Feeding

[stuhall1973]

Hi,

I have just bought 2 babay Discus around 12 weeks old for my community tank.

I have read up on thrm before purchase so i am prepared for the extra bit of work needed to raise them.

My problem is getting the food to them as all the other fish in my tank get to it first. Does anyone have some tips?

I am feeding them defrosted bloodworm and defrosted Discus food, along with Tetra Prima food with floats to the bottom (or should i say gets eaten first by other fish).

Any tips on getting food to these babies would be appreciated, don't get me wrong thy do get a little, but i don't feel they are getting enough.

[fredox]

How big are your babies and what other fish are they in the tank with?

[Don Trinko]

This is the reason that most people have "discus only" tanks. Most fish are more agressive at eating than most discus. Don T.

[Tropical Haven]

I hope that you qt those discus before introducing them to the other fish. Being at 12 weeks old you need to keep them in their own tank.

[DiscusOnly]

This is the reason that most people have "discus only" tanks. Most fish are more agressive at eating than most discus.

Discus are pretty aggressive eater. I think the problem is the discus not being "settled in". I recently purchased 6 small discus and it took them a few days to settle in (even in a separate tank). They now come up waiting for food when the tank lid is open and they would stay up to be hand fed.

It's not a good idea to drop discus into a community tank.

[stuhall1973]

Hi,

thanks for your replies.

I have in the tank apart from the 2 x discus:

2 x silver dollars
2 x gurami's
1 x angel fish
1 x sucking loach

The lfs stated it would be ok to introduce them straight into the tank, i have to admit i was abit dubious thats why i asked the question.

As someone stated it has took them a couple of days to settle in, they now come up to the top to feed of flake food so i am a little happier as to what food they are getting.

In general they seem happy fish, i am trying different tricks of getting food to them like sprinkling flake on top of the water then introducing the bloodworms at the other side of the tank, the Discus do get to the food but only eat a small portion.

I suppose time will tell but since they have settled after a few days i am happier with them.

[digthemlows]

Silver Dollars are pretty aggressive fish as far as feeding and swimming everywhere that I think they'll spook your discus, plus the silver dollars really wont do well at the temperatures needed for small discus..........I would really suggest getting rid of the Silver Dollars........

[judy]

I would also suggest getting rid of the gouramis. They can be very aggressive towards discus. Then get two more discus-- or four more. Discus are happiest in groups of at least six.

[Darrell Ward]

I'm by no means an expert, but I've had a couple of dozen discus for a while. IMO, trying to raise a couple of discus in a community tank could only lead to disappointment for several reasons. Discus prefer to be in groups of their own kind. Babies need multiple feedings daily. They also like to "graze" around, taking their time eating. The other fish may out compete them for food. Then there are aggression issues. The list goes on. I also made the mistake of only getting 2 discus when I first started keeping them. The LFS owner is an old family friend, so he gave me the last 2 fish in the tank just to free up tank space. I took them home and gave them their own tank. They did OK, and grew to adult size over the next year. I considered them boring fish, and thought of giving them away. Then, I got a deal too good to pass up on a group of discus. I put them in a 125 gal. that I had in the garage. These fish were active and interesting. I liked them. I then put the 2 "boring" fish in the tank with them. Something remarkable happened. The boring fish started becoming active in the group, and were not wasting tank space any longer. So, I learned the hard way that discus need groups of their own kind to be happy.:D