Discus not eating...

[Stuquarium]

hi guys,

a mate of mine just got some discus for his tank on friday. it's now sunday night and they haven;t eaten anything, that he's seen.

he tells me he's tried granules (slow sinking) frozen discus food, and flakes, but they havn't then eat anything.

he says he's only dropped small portions in, but the discus didn't seem interested, they would follow the frozen food for a little while then it hits the bottom of the tank and they forget about it, and at the shop they were fed granules.

before i give him any advice. is thier anything you can tell me about how discus feed, in the 1st few days in the tank? is it simply shyness, water tempt? conditions?

thanks guys.

[Merrilyn]

It's pretty normal for discus to be shy in the first few weeks in a new tank. Some of them will refust to eat for a week or two. Tell your mate to get some live brine shrimp from the pet shop, and feed them to the discus.

Very few fish can resist the tasty little morsels swimming past their nose. Once they start eating, the battle is over, and they will usually accept the normal frozen or granule food.

[Stuquarium]

ok i'll past that on, he'll probably stop panicing now knowing that it's natural for the discus to be shy feeders in the early days.

i'll make sure to remind him NOT to freeze the brine shrimp.