Tricking WILD spoiled discus to try new healthy foods ......

[Pipa]

What's everyone's tricks to getting WILD discus to try new foods, ie Fresh Water Mysis shrimp, flakes/pellets, dried red sea weed, etc etc ... Curretly mine are spoiled on black worms , blood worms , beef heart.... I want them to eat other foods.
Thank you !

[brewmaster15]

Your best chance is to work with one food at a time.. It may take several days of only offering that new food.

But in all honesty, theres nothing wrong with the diet your fish are on now... Those are staple proven discus foods ...That they are wilds really doesn't matter.

Your Goal of freshwater mysis is great...if they will eat them!! Its hit or miss with Discus and Mysis...which is a shame as its an excellent food nutritionally There are pellets wilds will eat. Start with a good quality small pellet...1 mm is my target size. Dried red seaweed? That would be good, honestly not needed If you want some veggies in there... Spinach and spirullina are good ones to add to your Beefheart...but I suppose you could also add the seaweed to it also.


al

[Pipa]

Okay thanks for your response. Have you had any luck switching discus from live blackworms / frozen bloodworms to blackworm flakes / bloodworm flakes ? It sure would be so much easier if it's possible for a successful switch, haha..

[brewmaster15]

I havent fed live blackworms in ages but discus do get spoiled on a food like blackworms. It can make it challenging but most discus will take to other foods if you are patient and persistent.
al

[Filip]

It can take months , but dont give up Pipa .
Start with one food at a time and persistently feed them that every first meal of the day. In weeks /month or two they will start excepting it readily .

Others claim fasting too , but personally they always beat me to it . It seems to me that they rather die than to except a new food when forced with hunger .
So patience and persistence is the virtue here Pipa .

[Mattgoanna]

I have had a lot of luck with Tropical flake food, but it can take weeks or months.

[DISCUS STU]

If you have both domestic and wild fish together, then then the Wild Discus will follow the lead of domestic fish and feed from any of these foods as well and it has normally never taken an exceptional amount of time for this to happen. Discus don't know that they're wild or domestic but they do understand that they are with other Discus. Tetra Bits, flake food, fdtw, beef heart, etc., all are readily taken by my fish.

I've never had a problem with introducing new foods to wild fish if they are housed with domestic fish.