Feeding young discus

[Audrey]

Okay, so my discus babies are arriving on March 18th. :D :D :D

They will only be 1", so they'll be little guys.

Do babies that small eat beef heart yet? If so, how often should I feed them the beef heart, like once every day or two?

How many times a day to feed? 6 - 8 ?? Mostly flake and pellets?

I know to get high protein foods. I am going to be placing an order at Big Al's today or tomorrow and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on which foods to buy from there.

Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Audrey
(Excited but also COMPLETELY NERVOUS!!) :(

[CARY_GLdiscus]

HI AUDREY,


Okay, so my discus babies are arriving on March 18th. VERY NICE!

They will only be 1", so they'll be little guys. YES 1' FROM MOUTH TO END OF TAIL.

Do babies that small eat beef heart yet? YES THEY WILL EAT JUST ABOUT ANYTHING AS LONG AS THE PORTIONS ARE SMALL AND OFTEN. BEEFHEART MUST BE GRINDED VERY FINE FOR SMALLER DISCUS BUT IF YOUR LIKE ME AND NEVER ON TOP OF EVERYTHING YOU MIGHT ONLY HAVE BEEFHEART AT MED GRIND FOR BIGGER DISCUS. ANYWAYS WHAT I DO IS GRAB A STEAK KNIFE AND SAVE THE HEART INTO VERY THIN SLICES THIS CAN ALSO BE DONE WITH ANY FROZEN FOODS.

If so, how often should I feed them the beef heart, like once every day or two? AUDREY I WOULD TRY FEEDING 3XS ADAY! BUT I WOULD NOT ONLY FEED THE HEART I WOULD ALSO ADD BLOODWORMS,MYMSIS SHRIMP, LIVEWORM FROM A CLEAN SOURCE ONLY! A HIGH PROTEIN FLAKE OR EARTHWORMFLAKE. SOME OF THESE FOODS ARE BETTER ON WATER QUALITY! HOWEVER IF YOU JUST WANTED TO FEED BEEFHEART THATS FINE BUT REMEMBER BEEFHEART CAN GET VERY MESSY AND DESTORY WATER QUALITY FAST! SO BE CAREFUL! WATER QUALITY AND 3 GOOD MEALS ADAY ARE WHATS MOST NEEDED WHEN RAISEING SMALLER DISCUS.

How many times a day to feed? 6 - 8 ?? Mostly flake and pellets?
AUDREY LIGHT FEEDINGS ARE BETTER MORE OFTEN THEN ALOT IN LESS FEEDINGS.

I know to get high protein foods. VERY GOOD AT LEAST FOR THE NEXT 8 MONTHS.

HTH
tAKECARE
CARY GLD!

[RyanH]

Hi Audrey,

Cary has given you good advice. Just be warned, with beefheart, you will need to watch your water quality very closely.

As far as foods to buy from Big Als:

I really like the Ocean Nutrition formula 1 flake. Formula 2 is good too. Tetra Colorbits are also fantastic; particularly for red-based fishes but again, are hard on water quality.

I would crush up the flake and use it in your autofeeder.

hth!

-Ryan

[funkyfish]

i just recently got 7 quarter size SS,RD i feed them beef heart i put in the blender and blended in till it was like a paste and they tear it up i feed 5 times a day
good luck with the baby's

[Audrey]

Thanks for your replies Cary and Ryan!
I don't plan to feed beef heart for every meal, just wanted to know how often is recommended to feed the b.h. at such a small size.

I will be on top of those water changes, you can count on that!

[CARY_GLdiscus]

: )

[Barb Newell]

Good luck with your babies Audrey! Keep the tank walls nice and clean.

Cary has given you some great advice on feeding. I like the flakefood from Angelsplus. They've got some great earthworm flake.

Barb :)

[Audrey]

Barb....!! How odd you should say that, because I was just sitting here at work on break thinking "I wonder if I could feed the AngelsPlus flake foods (earthworm mainly) to my discus!!!

I fed that to my angels back when I was breeding them and my angels loved it. Guess I will go ahead and order some more!

And, yes, I will definitely keep the tank walls and floor wiped down good.
When I bred angels I kept my tanks immaculate, and had very high survival rate. So I hope my discus babies do as well....... :(

Nobody has really said yet, though, how often feeding beef heart to discus is recommended.

Thanks!
Audrey