails. The leaf fish seems to be only aggressive towards the angel. I'm running out of options. Aside from returning the parrots to Petsmart (with no refund) I have nowhere to put these guys.

 

[MalawiLover]

Unfortunately your 30g doesn't have room for the parrots. They can be very aggressive to calm tankmates like in a tropical community. They will also get to large for a 30g.

 

[CardinalSin]

Unfortunately your 30g doesn't have room for the parrots. They can be very aggressive to calm tankmates like in a tropical community. They will also get to large for a 30g.

So then I guess I'll have to keep them in with the rest of my cichlids. Oh well.

 

[edouthirt]

Most fish stores will let you bring in fish for store credit, or in some cases pay you for them.

You dont have to keep them.

 

[acreal]

Aside from returning the parrots to Petsmart (with no refund) I have nowhere to put these guys.

Hmm why not ? They've obviously been incompetent or misleading, so I would go there and _require_ them to refund me, making some "noise" if necessary. :x

 

[zazz]

Well, one night your cichlids are going to have a lobster dinner

Sorry mate, it's inevitable.

at some stage you just have to take a punt...if you are trying to create a slice of nature sometimes lobster is on the menu....

although i must say that the armour on those dudes is well worked out ...they must stand some chance surely.

 

[MalawiLover]

You might also check your local fish stores. You may not find anyone to pay you for them, but many will take them in for some type of store credit or discount on your next visit. You will never get what you paid for them (unless Petsmart will do a refund), but personally in the long run the lesson learned is more important than the money lost.

I would try Petsmart first, and go from there.