Feeding Bristlenoses

[FishyFriends]

Hi This is going to be a silly question but I'm going to ask anyway......

I have two new bristlenoses in my cichlid tank they are 4-5cm, (looking like one male, one female) they have been in there for a week and I haven't actually seen them eat as yet....

I have given the fish a variety of foods - flake, Spirilina tablets, a complete sinking tablet and frozen blood worms.....

They are very active and I have seen them in different areas of the tank, on the slate, pretend log, in the plants (but never at the food at feeding times)

While shopping for the bristles i noticed that they gave them zucchini which they devoured......

Is zucchini ok for cichlids as well???? And does it need to be organic zucchini or just run of the mill zucchini from supermarket??????

Thanks for getting this far

[wombat1100]

Bristlenose LOVE zucchini, just from the veggie shop run of the mill zucchini nothing special. you will find they eat more at night in the dark than in the day time anyway, but the zucchini they eat at any time!, my cichlids used to peck away at it aswell , so i guess thats all good too!
wait till they breed and all the babies are on the zucchini at once , its a sight to behold!
Dazz

[joz]

Slice and boil the Zuchhini,once it can sink to the bottom its all good.
I originally put it into my tank for the plecos but now all my fish go crazy for it.

[FishyFriends]

Thanks guys..... Not such a silly question then..... I was a little worried whether the cichlids could digest it, all the fish in thank are in the growing stages, we will be looking for a 2nd 4'er in 6ish months to house them..... can't see myself selling them back to the lfs, will hopefully breed them at some stage.....

Thanks again Hayls

[Leone]

I dont even bother to boil my zuccini. Just cut a chunk (or a slice) and I either put a rubber band around it and a rock so that it sinks to the bottom, or if it is a small slice, I put a fork in it and it sinks..
All my fish love it - from Angels and Kribs, to Plattys, Mollys, Neon tetras but most of all my bristlenose and corys..
They also love peas... I just throw a couple into the tank - the Clown loaches play with them for a while, but in a day or so, they are all gone..

[wombat1100]

I don't do anything but a rubber band on a rock also.
Why do you cook it Joz? they seem to devour it raw OK
though i do have my floating glass thermometers tied onto the rock with fishing line so i done have to put my hand in the tank every time i feed them, i just grab the thermometer and pull up the rock!

[joz]

Oh ,probably because I'm a chef....hehe!
But mainly because it just sinks to the bottom I suppose.
I think I started doing it that way years ago,I saw the guys at an aquarium doing it to their zucchs and lettuce leaves.
Never really questioned it because the fish love it,the stuff that was not cooked stayed floating around the surface and wasn't eaten..

[FishyFriends]

Well i got some zucchini sliced it and placed it on a stainless skewer (which sunk it) I have one bristle permanattely attached to it, the other i haven't seen, although we found one bristles hiding spot and put it in front of him...hehe, hopefully little miss bristle makes her appearance again soon....

Thanks again

[aquariumleasing]

Peel and slice the zucchini and freeze it. Add to the tank frozen - it soon sinks.

[wombat1100]

So what else do you guys feed your bristles? i have tried pumpkin, they love that too, and a added bonus of pumpkin is it turns their spots a shade of orange!
has anyone tried carrots or the like?
i used to feed cooked , pealed peas to my silver dollars but it clouded the water so i stopped it. i don't think the peas got to the bottom so the bristles could have a munch b4 the dollars ate them! maybe now the dollars are gone i will try again. though the peeling of the peas was painful !! :)
any foods that will encourage faster growth and that are low cost would be good!!! ;)
Joz, you mentioned lettuce leaves, how did they go ? did you weigh them down?

[Woodsy]

Interesting, if pumpkin encouraged orange spots, I would tend to think that foods containing high levels of vitamin A would also do the same thing. Something to test? Could be particularly good for Africans...

[joz]

Yes Wombat, I did weigh it down..

[FishyFriends]

I read somewhere that they like bok choy???? And apparently it doesn't make as much mess in the tank. I put 2/3 of a zucchini in the 6ftr on Sunday it is was all gone this morning, not sure how much our new Sailfin Gibby ate, but I did spot him on it a couple of times..... Was thinking about putting in some pumpkin as well as i tried that in the Americans tank and it was a hit.....

[Marekzero]

Hey guys I was just wondering how often do you put veggies into your tank?

I slice about a 2cm piece of cucumber and put a fork in it so it sinks.

I put it in - in the morning when i put the lights on and feed the other fish and take it out (pretty much eaten) 8hours or so later when i take the lights off.

I have been doing this for about 3 days now and was just wondering if that's too much?

I have yet to get some zucchini :D

Cheers

[wombat1100]

i put a 1/3 piece of zucchini in and leave it in until its gone, usually it takes about 2 days to disappear, i do that weekly
so I'm not sure if I'm underfeeding or not!

[GoGuppy]

i put a 1/3 piece of zucchini in and leave it in until its gone, usually it takes about 2 days to disappear, i do that weekly
so I'm not sure if I'm underfeeding or not!

Is that in addition to any other foods you feed them? or do you just feed them the zucchini? :confused:

[wombat1100]

yes in addition to regular twice daily feed for all my fish of tetra color bits, they sink straight away and the bristles and plecos jump on it, i also give them algae disc's every now and then.

[dragonsmatt]

Wombat how did you prepare you pumpkin for your bristles? And did the other fish like it also?

[wombat1100]

no prep at all mate, just dumped it in, most of the fish have a sniff at it, but mainly the bristles ate it

[dragonsmatt]

thanks Wombat I will definatley try that with my bristles, would be cool to see em a little orange lmao

[canberra_plec]

as for sinking the zixhinni keep an eye out for an old bike wheel or head down to your local bike repair shop and just get some stainless bike spokes :)

nice and cheap and if you have a bench grinder sharpening them helps too!!

[dragonsmatt]

I have just set-up a dedicated BN tank I have 1 male and 2 females in it. I am feeding them a mix of veges and a few wardley shrimp pellets (low protien) Should I be using more variety or other things added to their diet?
As you all would of guessed I am trying to get my first BN fry :D

[canberra_plec]

na that sounds fine, if you can get your hands on some algae wafers it will help them alot but other than that they will happily eat all of that. also you got plenty of wood?

[dragonsmatt]

yeah I got a real nice big peice of wood in there... I did have algae wafers but I just bought the cheap pre packed stuff from an out of town LFS and my LFS told me to stop using it and wait till I get some good brand stuff as she had alot of problems with pre packed stuff early on in her BN keeping as it has too much protein in it, she only uses the shrimp pellets as it only has 30% protein. I will eventually get some algae wafers is there a good brand to look for???

[canberra_plec]

na not really. i found wardley to be the worst... the one i buy is actually the resun made one, i buy by the 10kg at a time lol. its high in actual spirlina and doesent break down too quick either.

if your worried about brands and all that you can use medical spirlina from the health food store. i actually use it every second day or so any ways alongside what you already feed them. its litteraly just tablet form algae.
be careful not to over feed tho because any left overs of the stuff will make your tank green lol.