Which live food starter culture

[kswong34]

Hi, I am a Novice in Discus keeping.
:o

Would like to know which live food is best for discus? and Which is the most easy to cultivate and reproduce? Where will I able to get the starter culture? I am in Brisbane, Qld.

Or anyone will send some culture to me. :lol:

Thanks.

[Merrilyn]

Welcome to the forum kswong, and welcome to the wonderful world of discus.

A good mix of live food, frozen food, and prepared dry food is best for growing healthy discus.

You can use live brine shrimp, either purchase adult size from your local pet shop, or purchase eggs and grow your own to adult size, which takes about two weeks.

Live white worms are also relished by discus, but are high in fat, so should only be an occasional treat. Most pet shops can get you a starter culture.

Earth worms are a very good and healthy source of nutrition, and can easily be raised at home. A plant nursery or garden shop will have a starter culture of compost worms. They need to be cleaned well, and cut into small peices before feeding, but discus love them.

[kswong34]

Hi, thanks for the advise.

I will try my local aquarium shop tomorrow. :wink:

[flukes]

Bunnings have red worm starter kits.. Its in a box that you can just add food too.. The culture normally lasts me about 6months..

Then i had too buy another...

[kswong34]

Which section will that be in Bunnings??

Thanks

[Ben]

Hi,
I bought mine in the inside gardening section, should be near the fertilizers and shovels etc.
There are 2 sorts, 500 worms for around $19- and there is 1000 worms for around $30-
I noticed they also have a 2 tier plastic worm farm for 90 bucks, but it could easily be made for less than that.
i have mine in a large plastic drum with holes in the bottom. Works well for me.
HTH,
Ben

[DR.V]

Those worms are the best !! But they just a bit dirty i guess ... Also i often imagine those worms eaten by fish when i have my own meal aarrrrgggg..... GROSS !!

[DR.V]

Hikari blood worms ( frozen food )
and Tetra Bits ( dry food )

[burt42]

White worms are easy to keep. I give my cultures a slice of (moistened) bread every 3 or 4 days and they just keep multiplying.

Grant.......

[leanne31]

Just curious has anyone gone out to there yard dug up a few earth worms washed them thoroughly and fed them to their fish just wondering if this was something you could do or do you think there may be to many parasites, diseases etc on the worms :?:

Leanne

[Merrilyn]

Earthworms are a very clean and natural food for all fish. If you dig them up from the garden, give them a day or so in clean damp newspaper to empty out their gut, then cut into small pieces to feed.

[goldenpigeon]

do you do this if you have your own culture ladyred?

[Merrilyn]

Earthworms from the garden always have a gut full of sand and dirt. I just prefer to let them clean that out before I use them as food. Same goes for worm cultures in my opinion. But in the wild, our discus would eat any worm they found, dirt, sand and all, so it probably wouldn't do them any harm.

[Robdog]

When you chop up an earthworm, is there normally any noticable smell?

[Merrilyn]

Nope. I suppose a mild earthy smell, but nothing else, and if they're frozen, there is no smell at all.

[rytis]

Hi, I am a Novice in Discus keeping.
:o

Would like to know which live food is best for discus? and Which is the most easy to cultivate and reproduce? Where will I able to get the starter culture? I am in Brisbane, Qld.

Or anyone will send some culture to me. :lol:

Thanks.
mosquito larvae

just be careful if youre breeding, nuke the tank first and dont feed it, coz they may contain hydras (deadly to small fry)... other then that it's great food for adults from my experience....

[goldenpigeon]

no offence rytis but i dont think you are in ANY possition to be giving advice about live foods!

no body should be culturing mosquito larvae. they are far too risky to feed ANY discus, breeders or not!

can you see what im getting at rytis? you said "if your breeding, nuke the tank first and dont feed it". so are you saying its ok to feed a spoiled culture of food to discus which arent breeding? hmm thats good care for the fish.

if you want a completely safe and dependable live food culture its brine shrimp ALL THE WAY!!! they carry no diseases which harm tropical fish and they are packed with protien. also very little maintanence!