what can u feed petricola's in a tank full of mbun(cichlids

[ismalj]

hi i am new and i am getting 4 petricola and dont know any thing about catfish.
i would like to know is what to feed these petricola's, i have been told that they are meat eater !!!

i currenty have a 6ft tank full of mbuna (malawi cichlids) and they only eat spirulina flakes will this be any good for petricola's ? if not then how am i suppose to feed them meat as if any of my cichlids eat meat ie blood worms ect they will get bloat and die

any ideas and suggestions pls

regards jav

[syno321]

The petricolas eat anything, the trick is to make sure you feed when the lights are out or your very competitive Mbuna will get everything offered with the lights on. Early morning, or late evening, will ensure that whatever type of sinking pellets, flakes,etc. you offer, they will get down to the zone where the petricolas prefer as their fine dining location

[ismalj]

so they are ok then to eat constant vegi stuff then?
sounds good to me , so theirs no need to feed blood worms in their at night then!! feww!! thats 1 stress over my head then,.

[drpleco]

I'm not sure if New Life Spectrum (NLS) cichlid pellets are available in the UK, but try them if they are. I had a tank of mbuna and syno multies and everyone loved the NLS. It has a high protein content and is highly digestible for the mbuna. You'll notice when you clean your filter that the food dissolves easily - it does the same thing inside the fish, which prevents intestinal blockages. Supposedly you can even feed tropheus and other pure herbivores without problems.

[Barbie]

I kept these fish with my Tropheus for years, no problem. They thrived on the veggie based diet, but I also supplemented them. I put a pot in the tank with a hole in the bottom that the Synos could fit through and the cichlids could not. Then I just dropped food into the pot through a piece of clear 1/2" tubing. The Tropheus didn't see the humor, but it worked great.

New Life Spectrum foods are alright to feed mbuna, but you definitely shouldn't switch them too quickly. The high fiber content is actually what's supposed to prevent impactions from the protein levels. I've also used it to feed Tropheus successfully, but I know people that have bloated their fish switching them over. Definitely just go slow and easy ;).

Barbie

[ismalj]

thanks for ur help guys but i didnt by these after all the sell let me down but nether less i bought 4 wc syno njassae