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Thread: How much food?

  1. #1
    Registered Member LoGeek's Avatar
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    Default How much food?

    I've read a couple of threads on this topic but as a relative new discus keeper I still find it hard to know how much to feed.

    For the first months I only fed Stendker Goodheart and followed the instructions on the label:
    10 fish, size 6-12cm = 8-15 gr/day
    10 fish, size 12-18cm = 15-22 gr/day

    This is exactly the kind of instruction that comes handy to a beginner like me.

    Lately I've started feeding Tetra Discus Bits, and I really find it hard to find the proper amount. I think I've been overfeeding because all fish are more skittish and one has stopped eating. Also there's more algae.

    I find guidlines like "all they can eat in 5min" very hard to follow. Does someone have a guideline similar to the one above but for granules?

    Preferably:

    10 fish, 6-12 cm = ?? tsp granules / day
    10 fish, 12-18 cm = ?? tsp granules / day

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    Registered Member Lido's Avatar
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    Default Re: How much food?

    There are people on here with much more experience than me at this. However, this is how i feed mine and it seems to work well.

    10 fish 6-9 CM/ 2.5-3.5 inches I feed them 4 times a day. Once as soon as i wake up, once at about 11:00AM, once at about 4:00PM and once right before bed. I feed the high protein foods at the beginning and end of the day. So beefheart in the AM/FDBW in the evening, during the day i'll feed flakes once/pellets once. As to the exact amount of each it varies. I'll put in a small amount first, if they eat that like oinkers in 2 seconds, i'll add more BH or FDBW. in the morning or night. For the NLS pellets i feed, it is about 1.5 pellets per fish. So i have a little measuring spoon that i believe is 1/2 tsp or maybe 1/3 (i'll have to look when i get home) but it holds about 20 1mm pellets, I'll feed that. For flakes, i usually feed a small pinch I do not have an "exact amount." I always feed them very little flake as it tends to dirty the water and go in the prefilter very easily. I would guess it is less than 1/2 a tsp.

    Larger fish, i feed 3 times a day, morning mid day and night. Their diet is also "mixed." I feed FDBW, Live Blackworm/whiteworm/bloodworm, Beefheart/Seafood mixes, New Life Spectrum flakes/pellets, spirulina flakes, nori and sometimes mysis shrimp.

    The trick to feeding is to observe your fish. Feeding "just the right amount" is not an exact science unfortunately. One day you'll notice they'll eat everything you put in, the next they will eat 1/3 of that amount. I always start small, just not so small it creates a war for food. You can add food to your tank, you can't take it out as easily.
    Last edited by Lido; 02-10-2017 at 04:23 PM.
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    Registered Member LoGeek's Avatar
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    Default Re: How much food?

    Thank you Casey! I find your information more useful than any thread I've come across.

    Do you vacuum te bottom after bothmorning and evening meal?

    Do you use a feeder for dry foods when away at work?

    Anyone else with information on your feeding schedule and amounts?

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    Registered Member JBurgo's Avatar
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    Default Re: How much food?

    I have Wilds and they will eat everything I put in there and more, I continually have to be careful not to overfeed. I give beef heart twice a day, morning and evening, along with something else random, bloodworms or brine shrimp or such. I give pellets for the middle of the day feed, Vitalis and Tetracolour and a bit of flake. I throw a pinch of FDBW in at the end of every feed. I always feed slow and use only a little bit of each, and wait for it to be consumed fully before adding the next thing. I prefer to use small amounts of a lot of different things. Discus do like to pick off the bottom after a feed though, especially the sinking pellets, and I have a little clean up crew too.

    I vacuum once a day, at the end of the day, into a filter sock that I put in the sump and then remove, so no excess food or poop stays in there for too long.

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    Registered Member bluelagoon's Avatar
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    Default Re: How much food?

    The best method is to fed as much as they can consume.If there are any left overs then cut back.If all fish don't get their fill,there will be more food down the road.Feed young discus at twice a day,but not uncommon up to six.At least once a day for adults,but then again twice a day won't hurt.They don't exert a whole lot of energy sitting/swimming in a tank with no predators after them.Over feeding = unnecessary maintenance.

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    Registered Member LoGeek's Avatar
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    Default Re: How much food?

    I would love to get an estimation of food amount for these last posts. How many tsp per 10 discus of dry food? How many grams or cm3 beefheart?

    I've tried to feed all they can eat but they eat like crazy. They feed of the bottom until their bellies look ready to explode. Also I quickly found small white "worms" all over the tank after a couple of days with "all they can eat". This in spite of 50-80% wc daily. When I cut back on food the worms disappeared. But how much to actually feed is hard to know. That's why I'd love to hear your estimates in tsp and so on. Of course I realise that they eat more some days and less other days, and that all fish are different. But it would help me evaluate if I'm still feeding to much.

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    Registered Member Jack L's Avatar
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    Default Re: How much food?

    I now feed my 2 year old discus once a day with a bh/flake i make.

    Some dry food is dropped midday that the other fish go for. Earthworm pellet, nls, etc. I've never seen the discus eat it. It's about 1/4 teaspoon compartment that drops.

    I was feeding the BH twice a day up to a week or two ago, I haven't noticed a difference.

    I can weigh the bh if you want for reference.

    The first year they were being fed 4 to 6 times a day.

  8. #8
    Registered Member LoGeek's Avatar
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    Default Re: How much food?

    Quote Originally Posted by Jack L View Post
    I now feed my 2 year old discus once a day with a bh/flake i make.

    Some dry food is dropped midday that the other fish go for. Earthworm pellet, nls, etc. I've never seen the discus eat it. It's about 1/4 teaspoon compartment that drops.

    I was feeding the BH twice a day up to a week or two ago, I haven't noticed a difference.

    I can weigh the bh if you want for reference.

    The first year they were being fed 4 to 6 times a day.
    I'm still in the first year so I'd appreciate an estimation of the amount of food at your 4-6 feedings. How big a piece of BH? 1*1*1 cm? How many discus?

  9. #9
    Silver Member Willie's Avatar
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    Default Re: How much food?

    Sometimes it takes decades to get perspective. I've come around to the realization that, after 30 years of fish keeping, old bromides often have a sound underlying basis. The bromide is "feed what they'll eat in 10 minutes". Over time, I realize that this actually works. But most of us feed the fish and walk away. If you were to actually time the amount of feeding, what they'll eat in 10 minutes is actually a good rule of thumb.

    The only wrinkle in this rule of thumb is the size of the fish. Young discus will eat voraciously, so definitely don't feed more than what they'll eat in 10 minutes. Older discus can get picky and will eat slowly. So definitely feed less.

    I buy frozen beefheart from California Blackworms. They come flattened in 1 lb packs, about 1/4" thick. I use a cleaver to cut these into squares, 1/2" per side. For my 5" discus, my rule of thumb is 1 square per 2 fish twice a day. If I'm not running off to work, they'll finish this much in about 10 minutes.

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  10. #10
    Registered Member Jack L's Avatar
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    Default Re: How much food?

    11 Discus
    15+ cory
    40 or so black neon
    6 otto
    4 SAE

    this was 4 grams. this is about the average size of BH i cut, sometimes its bigger but not by much.
    also, it took them 20 minutes to eat it. when it falls off the glass the cories swarm it, but the Discus chase them off if they want more. the Neons go for the particles.

    once or twice a week i put in FDBW for extra/variety.

    and because of this thread i watched the pellets that dropped. the discus didn't go for it at all. the cories and farlowella did.

    when i was growing them out, they got the BH 2x or 3x, a day, also go FDBW, or tubifex, or frozen bloodworm, mysis, brine. so it was 4 to 6 feedings a day. and if i missed WC, the water would start to stink due to all the overfeeding.

    i'm not yet sure if this is a good amount, i'll watch for a while. if they keep the same thickness, i'll leave it this way.

    BH-3.jpg
    Last edited by Jack L; 02-12-2017 at 12:49 PM.

  11. #11
    Registered Member LoGeek's Avatar
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    Default Re: How much food?

    Thanks Jack! Great post!

  12. #12
    Registered Member JBurgo's Avatar
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    Default Re: How much food?

    11 Wild Discus, small clean up crew: 6 endlers, 2 Clown Loaches, 1 Flying Fox.

    I made some photos today of my feedings. Morning and evening feedings were the `Beef Heart and Blood Worms` followed by a reasonable sized pinch of `Australian Freeze Dried Black Worms`. Middle of the day was the assorted granules `Tetra Colour`, `Wild Discus Gran`, `Vitalis Discus Pellets`and `Flake`.

    My best advice is to feed them slowly, one part at a time until their stomachs begin to show slightly, but if they're bulging they've had too much.

    Bloodworms and Beef Heart.jpgFreeze Dried Black Worms.jpgPellets.jpg
    Last edited by JBurgo; 02-15-2017 at 07:32 AM.

  13. #13
    Registered Member LoGeek's Avatar
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    Default Re: How much food?

    Thanks Jason! I'm starting to realise that I'm probably over feeding.
    Their stomachs are always bulging a lot after I've feed them. Is that bad for some other reason than the unnecessary bioload?

  14. #14
    Registered Member Jack L's Avatar
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    Default Re: How much food?

    when growing them, i wanted to see plump belly

  15. #15
    Registered Member JBurgo's Avatar
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    Default Re: How much food?

    They have small digestive tracts, huge bulging bellies means the result is probably improperly digested food, and other potential problems.

    When I first got my fish they were severely malnourished, so I was regularly feeding them to the point of bulging until one died of whirling, and I researched it, and found this: http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showth...irling-Disease Everyone has their paranoia, and I guess that's probably mine. If you research what has happened to others when whirling strikes their Wild tanks, you'll see that I've probably done well to only lose one fish, I may have averted a disaster.

    I only feed them until they begin to show, but not to the point where they bulge. Instead, I feed them small amounts more often. I think it's cost effective too, if they digest it better.

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