Best Frozen Food for African Cichlids By Expert Opinion

Last Updated on August 1, 2021 by cmoarz

It can be an overwhelming task to choose the right frozen foods for your fish. The variety of types and prices can really make it difficult for you to make a choice. So, if you are looking for some fish food suitable for your African Cichlids that is just right in terms of price as well as quality, then this article will definitely be helpful to you.

You don’t need to feed your fish multiple brands/types of food as long as you have a good quality flake or pellet.

I feed my African cichlid fish primarily the following as a healthy diet that has been proven to work: Spirulina, frozen peas, romaine lettuce, spinach, and color-optimizing fish flake or pellets.

Cichlids can eat a variety of different store-bought or fresh foods, but green vegetables like spinach, peas, cucumbers, and broccoli are the best option for most types of cichlids. It’s also safe to give them frozen varieties of these foods.

The following are the best frozen foods that will work well for your African cichlids:

1. Frozen Peas

African Cichlid fish love peas, and they eat them like candy. This is a good food to feed to your cichlids during their breeding season when you want them to lay more eggs than usual.

Like spinach, frozen peas contain a lot of calcium which are great components of any diet plan for African Cichlids. They also have a high fiber content which adds bulk to the food in order to help with digestion and to prevent constipation problems.

As cold-blooded fish can’t metabolize fats properly, it’s important that any food you give them avoids fats that will just build up in their liver and cause health issues.

This makes frozen or fresh Peas are a fantastic low-fat meal

Peas can be taken out of the freezer as-is (defrosted) and fed frequently to your fish as an excellent mid-day or evening snack.

2. Romaine Lettuce

Romaine lettuce is another vegetable that African Cichlids go crazy for, and it’s good to include in your fish food rotation diet plan. You can feed this to them daily if you like but I feed mine every other day.

This makes a great base food for any of the color-enhancing foods that are on the market, and it has plenty of iron and calcium which is important for your cichlid’s health.

3. Spinach, Frozen of fresh

Spinach also makes an excellent addition to the diet of your African Cichlid fish. It contains both proteins as well as vitamin A, so this is a good choice when trying to bulk your fish up.

This food is perfect for adding color to the scales of your African Cichlid, and it also helps them digest their food more easily. You can add this to your cichlid’s diet every day, but don’t feed too much or they may not be able to digest it properly.

4. Color-Optimizing Fish Flake Food (with vitamin A)

The color-enhancing fish flakes are great because they can be fed to African Cichlids daily with no problem at all, and they’re an excellent way to get a good amount of vitamins in your cichlid’s diet plan. These pellets should always contain vitamin A as this helps protect against eye problems that result from not having enough of this vitamin.

Additionally, this food also has a lot of protein, and it’s always best to feed your fish with a high-quality fish flake or pellet which has proteins as their main source of vitamins.

5. Color-Optimizing Fish Pellets

The color-enhancing fish pellets are great because they can be fed to African Cichlids daily with no problem at all, and they’re an excellent way to get a good amount of vitamins in your cichlid’s diet plan. These pellets should always contain vitamin A as this helps protect against eye problems that result from not having enough of this vitamin.

These pellets are very similar to the flakes except that they’re meant for larger-sized fish.

These are also a great source of protein, iron, and calcium in your cichlid’s diet plan, so they should be fed daily.

Some of the more popular brands are:

1. Aqueon Cichlid Food Color Enhancing Pellets

2. Omega One Super Color Sinking Cichlid Pellets

3. Fluval Bug Bites Cichlid Fish Food

Frozen foods to avoid

Tubifex Worms

Tubifex worms are often known to harbor bacteria that can be transmitted to your cichlid if swallowed.

They can also contain various types of parasites and diseases that your African cichlid will often not be able to fight off, causing intestinal problems.

Tubifex worms are also known to be high in fat which will cause your cichlids liver to become overloaded with fats and may lead to issues such as constipation, digestion, or even death.

Blood worms

Red mosquito larvae, also commonly known in fishkeeping as blood worms should be avoided. At least that’s what all the experts seem to say.

While they certainly won’t kill your fish they are another food item that may cause a ton of intestinal problems.

Avoid feeding your African cichlid blood worms as often or at least feed it bare minimum because of the potential health issues that can arise with overconsumption.

Beef heart or other faty meats

As mentioned earlier, beef heart is very fatty meat which may have potential issues with digestion and fat build-up in the liver. Since African cichlids are omnivorous, it’s best to avoid them.

American Cichlid food

American Cichlids and African Cichlids are very different. There are 3 types of cichlids, carnivorous, Omnivorous, and herbivorous.

It’s important you know the distinction when buying food for your fish.

1. Carnivorous Cichlids get their nutrients from meat protein and need more protein than other types of cichlids so choose the foods that are rich in proteins and low on fats.

2. Omnivorous cichlid diets consist of a mixture of both meat sources as well as vegetation and vegetables. They also require high levels of vitamin A due to eating such an odd combination of food items so make sure to have a diet plan which includes plenty of fruits and vegetable-based digestible pellets or flakes.

3. Herbivores Cichlids eat only plants, greens, algae, etc…This type needs over 75% plant matter in its diet menu plan concerning this type you only have to worry about the type of plant matter being eaten.

Here is a list of examples;  Seaweed, kelp, spinach, cucumber, etc…etc…

Please Note: Please be aware that vegetables-based feed should never make up more than half of your fish’s diet unless it is an herbivore species or omnivorous African Cichlidand even then try not to go over the recommended 75% intake as they can cause digestive issues and bloat.

Here is a list of safe african cichilid food to get you started

Omega One Super Color Sinking Cichlid Pellets, 2mm Small Pellets

New Life Spectrum Naturox Series Cichlid Formula Supplement

Tetra TetraCichlid Balanced Diet Flakes Food for Cichlids

Tetra 77063 TetraCichlid Floating Pellets

And of course, remember to give them a wide variety of fresh or frozen vegtables.