Discus strange eating behavior

[vanessa messig]

I am wondering if anyone has had a discus which comes out to feed and tries to catch the food as it is floating midway in the aquarium but keeps missing it. It hardly ever eats off the bottom and so misses out on food such as beef heart etc. I have been feeding them dried black worms more then I should just because they float so at least it is getting some food as it is quite skinny.

Is anyone familiar with this type of eating behavior or at least if you have any suggestions which may help I would be most greatful :?:

Thanks.

[carnival]

I had a cobalt discus that had the same problem, it was about the size of a 50cent piece when i bought it and I soon noticed that it couldn't catch any food so I started to hand feed it while I distracted the other discus with floating food. It soon came to realise what was happening and would swim to the opposite end of the tank to all the others at feed time...smart fish these discus. It soon started to put on some condition and began to grow but I noticed it had another problem, it appeared to have a bend in its spine...the bigger it grew the more pronounced it became. Unfortunately the story doesn't have a happy ending, even though it was feeding well and growing steadily, with the hand feeding, I came home from work one day to find it dead in the bottom of the tank, no apparent reason... I had become quite fond of this little discus despite his/her physical deformity.
Good luck with your discus, I hope you have a happier outcome.
Peter

[vanessa messig]

Thanks for your reply Peter, that was a sad ending! I know the feeling, I lost my youngest discus as well, hand feeding it just was not enough for the poor little thing. I think they need to be together with a few discus the same size to survive especially when so young. They are clever fish though.

This discus is also a cobalt, small/medium size but I had been wondering if it could be its eye sight as it will not feed from the bottom which is a little strange as the others eat well. I am probably overfeeding them with dried black worms now just to get more food into the cobalt.

I do hope I have a happier outcome.

[carnival]

Hi Vanessa, I often wondered if my Cobalt had a sight problem...... like yours, mine couldn't catch brine shrimp or worms, but I'm sure he/she could see because he would dash around after the shrimps but just couldn't catch them, it too wouldn't eat from the bottom.
Its brother/sister (not sure which yet) is now 5 inches from nose to tail, eats like a pig, but always waits until the food has sunk to the bottom to pick it up, with the exception of live brine shrimp which it chases around the tank nearly turning upside down at times to catch them, great fun to watch.
Hopefully yours will improve its aim as he/she gets older and grows up big and strong.
Peter

[nicholas76]

Hi Vanessa,


I dont know if its genetic but what u have experienced isnt rare.

when it comes to feeding try placing food in two seperate sections of the tank,, it will improve his odds in getting a feed as your fish will seperate to two locations for a meal! ( for a little while anyway hehe)

[vanessa messig]

Hi Peter and Nicholas, thanks for you comments... it's frustrating not knowing how to help the discus in this situation but as you say Peter they certainly look funny trying to catch the food, its like one step forward and two steps back and then missing all together. I am not sure about the eye sight either because as soon as it saw me coming it would make a quick dash under the log but since I started feeding with dried black worms it now stays out but usually in the middle of the tank so hopefully I am making progress.

I do feed them at both ends of the tank just so the greedy ones do not eat it all and I feed them with beef heart, Omega slow sinking granules every day plus the dried black worms which I used to alternate with frozen blood worms and frozen shrimp. I feed them three times a day and even an extra feed with dried black worms just to get the cobalt to eat more... I don't know what else to do.

Perhaps it is a genetic thing but it would be good if he/she gained some weight.

[vanessa messig]

Just to update on my cobalt... he is finally doing well and not in hiding, thanks to the Australian dried Black Worms!! Even though I feed my discus three times a day with different food each time, the cobalt was not interested until the last feed which were the black worms so I have been adding them with other meals, now he is hungry all the time and is swimming around looking for them most of the day. He is gaining weight and his colour is looking much better.

[waitaki]

great news Vanessa, might get some myself!! (not for me but for my discus)

[carnival]

Hi Vanessa, really pleased to hear that your cobalt is coming along so well, I wish I'd discovered the dried blackworms when I had my little cobalt he/she may have done better.
I've found that all my discus love the dried worms and amazingly my female albino bristlenose has discovered that some of the worms get stuck in the water tension where the water surface and glass meet, she races up the glass as soon as the worms hit the surface and swims along with her head half out of the water picking up the worms, none of the other bn's have figured this out yet.....boy is she growing fast.
Keep us posted on your cobalts progress.
Peter

[vanessa messig]

Its such a relief when 'all' the discus in your tank are eating well and are happy and healthy!!

Peter, its funny you should say that about your AB catching the worms at the water tension... my Eruption is doing that same thing, he/she is pushing itself right up at the surface of the water and picking up all the worms stuck in there.

I have also trained them to eat the black worms out of my hand and they go crazy.