Question About Ingredients for Homemade Food

[Glass Onion]

Dear Pam,
I was directed your way via Caroline Estes.
I have been making a homemade frozen diet for my Tropheus for about 8 months now and they are thriving on it. Showing amazing color and spawning like mad.
I am always thinking of ways to better the food by considering their diets in the wild and how to best simulate, naturally, the vitamins and such they receiving when they are grazing the aufwuchs.

My recipe is as follows:
Shrimp, scallops, tilapia, turnip and collard greens, red chard, broccoli, red cabbage, carrots, acorn squash, sweet potato, yellow squash peelings, red, yellow and orange pepper and spirulina powder.

My question is this: would it be a good idea to add some kind of natural juice like Odwalla "Super Food" instead of water? I am worried about the fructose content and any adverse reactions it may have for the Trophs. Juice of the caliber of the Super Food is super nutritious and has a ton of trace minerals, etc in it, but my mind keeps circling back to the question of "how often does fruit actually land in their diet in the wild?"
My other question is this: what about adding probiotics to the food or some sort of good fermenting fiber like beets? Fermentation in the gut of mammals adds all sorts of benifits and so I, being a Fish Geek, started thinking about it for my Troph's food. we had a rep from a dog food company out touting his line of probiotics foods and that got me to thinking about it for my finned friends.

Thanks in advance for your input!

All the Best,
Jenney.

[Pam Chin]

Hi Jenney!

Homemade foods are popular with serious hobbyists who want to play an active part in what their fish are eating. And many have modified the shrimp and pea recipe that has been so popular over the years. And I have known a few that just literally clean out the refrigerator on the days they are making fish food. However I really consider the shrimp/pea mix as a basic or staple food for all cichlids, but you can make it with less shrimp or with more vegetable matter depending on the cichlids you are working with.

I don't think you want to add any more liquid to your mix, since it is more likely to just dissolve in your tank rather then provide any nutrition, if they take a big bite the liquid and small pieces are just going to come thru their gills and add to the bioload in your tank. Ground up vitamins would be a better choice.

Regarding a Tropheus diet, you and I are at opposite end of the scale. I would never feed my Tropheus shrimp/pea mix on a regular basis, I might throw some in there once or twice a month for treat, but more then likely I would not feed it all. I am sure your fish are loving your food, but is it really the best for them in the long run? In your recipe there isn't anything they would run into in the wild. 99% of their diet is at best a green slime, and they graze on that all day long. I like to feed them a cheap green flake and promote grazing with letting the algae go on the tank and even rotating rocks or substrate in to their tanks.

When you feed Tropheus rich foods, lots of different things can happen over time. As you probably know these fish are susceptible to stress, and sometimes it only takes one thing to push them over the edge. Rich foods can cause fertility problems if they get too chubby they get too lazy to spawn. Fatty liver disease; they aren't equipped to digest shrimp/scallops/tilapia on a regular basis. I believe with my all green diet, my Tropheus are going live longer and produce longer then Tropheus fed on a high protein diet. Remember food is one of the only things you can control when keeping Troheus, providing you can control yourself.lol It is only natural to want to provide the good foods for your fish but is really the best for them.

Looks like you are as addicted to Tropheus as myself. They certainly are one fun fish to work with!

Here is what I am working with right now:

Tropheus murago
Tropheus sp black bemba
Tropheus ikola
Tropheus sp. red lupota
Tropheus moorii nkonde
Tropheus duboisi halembe
Tropheus moori golden kazumba
Tropheus brichardi kipili

If you have any more questions or comments, please start a new message, as you won't be able to reply to this one.

Cichlid Power!
Pam