How to Feed Meal Worms to Cichlids

Raising and maintaining an aquarium is enjoyable and educational, especially if you are an advanced hobbyist that prefers the more aggressive breed of aquatic fauna. Fish from the cichlid family are often aggressive, carnivorous and reliant on a rich diet of commercial feed, fresh greens and live prey. They eat a variety of live feeders such as smaller fish, the flesh of animals and insects like meal worms and crickets.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Aquarium with hungry cichlid fish
• 6 to 12 meal worm larvae (live, assorted sizes)
• Small tongs

1. Lift or remove the canopy from the top of your aquarium. If your fish are especially aggressive, like the silver arowana or the wolf cichlid, omit this step and locate your designated feeding slot.

2. Grasp a small meal worm larvae using your tongs, and drop it into the tank near your fish.

3. Observe the reactions of your cichlids. If they appear listless or disinterested leave the meal worm in the tank and walk away. If they appear to be going into a feeding frenzy,( i.e. fighting over the worm, and disrupting the tank's decor with violent movement) drop several more meal worms into the tank.

4. Leave the remains of the meal worm larvae in the tank for your cichlids to snack on.

Tips & Warnings

• Feed your cichlids meal worms or other live prey at least once a week for optimal health and color of your fish.
• Do not stick your hand into a cichlid tank during a feeding frenzy. Doing so puts you at risk of being bitten.

Resources

• Cichlids.com