Discus wont eat dry food!

[Eleocharis acicularis]

I just got my first 6 discus 2 weeks ago.

They won't eat any of the dry foods I have, namely tetra color bits, flake and another pellet food.

They are only eating the frozen bloodworms I feed them using a worm feeder. I also have the problem of the most dominant fish eating all the worms and chasing the others away from the worm feeder. Now I have two worm feeders but some of the discus don't seem to be feeding.

I was thinking about making my own beaf heart mix but feeding them might be a bit hard as they seem to just let the food go pass them when ever I try to feed them without the worm feeder.

Any suggestions much appreciated

[Annie]

As for the flake food and such, maybe they jsut need time to get used to it. Stop feeding them worms for a bit and only give them flake. They will end up eating it. Discus are know to be "piggies". Miine were like that when I first got them too. All they would eat was blood worms. It just took time to train them adn then I just hand fed them after that so all the fishies got a fair shair to begin with and then they could go after all the tid bits that were floaters or left over.
Another thing, have you ever tried Omega One products? The Flakes are great.

[kalebjarrod]

try feeding them the tetra in the morning, they will graze over the day

leave it till night to feed them the blood worms, maybe every second night

works well :wink:

[Eleocharis acicularis]

thanks for the advice.

I'll try to stop feeding them worms or atleast only feed them every second night and see if they eat the dry stuff.

I think I'm going to set up a new 4ft tank for them except it will be bare bottom. Should have started off bare bottom like they tell you to! It will make siphoning the excess food away alot easier. I'll put some drift wood and a few potted plants.

[kalebjarrod]

to be honest never done a bare bottom tank

never thought it looked right till i saw proteus's tank

now i plan to have six!

[flukes]

I started planted too, then i made my way too barebottom and realised the difference. Now once i have all my bare bottoms setup i would like to setup a large planted tank and just go all the way. MH lights, go crazy on plants and hook up injected Co2 but for now iam happy with my barebottoms, once i get some bickies ill get the planted up and running.

[weird]

I still can't get my tangerines to eat color bits, and I have reduced their food intake, and also give it first in the morning, and first when I come home from work .... been doing this for 2 weeks. My 2 smaller blue diamonds greedily eat them, and one who was fussy about food started eating them on the third day of this reduce food intake, and color bits at beginning of feeding.

I read flukes comments in another thread and agree with the method he suggests, of basically offering them nothing else for 3 days, and do a gravel vacuum everyday ... eventually they will try it ... that seems to be the problem in my case ... the tangerines wont even give it a go, I know if they do they will love it.

[Mattzilla]

starve them for a day or so then feed a small amount of tetra bits. if they are hungry enough they will eat them. after they have eaten something a few times they generally take to it.

if you make your own beefheart mix add heaps of dry food to it. your discus will definately eat it then. it also helps keep the food together when it is in the water.

i sometimes crush/blend dry food to a powder form when i add it to my bh mix so that it holds the bh together and binds to the meat.

some of my discus used to only eat blood worms...now they eat anything i throw in the tanks because i always feed a variety and try to change what they eat as much as possible

[kalebjarrod]

do you do a beef heart mix

if so put some in that

if not STRAVE the ungraetful little barstards
:twisted:

[Proteus]

Get your hands on some Breeders Premium from GNS Aquariums...

they wont be able to say no to that...


:wink:

[Eleocharis acicularis]

GNS aqm is that in Sydney?
I'm in Melbourne, does anyone know where I can get bp in mel?

[Merrilyn]

Send a PM to Nicholas 76 on this forum. I think he may be able to help you.

[Proteus]

GNS is on the Gold Coast, contact details can be found in the News & Announcements topic area.

[nicholas76]

Yep


i have a supply of discus premium

anyone want any ( from melbourne )


pm me


nick

[weird]

Are they available in Sydney ?

I am on Day 2 of giving them nothing but colorbits ... the tangerines are very hungry but still stubbornly refusing.

[nicholas76]

mate feed a bit of both at the same time. :o

in the frenzy they will accidently eat some.

[flukes]

ahah trick them into it, i like it.

[weird]

I have tried that trick before, but my tangerines are too smart ! Oh well it is now 3rd day of starvation with the exception of color bits ... my younger blue diamonds have fervor for colorbits like neverbefore, however the bloody tangerines still ignore them ... oh well lets see how long this goes on for ... I am prepared to try this for 6 days if need be ... I hope this does not harm the fish ?

I have included a picture of the troublemakers
http://www.discusforums.com/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=294

[flukes]

Nice fish, i dont think it will cause any harm i know of people that have straved for aleast a week. They should go for it sooner or later.

[nicholas76]

playing hard ball hey!


how about you pre soak worm in a little cup of tank water with with some tetra bit.

some will bond to the worm , some wont. flavours should mix a bit.

they just need the taste of it once!

[weird]

Well day 5 ....

Last night I took your advice ... and soaked them in blood worms ... a few blood worms feel in and , ofcourse the tangerines got to them, and <suprise> the blue discus seem to now only want to eat color bits ... lol

One of the tangerines a few time mistook a color bit for bw, but spat it out ... trying again tonight.

Boy, whoever weened guys must have only given them bws and/or brine ... it is a pity, cause the dry food has definitely made an improvement in the appearance of my blue diamonds.

[nicholas76]

Get yourself some

discus premium food !!!!! G and S aquaraiam bud

[kalebjarrod]

how long have you starved them for?

i'm a ruthless dictator when it comes to fish, do it or face the punishment!

ever thought of soaking the dried bits before adding them to the tank?

maybe they aren't that keen on thedryness of the food

[weird]

For the last two night I was soaking in bloodworms .... same problem.

I have given up .... =( Virtually 5 days of starving ...

I still feed them colorbits in the morning but only to the benefit of the lil blue diamonds.

Maybe trying the breeder's premium will help.

Good points about soaking them ... I thought they might turn into a mushy mess ... but nope ... I will continue to do that in the future

Good luck Eleocharis

[kalebjarrod]

maybe you should think of a diet for them

two days without blood worms just thier preferred dry food

one day of blood worms?

maybe they would like the gradual approach? or is this somthing you have already tried?

[weird]

I think I will try another sell ... maybe a home made beef heart mix like the one listed in the forum ... as they don't like commercial beef heart either .... but I am sure the homemade beef heart will be an easier sell ... atleast give them a wider diet than bws and brine shrimp.

Honestly I don't think the tangerines are ever going to eat color bits ? Is is the shape ? The smell ? The texture ... they did not even try it ? Don't know ... willing to give another brand a go ... but will need it to be very different in appearence and smell.

[kalebjarrod]

http://www.discusforums.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=627

as you can see from my post here, i put a cup of tetra bits in my BH mix

[weird]

Funny you should mention that, I have already printed out your recipe ... is spirulina expensive ? Can I substitute that with a crushed up multi-vitamin ? Do I get spirulina from a Coles , Woolworths , health store <expensive> ? ... which section ? Will spirulina make my discus super fish ?

[nicholas76]

spirulina you can get from a health food store

also get lecithin granules and add this too this mix.

your looking about about $15 for the spirulina depending upon packet size


spirulina is an extremely rich source of vitamins. Dont over do it! when adding to your beef heart mix. It will vastly improve colouring and health of fish

[weird]

Can you believe after my tangerines refused eating colorbits after 1 week of starving, I have 3 months later tried giving them some nutrafin complete flakes ... and they love it !! Weird.

[jim]

I feed them with colour bits and nothing else for a week. They will realise it's food after they starved for a week.

Hey Wird, be careful not to feed colour bit too much for your Golden discus. They will trun out dark orange colour when they grow...

[DiscusD]

Any suggestions much appreciated

Well, you asked for suggestions...

Let's keep everything as simple as we can and most likely things would work out. Let me ask you, if you had a baby who does not eat peas, wouldn't it be much faster to show her that it's food and eating it to entice them, rather than just starving them and leaving the peas in front of them? Well, aren't our precious discii our babies? :roll:

Anyways, we can't show them entirely to eat dry food, but I have had previous experience in this method...take a species of fish very like them for example, angelfishes = middle water level + same family + almost exact in diet, and get ones which are used to eating the foods in which you what your discii to eat and let the angels eat the flake and show your discii that flakes are food...and are good for them = works wonders for me :wink: