# Cichlid Pellets?



## raymondII (Jul 11, 2007)

I read somewhere here that cichlid pellets are good to feed. IF this is true what kind of cichlid pellets should i get?


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## usahockey06 (Jan 15, 2007)

It is very true, although their entire diet should not be just pellets.

The hard part is getting them to eat pellets, I tried for 2 weeks. everyday i added 2 and left, 30 minutes later they were always still there.

If you do get them to eat them, it will improve their colors and health.

good luck.


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## raymondII (Jul 11, 2007)

I have a seperate 10 gallon tank that i keep the feeder fish in for a few weeks before i feed them to my Piranha. If i started feeding them the cichlid pellets, would my piranha benefit from the gold fish that have eating the pellets or no?


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## odyssey (May 30, 2006)

Dave on the Uk forum just bought a 13" caribe from a guy who grew him to that size just on hikari gold pellets in about 2 yrs from 3 ".


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## BlackSunshine (Mar 28, 2006)

New life Spectrum. best brand on the market. A much more robust mixture of all sorts of goodies we feed our fish all in a convent pellet. Its actually so good that you could feed them just that and they would be fine.


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## Hater (Apr 21, 2006)

Actually Hikari Bio Gold is the best brand there by far. Look at the ingredients and compare and you will soon realize why Hikari Bio Gold is so far ahead of the competition.

I have a mixture of pellets of several different brands and keep my mixed pygos on a diet that consist 80-90% pellets and every now and then I would feed smelt, shrimp or whatever I'm in the mood to feed them.

Stay away from the feeders. Feeders to your Piranhas is the equivalent of MCDonalds and Burger King to humans. Very bad for them.

Hater


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## BlackSunshine (Mar 28, 2006)

Hater said:


> Actually Hikari Bio Gold is the best brand there by far. Look at the ingredients and compare and you will soon realize why Hikari Bio Gold is so far ahead of the competition.
> 
> I have a mixture of pellets of several different brands and keep my mixed pygos on a diet that consist 80-90% pellets and every now and then I would feed smelt, shrimp or whatever I'm in the mood to feed them.
> 
> ...


I have looked at them both side by side. I found that NLS had a better listing then HG. I think it was a higher protein content.


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## Hater (Apr 21, 2006)

BlackSunshine said:


> Actually Hikari Bio Gold is the best brand there by far. Look at the ingredients and compare and you will soon realize why Hikari Bio Gold is so far ahead of the competition.
> 
> I have a mixture of pellets of several different brands and keep my mixed pygos on a diet that consist 80-90% pellets and every now and then I would feed smelt, shrimp or whatever I'm in the mood to feed them.
> 
> ...


I have looked at them both side by side. I found that NLS had a better listing then HG. I think it was a higher protein content.
[/quote]

Hey BlackSunshine you might be confusing the two brands. There is Hikari Gold and Hikari Bio Gold. The difference is:

1-Hikari Bio Gold has more protein 49-50% guaranteed as oposed to Hikari Gold that only has 45% Potein.
2-Hikari Bio Gold has Spirulina, very important ingredient as it provides vegetable matter and make the pellet more complete. Hikari Gold doesn't have Spirulina.
3-Hikari Bio Gold has micro organism that help improve the color of any fish that consumes it. No other brand offers this including Hikari Gold.

There is a reason why Hikari Bio Gold is the most expensive brand out there.

Hey BlackSunshine, I can't seem to find New Life Spectrum pellets. Can you direct me to a link where I can read about it or buy it? I have a mixture is pellets in a tubberwear and maybe I can add this brand if it's really good.

Hater


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## BlackSunshine (Mar 28, 2006)

NLF has everything you have listed there for all of those. I get mine at the LFS here. sadly they don't carry the large pellets so I don't get to feed this stuff as much as I'd like. My Arrow and SH don't seem to pay much attention to it. 
Heres a link to the company site.

www.nlspectrum.co.uk
and a review on prac fishkeeping
http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/...?article_id=605

You are right tho. I was comparing it to regular Hakari gold. Bio gold looks to be a new product. It was my opinion that they added too much filler to their old pellets. 3 of the main ingredients are flour wheat and corn. Where NLS is comprised of more of the specific stuff i'd like to give my fish. much more variety in fish meal. But the protein is min 45% on the bio gold. that is actually 10% higher then NLS. however the NLS is enriched with much more in the way of vitamins.


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## Hater (Apr 21, 2006)

Actually I read that yesterday BlackSunchine when I was doing my search on the pellets. You could be on to something. However, that is only one review and it came from the manufacturers website so I'm still not convinced.

When I was reading the review, they did bring up some good points. And I will be adding the pellets to my Pygos diet.

Hater


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## Sheppard (Jul 8, 2004)

Great infor on pellets guys! 
For the life of me I cannot get my Pygo's to eat pellets. I would be so very proud of them if they would just do it!

Is there any way you guys trained them to eat pellets? Or did you just get lucky and they ate them willingly?


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## RAZOR_TOOTH (Jun 22, 2006)

Ive been feeding by Ps the regular Hikari Gold pellets, Ill have to switch to the bio gold now if its that good..
Thanks for the info...

R.T.


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## Hater (Apr 21, 2006)

Sheppard said:


> Great infor on pellets guys!
> For the life of me I cannot get my Pygo's to eat pellets. I would be so very proud of them if they would just do it!
> 
> Is there any way you guys trained them to eat pellets? Or did you just get lucky and they ate them willingly?


Sheppard, I'm afraid that starvation and patience is the key.

I starved my fishes for 3 days, waited till night time and threw in some pellets. Some of the Piranhas took to them and some didn't.

The next day I did the same thing and the day after that until finally they all came around. Now they go crazy for them.

I would recommend a mixture of pellets and from what I've read, Hikari Bio Gold and New Life Spectrum are the best brands out there. I would recommend a combination of both.

Hater


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## Sheppard (Jul 8, 2004)

^^Thanks alot Hater. This is exactly what I was thinking I had to do. Good thing i'm a patient person! I just don't like starving them too much because of attacks on eachother, but I think they should be fine.


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## BMWE36M3 (May 26, 2007)

Hakari Chiclid Gold


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## BlackSunshine (Mar 28, 2006)

Sheppard said:


> Great infor on pellets guys!
> For the life of me I cannot get my Pygo's to eat pellets. I would be so very proud of them if they would just do it!
> 
> Is there any way you guys trained them to eat pellets? Or did you just get lucky and they ate them willingly?


NLS are pretty readly taken up by picky fish. But starvation usually helps sway a fish's food preference.


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## raymondII (Jul 11, 2007)

i have had a few feeder fish swimming around the tank, just the lucky ones that are left from this morning. SO this afternoon i went and bought some cichlid gold pellets and threw 5 of them in the tank and my piranha went absolutly crazy for them, not even caring that there was a feeder fish centimeteres away from his mouth. i guess im lucky


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## Hater (Apr 21, 2006)

RaymondII said:


> i have had a few feeder fish swimming around the tank, just the lucky ones that are left from this morning. SO this afternoon i went and bought some cichlid gold pellets and threw 5 of them in the tank and my piranha went absolutly crazy for them, not even caring that there was a feeder fish centimeteres away from his mouth. i guess im lucky


Your Piranhas are small and will readily accept anything you give them. You already have Hikari Cichlid Gold in their diet, try Hikari Bio Gold and Hikari Excel. Those pellets are more well rounded and have spirulina as an ingredient.

Hater


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## Lifer374 (Dec 5, 2003)

There's even quite a difference in Hikari Bio-Gold and Bio-Gold+. $$$


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## Hater (Apr 21, 2006)

Tango374 said:


> There's even quite a difference in Hikari Bio-Gold and Bio-Gold+. $$$


Tango this is what I do. I go to petsmart.com and get their prices on the pellets which is usually way cheaper then going to your local petsmart store. I print the page where the price is and bring it to the store and purchase the item on the store.

Petsmart has a policy where they have to match their online prices. For example, I bought 2 8.8 oz bags of hikari bio gold for 8.49$ each when on the shelf they each cost 19.99$. I saved about $20.

And yes it's true, there is a big price difference but is because hikari bio gold is much more complete(nutrition wise) then cichlid gold.

Hater


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## Lifer374 (Dec 5, 2003)

Hater said:


> There's even quite a difference in Hikari Bio-Gold and Bio-Gold+. $$$


Tango this is what I do. I go to petsmart.com and get their prices on the pellets which is usually way cheaper then going to your local petsmart store. I print the page where the price is and bring it to the store and purchase the item on the store.

Petsmart has a policy where they have to match their online prices. For example, I bought 2 8.8 oz bags of hikari bio gold for 8.49$ each when on the shelf they each cost 19.99$. I saved about $20.

And yes it's true, there is a big price difference but is because hikari bio gold is much more complete(nutrition wise) then cichlid gold.

Hater
[/quote]

No Hater I know theres a BIG difference in Bio-Gold and Cichlid Gold. thats not what I mean.

I mean there is a difference in Bio-Gold and Bio-Gold "Plus".

Actually Hater I think you might be screwing Petsmart with that deal...lol (Thankyou very much for that heads up by the way, I'll use that). I think that you might be looking at a bag of Bio-Gold "plus" at the store and seeing the price and looking online and seeing the pricetag for regular Bio-Gold and they're just not catching on because....well they're petsmart. I'm probably wrong, but that would be funny if I wasn't.


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## taylorhedrich (Mar 2, 2005)

I've always used Hikari Bio Gold. My piranhas LOVE them and they have very nice colors.


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## Guest (Jul 24, 2007)

hmm today i just got the hikari gold pellets but i didn't read this thread before, now the pellets that you guys use are the floating ones? If they are they sinking ones do they have choices with simialr bags or are the differnt color? Oh and which one is better?


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## Lifer374 (Dec 5, 2003)

piranhaseeker said:


> hmm today i just got the hikari gold pellets but i didn't read this thread before, now the pellets that you guys use are the floating ones? If they are they sinking ones do they have choices with simialr bags or are the differnt color? Oh and which one is better?


If you are asking if Hikari makes "sinking" Bio-Gold pellets, they do not. But I'm sure that they will in the future.


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## Guest (Jul 25, 2007)

yeah, also the ones that most of you guys use are the floating ones?


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## Hater (Apr 21, 2006)

piranhaseeker said:


> yeah, also the ones that most of you guys use are the floating ones?


I only use floating pellets. It's much easier to remove when they are done eating(although, they always consume all of their pellets).

Hater


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