Can you overfeed discus?

[daverich]

Hi, Can you feed discus too much? My fish are fat as hogs after a feeding. I clean up food after feeding. Mainly want to know as long as it doesn't turn into bloat is it possible to feed too much? Thanks David

[greyhoundfan]

I had that same concern, my fishies would eat like hogs too. Until today I saw one of them hiding behind my sponge filter. Poor fella was bloated, he also has a bad habit of eating my last few granules of substrate. They always seem to lose their bellies after a few hours, but not this time.

I mixed up some epsom salt according to Carol Roberts' post and let the salt do its thing. My fishies "dropped" a load and they were back to their perky selves, I will defintely need to cut back on how much I feed them.

[daverich]

Thanks Gray hound, I dont think mine are bloated but I will also cut back a bit. This feeding I had a few cubes froze together and just put all three in in stead of the 1-2 I normaly feed. Then I started to wonder about the question of overfeeding. David

[pcsb23]

David,

They don't look overfed or overlay full either to me. When they are bloated its llike they have a small marble in their bellies.

[1977]

More feedings, less food is better

[azzndude2005]

I heard that they will just stop eating when they're full. Is that true? Have you ever heard of anyone lossing their discus to over feeding?

[architect1]

I have a same problem like that to with my well almost not juvies they ate till there tummys are full. then I let them digest and feed them agian 2 to 4 hours later.

I have a question My adult discus dont seem to eat anything. I drop in color bits and they dont chase it anymore they just look at it. I am wondering do they eat it or does it desolve. There not getting thin there just the same. The one guy hids and I have no clue what he does. Any ideas?

[Coralred]

It is better to feed less but more meal. It o.k. to feed them 6 meals a day but less quality (let them digest the food first).
It true the juv never seem to stop eating. Mine every time they saw me they will be at the top of the water waiting for food.

[yeomans]

I don't know if you can actually overfeed your discus, from time to time my juveniles will eat too much and get a little bloated, for which you would use epsom salts to relieve them. I feed small feedings many times a day, usually around 5-6 times. Hopefully I would think a discus wouldn't eat itself to death, but i've never seen it happen, has anyone seen this before?

[pcsb23]

I don't know if you can actually overfeed your discus, from time to time my juveniles will eat too much and get a little bloated, for which you would use epsom salts to relieve them. I feed small feedings many times a day, usually around 5-6 times. Hopefully I would think a discus wouldn't eat itself to death, but i've never seen it happen, has anyone seen this before?

You can overfeed them, if they bloat they've been overfed. To continually feed to bloat is risky as it can lead to an internal blockage that epsom salts won't fix. This may ultimately kill the fish. Personally I've not seen or known of a discus literally eating itself to death, but I have known of bloat leading to a blockage and ultimately the death of the fish.

[sledwood]

I had a beautiful LSS that always felt it was in competion with all the others for food. It would go a million miles an hour around my 90gal grabbing and devouring everthing that floated in front of it. It's belly would get so big I thought it would burst. It did that all the time until one morning I found it on it's side looking like a pregnant mouse pad. Greedy little thing but it lost out in the long run. So I guess it is possible................Ed

[Deepak]

looking like a pregnant mouse pad.


Love the expression LOL :thumbsup: 2 gud

[poconogal]

I had a beautiful LSS that always felt it was in competion with all the others for food. It would go a million miles an hour around my 90gal grabbing and devouring everthing that floated in front of it. It's belly would get so big I thought it would burst. It did that all the time until one morning I found it on it's side looking like a pregnant mouse pad. Greedy little thing but it lost out in the long run. So I guess it is possible................Ed
I have a BD that used to do the exact same thing - she had to grab all the food. After two bloat episodes - after eating she would also eat the Pleco's algae wafers, too - she finally learned. She has not eaten as much since. I never had to use Epsom on her though. After being dark and looking miserable and fat in a corner for a day, she'd pass a bomb!