Varied diet question/suggestions

Hi Everyone! I’m a relatively new discus keeper, I’m still learning and recently I just introduced ocean nutrition prime reef flakes to my discus. I’m trying to establish a varied diet for my group of red eagle discus. Here is my schedule:

6am - Tetra color bits
12pm - Frozen blood worms
4pm - Ocean Nutrition Prime Reef
9pm - Tetra Color Bits

My question is should I just feed frozen bloodworms at night? Also I’m interested in feeding live black worms, but I only want to try a little is there anyway to get small portions like samples? And my last question is: Is it worth it to feed commercial frozen beef heart to my discus? I would try to make my own but in my area there aren’t any butchers that serve cow heart:(
Many Thanks,
Jay

Jay , by your frequent feeding regime , I guess you are raising juvies discus .
Beef heart is the cheapest protein power food for raising discus , that's probably why many of us use it regularly. Other than its price and efficiency , there is no any rule that says you must use it .

frozen bloodworms and especially live blackworms are notorious for harbouring pathogens . If you are not 100% sure about their source and quality, try to avoid them .
FDBW are very good protein source and they keep the water clean but they are more pricy than rest of the foods you feed. I would recomend them if you are willing to spent extra money for your hobby and your discus.
If your discus devour the tetra bits and reef flakes I would stick with just that and ditch the FBW at this point IIWY .

I wouldn't stress about variety. Probably not worth the expense in your case.

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Originally Posted by Filip

Jay , by your frequent feeding regime , I guess you are raising juvies discus .
Beef heart is the cheapest protein power food for raising discus , that's probably why many of us use it regularly. Other than its price and efficiency , there is no any rule that says you must use it .

frozen bloodworms and especially live blackworms are notorious for harbouring pathogens . If you are not 100% sure about their source and quality, try to avoid them .
FDBW are very good protein source and they keep the water clean but they are more pricy than rest of the foods you feed. I would recomend them if you are willing to spent extra money for your hobby and your discus.
If your discus devour the tetra bits and reef flakes I would stick with just that and ditch the FBW at this point IIWY .

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Hi Filip,
Thank you very much for the advice! I think I will ditch the bloodworms and try to buy one of the frozen beef hearts available near my lfs. Do you have any experience with the San Francisco’s Bay Brand beef heart? That’s the only one in my fish store. Also I guess I’ll just buy some freeze dried blackworms from Dan.
Thanks,
Jay

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Originally Posted by Adam S

I wouldn't stress about variety. Probably not worth the expense in your case.

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Hi Adam,
Thanks, most of the time my discus just eat the tetra bits. I recently just got the flakes, by any chance do you know how long it takes for discus to get used to new foods? Thanks!
Jay

Hi Jay. I feed my discus mainly Al's FBBW. I do vary with frozen BW or flakes. The question, how long does it take, cannot really be answered. Sometimes, discus take to it immediately, sometimes a week, sometimes never. I have one finicky eater that has taken about 10 days to begin eating a new food. I would decide what one/two foods you might want to feed them regularly and then rest with that. I do not feed beefheart but others that I have read cautioned about doing anything with that food except make your own. You can search the website for more info.

Clean water is their best food. :)

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Originally Posted by fljones3

Hi Jay. I feed my discus mainly Al's FBBW. I do vary with frozen BW or flakes. The question, how long does it take, cannot really be answered. Sometimes, discus take to it immediately, sometimes a week, sometimes never. I have one finicky eater that has taken about 10 days to begin eating a new food. I would decide what one/two foods you might want to feed them regularly and then rest with that. I do not feed beefheart but others that I have read cautioned about doing anything with that food except make your own. You can search the website for more info.

Clean water is their best food. :)

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Hi Frank
Thank you very much for your input:) should I just feed the flakes only in the morning and siphon out what they don’t eat? Also thank you very much for the idea of searching the forums for the beef heart I found out some important information about it. I guess I’ll try to make my own first or something
Thanks
Jay

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Originally Posted by Jay’s Discus

Hi Frank
Thank you very much for your input:) should I just feed the flakes only in the morning and siphon out what they don’t eat? Also thank you very much for the idea of searching the forums for the beef heart I found out some important information about it. I guess I’ll try to make my own first or something

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I usually try new foods first thing in the morning. They are the most hungry then. :)

Tell us something about your tank. Size and number of your discus. Etc.

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Originally Posted by fljones3

I usually try new foods first thing in the morning. They are the most hungry then. :)

Tell us something about your tank. Size and number of your discus. Etc.

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Will do thanks:)
My tank size is: 55 gallons with five 4.5in discus (my biggest discus is 4.5 but most are at 3-4in) and I do x2 50% water changes a week and one 75% water change on the weekends

Hi Jay,
You didn’t mention if you have substrate or a bare bottom tank. If you have substrate, you might want to avoid beefheart as it can muck up your water if you have sand or gravel. I don’t use live black worms because there’s a risk of introducing pathogens into your tank. I use Al’s freeze dried black worms instead. My fish love them and they’re very nutritious.
Patty

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Originally Posted by Jay’s Discus

Also I guess I’ll just buy some freeze dried blackworms from Dan.
Thanks,
Jay

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By buying Al's FDBW you support this forum .
Please consider this too before you make your buyers decision .

And about discus accepting new food I agree with Frank .It can vary and take from day one to never .
A funny fact in my tank is that from 9 discus only 1 discus refuses to eat tetra bits almost 1 year to this day. I have to feed beef heart or salmon 2-3 times a week exclusively for him or the stubborn "jackasss " will starve it self to death :)

BTW . You don't have to mix or prepare recipes for BH and salmon if you feel unconfidend or don't want to do that . I just grind pieces of BH , shrimps or salmon with a hand grater and feed directly .

+1 on the advice above regarding just grating frozen fish, the kind of grater used to shred carrots works just fine. If you are going to do it often use fish species that have very low thiaminase such as salmon or cod. +1 on Al's FDBW

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Originally Posted by Filip

By buying Al's FDBW you support this forum .
Please consider this too before you make your buyers decision .

And about discus accepting new food I agree with Frank .It can vary and take from day one to never .
A funny fact in my tank is that from 9 discus only 1 discus refuses to eat tetra bits almost 1 year to this day. I have to feed beef heart or salmon 2-3 times a week exclusively for him or the stubborn "jackasss " will starve it self to death :)

BTW . You don't have to mix or prepare recipes for BH and salmon if you feel unconfidend or don't want to do that . I just grind pieces of BH , shrimps or salmon with a hand grater and feed directly .

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Ah I see, thanks for the info I haven’t purchased the blackworms yet so I’ll check Al’s FDBW:) I also recently purchased some San Francisco’s Bay frozen beef heart tot try out yesterday. This morning I placed one of the cubes in most of the discus didn’t have any interest in it sadly:( They all looked at it and took a little bite, spit it out and swam away:( Does this mean they don’t like it? It might also be that they don’t like this type of beef heart, so I’ll try to make my own sometime next week. For now I’ll up the temp from 84 to 88 and not feed tomorrow then I’ll try the beef heart again.:)

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Originally Posted by Pices

Hi Jay,
You didn’t mention if you have substrate or a bare bottom tank. If you have substrate, you might want to avoid beefheart as it can muck up your water if you have sand or gravel. I don’t use live black worms because there’s a risk of introducing pathogens into your tank. I use Al’s freeze dried black worms instead. My fish love them and they’re very nutritious.
Patty

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Hi Patty,
Sorry I forgot to mention that, I do have a small layer of fine sand that I vac every time I do a water change, is this going to be a problem in the long run? It’s not much sand and I can remove it if needed:)
Jay

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Originally Posted by Paul Sabucchi

+1 on the advice above regarding just grating frozen fish, the kind of grater used to shred carrots works just fine. If you are going to do it often use fish species that have very low thiaminase such as salmon or cod. +1 on Al's FDBW

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Thank you very much on the confirmation:) I’ll use a cheese grater when I try to make my mix next week:)

Hi Jay. Was the BH cube frozen or defrosted when you put it in the tank? I read on SD somewhere that it is wise to defrost it 1st. I am a returning to discus keeper after 20 yrs so I am learning from your questions as well 👍🇦🇺

Hi Patty,
Sorry I forgot to mention that, I do have a small layer of fine sand that I vac every time I do a water change, is this going to be a problem in the long run? It’s not much sand and I can remove it if needed
Jay


A lot of people use a thin layer of sand and vacuum it really well during wc’s. I had sand for a while, but I tired of the grind of cleaning it and the algae. I leave my light on too long for 1 thing. One of my fish got sick and I can’t point to the sand as the reason, but I decided to simplify the equation and got rid of it. I say as long as your fish are happy and your stirring it up so gasses don’t get trapped underneath, you are golden. Maybe others will chime in here on how they are successful with sand and I’ll give it another go and stop leaving the light on for 12-15 hrs! Ha ha
Patty

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Originally Posted by danotaylor

Hi Jay. Was the BH cube frozen or defrosted when you put it in the tank? I read on SD somewhere that it is wise to defrost it 1st. I am a returning to discus keeper after 20 yrs so I am learning from your questions as well ������

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Hi! Yes I do defrost the cubes for a minute or two, usually when it sinks is when I feed it. Also welcome back!:)

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Originally Posted by Pices

Hi Patty,
Sorry I forgot to mention that, I do have a small layer of fine sand that I vac every time I do a water change, is this going to be a problem in the long run? It’s not much sand and I can remove it if needed
Jay


A lot of people use a thin layer of sand and vacuum it really well during wc’s. I had sand for a while, but I tired of the grind of cleaning it and the algae. I leave my light on too long for 1 thing. One of my fish got sick and I can’t point to the sand as the reason, but I decided to simplify the equation and got rid of it. I say as long as your fish are happy and your stirring it up so gasses don’t get trapped underneath, you are golden. Maybe others will chime in here on how they are successful with sand and I’ll give it another go and stop leaving the light on for 12-15 hrs! Ha ha
Patty

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Yeah I regularly stir up the sand to get the gasses out. We have the same problem in terms of lighting lol:)I keep it on for 12-15 hours as well so I can stare at my fish while I’m in the living room I do have the occasional green spot algae that appears on the glass once a week during a water change, but I deal with that by using a magnetic cleaner:)

Patty, I agree with you about the substrate issue with beef heart but I must strongly disagree with you as far as the live black worms. You are going by what you have heard or read, not by your personal experience. As long as the worms come from a clean source and are rinsed every day they are the best food to promote fast growth and excellent health in Discus. I have fed them since time began (well since I started in Discus in 2001 which is close enough) I feed them from a sponsor here http://forum.simplydiscus.com/forumd...sno-California The only reason I don't buy them much these days is that FedEx overnight shipping has gone up so much in price. But all things considered, I believe that they are the best food for Discus.

Anyone who says otherwise is itchin' for a fight :p

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Originally Posted by LizStreithorst

Patty, I agree with you about the substrate issue with beef heart but I must strongly disagree with you as far as the live black worms. You are going by what you have heard or read, not by your personal experience. As long as the worms come from a clean source and are rinsed every day they are the best food to promote fast growth and excellent health in Discus. I have fed them since time began (well since I started in Discus in 2001 which is close enough) I feed them from a sponsor here http://forum.simplydiscus.com/forumd...sno-California The only reason I don't buy them much these days is that FedEx overnight shipping has gone up so much in price. But all things considered, I believe that they are the best food for Discus.

Anyone who says otherwise is itchin' for a fight :p

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Well that’s good to know Liz! Thanks for correcting me. Do you have to order them direct? The article said there are only 2 places that sell them in the US (both in CA) and they sell to all the lfs. So why couldn’t you just buy them from your lfs if they are the same supplier? I bought them once and my fish loved them, but you’re right, I read something that made me change my mind. Glad you changed it back, but want to be sure it’s safe to get from lfs.
Patty

I wouldn't want to get them from a re-seller because you can never be sure that they are cared for correctly while they have them. They absolutely must be rinsed with chlorinated water every day or they will die and bacteria will get going in them. If I buy them direct I care for them myself so I know that they are healthy because I look at them every day when I rinse them. It's not worth the risk. Besides, they have to pay the same horrendous FedEx Overnight charges as we do plus make a profit on them. They must be terribly expensive that way.

I buy a lb. or two at a time and they last forever.

I use to buy a pound at a time from my wholesaler but they ship horribly in this hot weather even with ice packs and 12 hours transit time .. Out of a pound I normally get half that amount after cleaning them out and removing all the non worms ... Never seen a healthy discus not eat them but have had issues with them not wanting to eat anything else.. For now I’ll stick with Al’s fdbw and night give it another shot when the weather cools down..

Mine from Dan arrive fine, even in the Mississippi heat. But FedEx delivers to my shop early, and I have cold water and a container in my little fridge to rinse them before I take them home.

The white things in them are planaria. They are harmless to the fish. I never bother to remove them.