Wild fish eating habits

[honeymonster]

Hi ,i recently recieved a small group of 5-6" wild green discus,after a couple of days settling in,they regained their colour and started to act normal,i.e looking for food and pushing each other about.The only trouble is they only want to eat FDBW.I tried at first with flake and tetra prima which they had been fed on previously at the suppliers but now only spit this out.So i tried them on FDBW and eat them as fast as i can put them in but i want to feed more of a balanced diet with some dried food included.It been nearly 2 weeks now and now wondering if i should cut out FDBW altogther ? Has anybody else encounter this problem and how did you overcome it ?Do i need to starve them ?
Thanks

[Second Hand Pat]

You might. Introduce a small amount of the new food as the first feeding of the day.

[winn0923]

Starve them for 2 days. Mix 80/20 FDBW and other food and slowly work your way down to 50/50 over a few weeks or even lower. Siphon uneaten food within an hour if possible if not then siphon it out at the end of the day along w a 30% wc or more. I wean all my wilds to dry food this way.


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[SMB2]

Well this is what they eat in the wild, from a 2008 paper: Neotropical Ichthyology

In volumetric terms, Symphysodon appeared to feed predominantly on a mixture of algal periphyton, fine organic detritus and green plant matter. These three categories were combined into a single category because of practical difficulties in separating them. Nonetheless, green plant matter in the form of triturated leaves probably represented no more than 15% of the total volume (a crude estimate). Of the remaining material, it was hard to distinguish between partially digested periphyton and fine organic detritus - which comprises mainly decomposing plant residues.

Periphyton comprises multi-species filamentous algal communities covering the branches and leaves of flooded forests. Periphyton represents a major form of primary production, and an important source of energy for floodplain fish populations (Araujo-Lima et al., 1986; Forsberg et al., 1993). Fine organic detritus, which becomes trapped by periphyton and accumulates on submerged structures, is in itself also an important source of nutrition for many species of Amazonian fishes, and a dominant source of energy for fish communities as a whole (Araujo-Lima et al., 1986).

At low water, far less submerged substrate is available for periphyton growth. Also, lake waters tend to become clouded by the action of waves on clay beaches at low water - reducing the photic zone for algal growth. These factors may explain why a large proportion of discus exhibited only partially filled stomachs at low water, and why invertebrates comprised a greater fraction of their diet. During the high water period discus were usually found in open, well lit flooded forests where periphyton grows most profusely. At this time of the year, invertebrates constituted a surprisingly small volumetric component of discus diet, although they may represent a vital source of protein. Further study is required to investigate the relative energetic and nutritional contribution (versus volumetric representation) of detritus, algae, plant matter and animal matter in the diet of Symphysodon.

The alimentary canal of Symphysodon is characterized by a poorly defined stomach and an elongate intestine, some 300 mm long and 3 mm wide (in a 180 mm SL specimen). This intestinal morphology is typical of a cichlid with a dominantly vegetarian, detritivorous, or omnivorous diet. Predominantly piscivorous cichlids such as Cichla and Crenicichla exhibit shorter alimentary canals with well developed stomachs (Zihler, 1982).

Bleher (2006, p. 510-595) reports detailed observational notes on the diet of discus, taken over many years of field visits to the Amazon basin. He undertook stomach content analyses on over 8,500 discus specimens and also made direct observations of feeding in the wild. Although most of his findings are reported qualitatively, Bleher (2006) presents some quantitative data for the volumetric dietary intake of S. haraldi (although numbers of specimens are not given, p. 593). During the high-water period he reports average stomach contents of: 12% algae and microalgae, 44% plant matter (flowers, fruits, seeds, leaves), 6% detritus, 16% aquatic invertebrates, and 22% terrestrial and arboreal arthropods. During the low water period he reports 25% algae and microalgae, 39% detritus, 9% plant matter, 22% aquatic invertebrates, and 5% terrestrial and arboreal arthropods. Data for S. aequifasciatus and S. discus indicate a larger proportion of algae, plant matter and detritus both for during the low and high water periods. The data presented here for S. haraldi from the Amanã region indicate a pattern of lower dietary variability, and a much larger proportion of periphyton/detritus than reported by Bleher (2006). These discrepancies might reflect the small sample sizes reported here; perhaps much larger samples are required to show the true breadth of discus diet. Alternatively these discrepancies might reflect natural variation in diet among populations and species of discus.

[dirtyplants]

I had this problem with my greens, most willingly started eating all that was given but one refused to eat anything but frozen blood worms. I just feed the dried food at every meal and mixed in a few frozen blood worms, after about two weeks he just started eating the dried food so hang in there.

[honeymonster]

Hi Guys,thanks for the help, will try as suggested.
Thanks

[winn0923]

Nice find on that article smb


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[Mclane]

My wilds will only eat black worms. They swim around the blood worms like they don't see them. They did try beef heart but spit it out. Do you think the can't see red??

[Larry Bugg]

My wilds will only eat black worms. They swim around the blood worms like they don't see them. They did try beef heart but spit it out. Do you think the can't see red??

Stick with the one thread you have already started. You don't need to make multiple post about the same topic.

[YSS]

Interesting info on the discus diet, Stan. Very different from what most people believe on this forum and definitely very different from what we feed our fish. I fed my discus peas a couple of times and they seemed to eat them fine. I will have to continue to feed them more often. A lot of people on the forum do not like Heiko and are very quick to dismiss his thoughts and findings. I find it very strange. He has probably gone on more expeditions to Amazons and other parts of the world for research than everyone on this forum combined and more knowledgeable than anyone on this forum when it comes to fish, discus included.