hi i just got a male and a female young pair of cockatoo cichlids and i was woundering if they would eat my hikari cichlid staple cuz i put it in there and they havent touched it i thinkit may be because they are bottom dwellers and dont like to go up in wter much cuz they are afraid of predator fish idk though wats ur take on it

They would do better with small sinking pellets I would think.

ok sounds good any suggestions on brand other than hikari ty

where did you get them at im looking for a pair myself and the price you paid

lol me too but i think im going to try rift to reef wen i get my lazy @$$ off the pc and actually have the money lol

I haven't done any research on them so I wouldn't know, I just know they prefer the food to come to them.

The various SA Dwarf Cichlids will eat a variety of foods.....Flake, pellet, freeze dried, frozen, and live foods........Young fish and females can't eat as big a piece as males so you need to have food that is of varying size.........Try frozen adult brine shrimp at first as the fish are probably still stressed from transport to your tank.....They are also pH sensitive as they usually are bred in lower pH and soft water.....If you have high pH and hard water you may have a while before they acclimate if at all.

I have had luck with frozen brine, freeze dried blood/tubiflex worms, earthworm/spirulina garlic flakes. They also like the temp. a little warm...78-84 degs. I also agree 100% with Dano if pH is a high they usually will not eat.

Do you have anything else in the tank with them? How long have you had them? Do you have tons of hiding places if they have tankmates?

Love the dwarf SA cichlids le us know how it is going.