Question how often should you feed your baby chilids and adults ?

Thats a very generalised question; but we feed our south american cichlids twice daily and our malawi cichlids three times daily. Each feed is a different meal as we try and provide a variety of food sources.

We try to work on the 30 second rule: that is; we put a small amount of feed in and when it is all gone, another small amount is put in, and this continues until it takes longer then 30sec for the small amount to be consumed.

We dont breed ours so I haven't had to feed the fry.

What cichlids have you got?

3 times a week is not enough, especially if they are still young and growing. I do like C&C, 2x's a day. I feed mine when the lights come on in the morning and then again in the afternoon. The Africans get African Cichlid pellets in the morning, then in the afternoon they get flakes, either algae based ones or vegetable based cichlid flakes. I will also give them a zucchini or cucumber to munch on all day a couple times a week.. I will mix it up at times too and give them algae pellets, or fresh peas (skinned) Africans eat a lot, especially while young and growing.

My community tank gets 2 feedings a day too, flake in the morning, then in the evening either crumbles, blood worms or shrimp pellets. My fry tanks, with the tiny ones, get 3-4 feedings a day because they need it. I take and mix up 3 different flake foods, grind them up into powder and that is what I feed the fry. I also have to do more water changes because of this.

If your tank is new the guy may have told you this to keep you from overfeeding and having ammonia spikes. Just make sure that when you do feed them its only as much as they can eat withing 30 seconds. That way you wont have to worry about food getting lost and crapping your water out.

Don't feed the Africans any meat based food like blood worms or shrimp, it will give them bloat.

Actually, you should not have them in with your SW cichlids, they need a higher pH, ONLY vegetable based foods and will get very aggressive. Your SW fish, the convicts, jacks, and the silver dollars need a omnivore diet, a mix of protein (meats) and veggies. If you feed only veggie based foods they will not thrive like they should, but if you feed them protein the Africans will eat it too and they will get sick from it. It is not advised to keep the two groups together. Africans need a high pH (7.8-8.5) and hard water whereas SW need softer water and lower pH. Africans become VERY aggressive fish as they grow, and should only be kept with other aggressive Africans. You are going to have trouble when they become adults. They are probably all getting along now, but when they hit sexual maturity all hell is going to break loose.

If your Africans are on the thin side and you are only feeding them every couple days you are slowly starving them to death! Lettuce is not enough!

Feed them a good pellet food at LEAST once a day. Africans need to eat DAILY. Feed them a small handful of pellets. They will scarf them up, and I am sure your other fish would appreciate it too. I do not know how often your other fish, like the JD's and Convicts need food, but I do know Africans need DAILY food. Best to feed twice a day. Africans should be nice and stocky, not thin. If they are getting thin they are not healthy, and it is probably because you do not feed them enough.

African Mbuna have very long digestive tracts, made for digesting vegetable matter. When given foods like shrimp and blood worms, they are highly susceptible to Malawi bloat. This can and mostly does kill them. So, if you want to feed it to them, do it very sparingly. I will give mine a treat of shrimp or blood worms once a month. But in very small amounts, like maybe one each.

This is why it is not good to mix up the fish groups. You say the other fish are big and healthy, but the Africans are getting too skinny. The way they eat is very different, so one group is doing good, the other not so good.

Your friend is asking for a disaster to happen. He will find that his fish will slowly die off if that is all he is feeding them.

Here is a good article on how and what to feed Africans
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/feeding_mbuna.php

And one on Malawi Bloat:
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/malawi_bloat.php

ok i have been feding my africns 2 times a day and ther looking better pellets in the moring and flakes afternoon bevore tank turns off

queston how long do u leave your light on i do 7h or 8 max???