Feeding Bloodworms Only..Is It Good Or Bad?

[DianasDiscus]

John, do yiu mind shsring how you make your own beef heart? If not, I could drive by and visit you in person. Anything within 500 miles is just down the road in Texas. :-)

[nabilbb]

i started a discus tank 2 months ago( my first time ever). I have 4 discus in my tank and they only eat bloodworms... they all look very healthy . i tried starving them for more than 24 hours , fed them BBS ,
beef heart , but still wont eat anything but bloodworms. Is it bad to keep feeding them blood worms... plus im going on vacation for 4 days and i was planning on getting those automatic
feeder thingy but they wont eat dry food.. i really need HELP! What advice can you guys give me ...

It is like feeding kids with Lolly pop only

[John_Nicholson]

There is a thread started by me that tells what I do but I can never get the search feature on here to work correctly for me.

You are welcome to drop by the fish house. Many people do but be sure to contact me in advance. This is deer season so my schedule is highly variable.......I am only about 40 miles northeast of Dallas.

-john

[Second Hand Pat]

There is a thread started by me that tells what I do but I can never get the search feature on here to work correctly for me.

You are welcome to drop by the fish house. Many people do but be sure to contact me in advance. This is deer season so my schedule is highly variable.......I am only about 40 miles northeast of Dallas.

-john

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...art&highlight=

[Tankster]

The link below will take you to a thread full of recipes
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...3-Food-Recipes

John, do yiu mind shsring how you make your own beef heart? If not, I could drive by and visit you in person. Anything within 500 miles is just down the road in Texas. :-)

*edit: Link fixed

[John_Nicholson]

Thanks Pat.

-john

[RodneyL001]

Yeah, I've done the trick of feeding them the food they really love an slowly feed them other foods a little at a time, then slowly remove the blood worms out of the mix, that will usually work.

[Legend of Zion]

It depends on your definition of health. Lots of people have fish that they think are healthy when in reality that are only sort of healthy. One of the reason that I like the NADA show is for many people it is the first time they get to see a truly nice and healthy discus. I can try to explain that until I am blue in the face but until you see it first hand you will not understand. I have seen literally hundreds of peoples "healthy" discus. Most of which I would have no desire to own. They will tell me that they are big and fat. I go look and find their adults to be 5 or so inches. I don't currently know what the average height of present day humans is. Lets say it is 5'9". If I came up with a diet and forced everyone to eat it but the average height fell to 5'1" would we call them healthy? They are alive, they are reproducing. I find lots of people here that think if they fish are alive and lays eggs on occasion then they have to be doing a great job. That is not necessarily the case. They are your fish and you can treat them however you like. I personally feel that beef heart mix is a much better all around food then bloodworms. When I go out of town and my 13 year old runs the fish house she feeds bloodworms because they are easier. I don't have her do this because they are better, just easier. Also "fasting" them for 24 hours is about like us not having a snack between lunch and dinner. Fish can go a longtime without food and be ok. I would suggest that you feed bloodworms and BH at the same time. Start with almost all bloodworms and just a little BH. Over the course of a few weeks increase the percentage of BH. While I do think that BH is better it does come with a cost. Make sure you keep your water quality up. One more note....don't buy any of that pre-made crap that you see advertised. Make you own mix. It will be a hell of a lot less messy if you do it right.

-john

I am relatively new to Discus and the fish hobby in general. After making every mistake in the book me and my GF have seemed to gotten a grasp on the overall basics i.e keeping fish alive and "looking" healthy. But after reading various articles and forums as well as a few videos and documentaries I feel you really hit the crux of my current phase which is a higher level of understanding and perhaps someday (if possible) mastery of the art. As I say being new to the discus I at first thought to myself, as I heard folks talking that "Discus are not as hard to keep as people say", this was the case as I currently have 5 discus for a few months with relatively no health problems. When I compare them to other cichlids I have kept, namely Angelfish they seem easier to keep alive, although this could be partially due to the pedigree of the Angels I have bought in the past as well as my ignorance in fishkeeping when I started out, or perhaps even bad luck. But realizing as I am trying to grow out my smaller discus it has become clearer what it is meant by enthusiasts by labeling discus as advanced, meaning keeping them alive is doable but making them reach their maximum potential requires more knowledge then I was aware of.

Ultimately my question I am asking is what ingredients and what ratios of said ingredients will get you optimum results in growing out and maintain healthy colourful discus?

I currently am going to try for the first time to make my own discus food mixture, I say food mixture over beef heart mixture mostly because of some information I learned from one enthusiast (Mark Weiss) who basically said that beef heart was in fact NOT the best source of protein for discus or fish in general and really if anything liver is better. He also touched upon the fact fish really have no requirement for plants or carbs of any kind and they can even result in being a perfect culture for bacteria within the fish.

So, here is my current list of ingredients I am considering for my first attempt at discus food mix, keep in mind I never have done this before.
-Veal liver
-silverside smelts
-raw shrimp
-clams
-Tapiaoca flour
-fish oil
-multi vitamin
-Discus flakes

I don't know if I should consider other marine supplements as I have heard others mention using them in their BH mixture. I heard the use of something called Aztec xanthum or something like that being important to eye health not sure about what that is.

Would be interested to hear others feedback on what they use or suggest!

[brewmaster15]

Hi Jeremiah,

So, here is my current list of ingredients I am considering for my first attempt at discus food mix, keep in mind I never have done this before.
-Veal liver
-silverside smelts
-raw shrimp
-clams
-Tapiaoca flour
-fish oil
-multi vitamin
-Discus flakes

That recipe , though nutritionally is not bad is going to really going to foul the water...... I'd advise against it.. Keep in mind also that though liver is nutritious, its also the part of the body that filters out toxins...not something I want to feed my fish, unless I sourced it organic, even then its not a great one in my view.

If you don't want to use Beef heart, you can substitute seafood entirely... a good mix of salmon,shrimp, squid, clams, etc... Theres also many suitable dry foods to feed that have plenty of protein and fats necessary for good growth.

hth,
al

[ericNH]

I watched a Marc Weiss interview where they cut scenes into it that show him making his own food mix. That man is aweseom to watch and listen to. Legend of Zion I think you must have seen the same one.

However, While I'm sure his recipe is one of the best out there, I think it is ridiculously over-complicated. I tried something like it in my early days of making my own food mix, but have dropped it in favor of something much simpler:

75% beef heart
25% discus hans flake

done.

[John_Nicholson]

Marc does not even own his name currently....His ex does. Marc seldom says anything that does not have a chance to make him money. I watched part of his idiotic video. I would have watched more but I could only stomach so much BS. I have been raising discus using a BH mix for a very, very long time. I have raised multiple generations of discus on it. I have big fish that live a longtime and have extremely large spawns. He can do whatever you want but there is a reason that Marc is hated far and wide in the fish world.

-john

[ericNH]

He can do whatever you want but there is a reason that Marc is hated far and wide in the fish world.

-john

Is he really? I thought he was very entertaining. He seems like someone I would enjoy havind a few drinks with, just to hear his stories of Amazon exploration and what-not. But I've only seen the one video, probably the same one you couldn't stomach lol.

Bu then I also would enjoy hvaing a few beers with you, also to hear your stories of discus-keeping and what-not.

[John_Nicholson]

Snake oil salesmen. Remember the ghost buster symbol? Well several years ago they had those at an ACA but it was Marcs picture instead of the ghost. He is entertaining to listen to you just can't beleive a word he ssays.

-john

[brewmaster15]

Okay, Redirect here this is getting off base.... John obviously has an opinion of Marc... best you take it off the forum and Pm him for details.

thanks,
al

[Legend of Zion]

I actually was wondering about the toxins in the liver I do blanch it first. I was wondering about using clams, can I used canned ones or must they be raw. I added raw mussels to the mix. I feel even the seafood with the smelts (probably ended up being the main ingredient in the mix) is a good source of protein but I opted out to use some carrots and flake food as well as gelatin to keep it altogether in the tank. For the record I gave them it for the first time today and they seemed to enjoy it although the tetras and angelfish had no interest which is probably good cuz I would rather they eat less than the discus anyways.