heres a dumb question

[redmosquito1]

ok I am planning out my tank, looking like mid next month. I've read frozen blood worms are great food for 2.5" discus. *here comes the dumb part* do you thaw them out prior to feeding or just toss in a chunk of the frozen stuff and wait till it defrosts. I figured you toss a chunk in a glass of tank water then add it to the tank. how do you guys do it?

[Muruk59]

I feed mine by throwing in the cube of frozen food. At 28 d celsius it isn't frozen for long! None of them have a problem with it and I have small to medium size discus

[steve.ryall]

I just toss in a cube or two, at 30 degrees it will not stay frozen for long, plus when the fish pluck at the floating lump they will spread over the tank giving all the opportunity to have some.

On the swing side of that, there has in some quarters been debate over feeding fish from a frozen block, something to do with the fish eating a semi-frozen worm/beefheart any frozen food really, and the fact that it can irritate the stomach, bit like us getting an 'icecream headache'. Never seen it myself, but I'll see if I can find the text I got this from.

hth

Steve

[Jeff B]

Hi Red,
There's no such thing as a dumb question ... dumb answer ... maybe. ... http://www.discusfishuk.com/discusfishforum//style_emoticons/default/laugh.gif

I've always thawed my food and tried to get it roughly to tank temp. I've always regarded it as being risk free this way .... so why take any risks ?

That said, there are many who feed it frozen with no adverse effects .... so I suppose the answer is whatever your personal preferences are.

[Mick B]

Hi Red,

I've mounted an old (small) aquatic plant-pot (the black ones with lots of holes in) just in front of the inlet nozzel (with about 1/2" of the 'pot' sticking in the water.

Drop a frozen block in the pot. get a coffee, sit back and watch the flow, de-frost and distribute the BW across the tank, with the Discus in "hot persuit"

This method also provides a stream of de-frosted BW for a few mins, giving all a chance to grab a few!

HTH, Cheers, Mick B

(PS, you may need to snip part of the bottom off the pot, with scissors!).

[AmberC]

I used to thaw mine in a cup of tank water.. but now I just throw in the frozen cube.

Not a dumb question :) I didn't know until I read here that it was ok to throw in a frozen cube!

Amber

[sleonard]

I just toss in the frozen chunks. I used to put it in a cup of tank water but I got tired of finding a cup of rotten worms the next morning because I started watching TV while it unfroze and then forgetting to actually feed it to the fish.

Scott

[swinters66]

I put my blocks of frozen food in a small bowl and let it sit for just a few minutes before chucking them in the tank. It's still a block, but its not frozen solid so its easier for my fish to pick them apart.

[poconogal]

I just toss the frozen cube into the tank. As it defrosts it comes apart, and its quick! If I want to keep things neater, I put the cube into a worm cone. Once the cube is defrosted, the FBW sink to the bottom of the cone and they come out of the holes the same as live CBW and the fish eat from the cone.

But I've also read that young Discus can have trouble digesting FBW so that makes FBW not a very good food for them.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?t=48365&highlight=digesting

[mmorris]

Red,
Thaw out a chunk in a bowl. Do you want all of that in your tank? Its a personal decision. I don't. It probably doesn't make any difference to the water quality but it can't improve it. Martha

[chchhypno]

ok I am planning out my tank, looking like mid next month. I've read frozen blood worms are great food for 2.5" discus. *here comes the dumb part* do you thaw them out prior to feeding or just toss in a chunk of the frozen stuff and wait till it defrosts. I figured you toss a chunk in a glass of tank water then add it to the tank. how do you guys do it?

I dont do any prior defrost...

But the real question is: Is it right to feed blood worms our discus????

Personally i avoid it... (when fed them with blood worms for some period in the past most of them had symptoms of endoparasites)