Mixed diet tank?

[eitakppurk]

To anyone that keeps Tropheus with other omni/carnivorous fish: how do you feed to address their different dietary requirements? Switch back and forth from spirulina to brine shrimp and such?

[Ron]

While the tropheus get invertebrate protein in the wild from the aufwuchs, I wouldn't be feeding them straight protein sources at any point in the tank. A little too much and you might have a bloat issue to deal with, which really stings when it comes to more expensive fish.

I prefer to keep them in tropheus-only setups personally.

In the mixed tank, I'd stick to feeding things which toe-the-line a bit. New Life Spectrum is a good, quality food that would work well IMO. A quality spirulina flake would be another good base food for a feeding program in a mixed tank.

[Marty]

Pete Durkin used to feed his Tropheus frozen brine shrimp, you just have to make sure it's all eaten, as Tropheus are constant grazers, and as Ron said it can cause bloat due to their long intestinal tract.

[eitakppurk]

While the tropheus get invertebrate protein in the wild from the aufwuchs, I wouldn't be feeding them straight protein sources at any point in the tank. A little too much and you might have a bloat issue to deal with, which really stings when it comes to more expensive fish.

I prefer to keep them in tropheus-only setups personally.

In the mixed tank, I'd stick to feeding things which toe-the-line a bit. New Life Spectrum is a good, quality food that would work well IMO. A quality spirulina flake would be another good base food for a feeding program in a mixed tank.

Do you think that the spirulina diet would compromise the other fish? I would love to set up a tank just for tropheus but I have limited space I think if it's going to be a big hassle I'll just keep them on my wish list for now!

[Marty]

I feed nearly all of my fish spirulina flake.