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I want to start feeding my Mbuna's some fresh veggies.

I need to know 2 things:

1. What are the best veggies to give them?

2. How do I prepare them (boiled, fresh, skinned, etc)?

FYI - My live stock is listed in my signature.

72G Bowfront. 1 Sunshine Peacock, 2 Yellow Labs, 1 Ps. Elongatus, 1 Blue Ahli, 1 Red Kadanga, 1 Mel. Exasperatus, 1 metriaclima emmiltos, 1 Ancistrus.

14.5G 4 Neon Tetras.

This is from a plec site, but I think it will be fine for your mbuna's too. http://plecofanatics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=31574

Cheers
TW

That is i a very usefull list, i'v been useing it for some time now, and have only found that there are a few things that both my pleco and my guppies dont go after.

Clip a piece of lettuce and they'll gobble it up.

I just did the lettuce last night, but no action.

I need to figure out a way to get it into the bottom of the tank....its just floating on the water and they are totally not interested.

I'll try other veggies on the list and see how it goes.

Thanks guys.

72G Bowfront. 1 Sunshine Peacock, 2 Yellow Labs, 1 Ps. Elongatus, 1 Blue Ahli, 1 Red Kadanga, 1 Mel. Exasperatus, 1 metriaclima emmiltos, 1 Ancistrus.

14.5G 4 Neon Tetras.

Oh, just checked out the fish in your signature. You might want to buy some Formula Two by Ocean Nutrition (in the frozen foods section in the LFS) and use that instead of fresh vegies or you can use a spirulina food soak (Zoe by Kent Marine or Chemipure by Boyd?? - Both have a freshwater and saltwater forumla, but both works for freshwater). My venustus and labs never ate fresh veges other than frozen peas.

I hear you.

As it stands, I have been feeding them all Spirulina sticks and Cichlid pellets (a really nice formulation I picked up - smells strong as heck?!?!)

I really want to ensure that these guys get a wide variety of foods.

I give the Venustus a treat - once a month I toss is a few guppy fry - they usually don't last more than 2-3 days.

But I really want to find some veggies to supplement the Mbuna's diets.

I'll try something new tonight.

72G Bowfront. 1 Sunshine Peacock, 2 Yellow Labs, 1 Ps. Elongatus, 1 Blue Ahli, 1 Red Kadanga, 1 Mel. Exasperatus, 1 metriaclima emmiltos, 1 Ancistrus.

14.5G 4 Neon Tetras.

The first five suggestions on the vegie list work good, i personally like useing the rock and rubberband. The screwcumber is a bit of a hassle to get in the us, but still a usefull tool.

I just fed some lettuce spines to the loaches, they wouldnt touch it till it reached the bottom.

My skin is pretty sensitive so I try to keep exposure to the tank water to a minumum. What I did was tie the veggies to the loop in the handle of a fish net, then lowered the handle end into the water till it was near enough the bottom that they'd be interested. The top net part I wedged between glass lid and side of tank. Then when they were done I just pulled the net back out. No contact with the water on my part and veggies for the fishies.

I've fed raw, but also soaked in hot water for a few seconds.

^_^

My African cichlids like the following (descending order of preference)

* Peas (thawed, two hemispheres taken from skin and mashed)

* Zucchini (microwave, attach to rock w elastic band. I do it with the skin on, they hollow it out like a little cup, v impressive)

* Cucumber (as above but they don't relish it as much)

* Lettuce (blanche in hot water or micro very briefly, do the rock thing again....they are a bit ho-hum about this menu item so offer it only occasionally)

I don't feed them the following but have heard that others have offered; egg yolk, cooked pumpkin, cheese(!)
[2 outta 3 there not veggies, so back to talk of vegetables.....]

These I tried and had no success;
spinach (the type I had they tried to eat and would spit out only to try again and so on, tomato)
Green beans (just were not interested)

I should try some of the Chinese veggies I use regularly like buk choy & choy sum.

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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

Mine showed the most interest(as a group) to a wedge of zuchini, raw but washed very well, skin on the outside.

Introduced a vegie for 1st time to my new mbuna tank last night. Cut the very top of a zucchini (skin on) that I zapped for 30 secs in the microwave. Attached it to a rock with a rubberband. They didn't touch it at first, but by morning I could see they have partially hollowed it out. It just took them a while to figure out this strange new thing is actually food

Cheers
TW

True TW. New foods sometimes need to be offered a few times. Sounds like your crew got the hang of it though.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~

Great list Wish-Ga!

I am gonna try the Zucchini tonight....seems as though that is a popular veggie with the Mbuna.

Not sure yet how I plan on getting it to the bottom, but I think I like the rock idea, that way I can just scoop it out after they are done.

72G Bowfront. 1 Sunshine Peacock, 2 Yellow Labs, 1 Ps. Elongatus, 1 Blue Ahli, 1 Red Kadanga, 1 Mel. Exasperatus, 1 metriaclima emmiltos, 1 Ancistrus.

14.5G 4 Neon Tetras.

How many days is it okay to leave the zucchini in the tank. I was watching it for signs of disintergration & it seemed to be holding its shape (other than where it was eaten). I left it in there for 3 days & by then, it had been eaten, skin and all.

Is it okay to leave for 3 days, or should I remove it sooner?

Cheers
TW