Can I feed guppies and guppy fry to my 2" yellow labs and icebergs?

You can, but I wouldn't.

It's a health risk that I just wouldn't take. Cichlids are so prone to digestive problems, especially Malawi cichlids.

And, other than that, you never know what kind of disease or ailments you might introduce to your tank with feeders.

I would save the feeders for fish that really need them.

All you need with these fish is one good quality food.

Kim

I agree with Kim on this as Mbuna mainly eat Auchfold (algae)in the wild.They do from time to time eat fry as they are opportunistic feeders but not often.My feeding habits consist of 2-3 Veggie flake/Spirilina feedings and one feeding brine shrimp flake per week with my wild caughts

I would feed them fry as a treat (yum yum) Drooly Giggly

Derek

I agree completely with the advice you have been given regarding their dietary needs.

I am not sure about this though. While it may be true, I havent experienced this myself Hmmmm

What kind of digestive problems with Malawians have others experienced?

I was referring to bloat...Not really a "digestive" problem, per se, although it depends on which bloat "theory" you believe...

If it's an imbalance of the normal flagellates present in the intestines, then I would consider it gastrointestinal, hence the reference to "digestive" problems. Tres Bien!

To actually come out and say that Malawi cichlids are prone to digestive problems (bloat) seems exaggerated. I dont think thats what you meant to say and I probably took it too literally. I know you have had a bazillion malawi species, but in your own experiences have you lost many Malawians to bloat? I know how well you care for your fish, so I doubt it.

In all the years of keeping africans, I have had most of the malawian species that were available to the hobby at one time or another. There were no specialized foods like there are today. They ate crap foods by todays standards and I never had bloat. In fact I dont personally know of any of my friends or people in aquarium clubs in the area that have had bloat issues with Malawians.

But I also know that you have a much larger exposure to the hobby now that I do- being involved with CF, so I could be way wrong.

Strictly opinion:
IMO that forum has basically two types of members- the obnoxious and the dumb @sses of the hobby- so its likely that the da's would have bloat issues with anything Giggly

Guys

This post was started about a question regarding feeding guppies to cichlids.Lets keep on topic here as opinions on another forum or its members has nothing to do with what was asked.Also if we want a debate on Malawi bloat then perhalps we can start one in the debates area.

Thanks

Derek

Thanks for all the advice. Im new at this. I have fell in love with cichlids and this amazing hobby. Im excited to learn more.

ck, I just responded to your pm. Again, thank you for the kind words.

As I stated earlier, I would not risk feeding these Malawi cichlids feeder guppies.

I do moderate an illness folder in a large forum, and I see countless posts regarding this every day. Many times, the problems are related directly back to inappropriate feeding. It's a very easy mistake to make when first starting out in the hobby.

Bloodworms are another big "no no" for Malawi cichlids.

You seem very interested in learning about your fish. I would suggest that you try to pick up a copy of Ad Koning's book - either "Malawi Cichlids Back to Nature Guide", or "Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat". The first book is great for identification purposes and has basic information about each species. The second book is also great for id-ing, but has considerably more information on these fish. You'll find all the feeding information you could ever want in these books, as well as what not to feed. Tres Bien!

I don't think you'll be disappointed.

All you really need is one quality food for these guys, with the key word being "quality". There are several on the market. I like the HBH and Omega products, but NLS, Hikari and Dainichi also make great foods.

Kim