Do I look fat?

[JamesW]

I use these to train my dog: https://www.chewy.com/wellness-core-...lmon/dp/141799

A few pieces found their way into my tank and the discus loved it.

Any concerns about the mono-diet Paul?

I've been using Repashy gel food again and now that I don't have a snail problem the discus are really interested in eating it. I use a mixture of the spawn and grow and bottom scratcher but the Igapo Explorer formula looks like it might be a good mix based on the ingredients.

[Paul Sabucchi]

Can't see anything wrong with those salmon treats. As mentioned it is a bit of an experimental trial to keep these fish on an almost mono-diet, we need to see the long term results. I give them the granules as first meal and give them 4 hours to eat them before they get any salmon.
Anyway if you look on the Disease/sickness section today's post by Wilhelm (presumably from Germany) you can see a photo of discus he had for months, they look sooooo skinny and he can't see anything wrong with them except today they are breathing faster! So by continually being exposed to these Italian and German fish that are 1/3 the thickness of mine I may be getting a little paranoid mine are obese!

[Tshethar]

Yeah, I'll take the "fat" ones, please! I remember as a newcomer to the site reading lots of stuff about discus in planted tanks vs. BB and all that, and honestly being a little skeptical of what could seem like a militant, uncompromising approach to husbandry that seemed like the norm. But now that I actually have fish, it is so much more satisfying to work with them daily with both food and water (especially with good WC systems in place), and to see them growing, rather than seeing skinny, darkening fish hiding in the back corner of a tank with some plants (like I did recently at an LFS). (Not saying people on here don't have nice tanks with plants and discus! Admire those who do and have managed it thoughtfully.)

While biggest isn't always best and not every human being needs to become a body builder to look good and be healthy (and may be better off not exclusively aiming for size), I can definitely appreciate why people who have had fish like yours would have a hard time being affirming about thin, stunted 4" fish that are surviving but not really thriving in some tanks.

Hope these guys continue doing as well as they have on the salmon.

[jeep]

Fat or not, your discus look incredibly healthy! I may work with this idea myself...

[Paul Sabucchi]

Thanks, when I first started lurking on discus forums a few years ago I was quite shocked by the apparent "cultural difference" between this forum and the local ones here in Italy and, as far as I can see, also what goes on in other European countries, where putting your discus in a tank with substrate, ornaments and plants is the majority of cases. Towards someone who dares to say that he keeps discus in a BB tank, feeding plenty and changing a lot of water the attitude ranges from condescending (I don't like the look of a bare tank) to hostile (it is not natural keeping fish in a barren environment, they need wood and floating plants to shelter them from the light or they get stressed, they need to be kept at a pH of 6 or less... and so on). Personally I think the proof of the pudding is always in the eating and that the general consensus on this forum is far less militant.

[eugenefish]

Thanks, when I first started lurking on discus forums a few years ago I was quite shocked by the apparent "cultural difference" between this forum and the local ones here in Italy and, as far as I can see, also what goes on in other European countries, where putting you have discus in a tank with substrate, ornaments and plants is the majority of cases. Towards someone who dares to say that he keeps discus in a BB tank, feeding plenty and changing a lot of water the attitude ranges from condescending (I don't like the look of a bare tank) to hostile (it is not natural keeping fish in a barren environment, they need wood and floating plants to shelter them from the light or they get stressed, they need to be kept at a pH of 6 or less... and so on). Personally I think the proof of the pudding is always in the eating and that the general consensus on this forum is far less militant.

+1

[Filip]

Congrats on your Pit bulls Paul . You have totally reached the Piwowarski level of fattness here
I'm all in for " the bigger the better " look of discus so they seem like excellent job done to me .

[Paul Sabucchi]

Thanks Filip, I am not trying to re-invent the wheel, just attempting to avoid a bumpy ride. I find it very useful to follow the various tank journals, particularly the "warts and all" ones, because we all have something to learn from each other. As I was saying over here they advise to shade discus from intense light, mine must love to sunbathe...

[hardcore_freak]

Round and thick...
Very Impressive!

[brewmaster15]

Paul your fish look very healthy indeed. Nice work raising them so far.

Hi they still get fed quality discus granules at 6.30, then grated salmon at 10, 12, 2 pm, 4, 6 & 8pm then 2/3 water change.

Though you dont mention how much you are feeding per feeding I would suggest tapering back on the feedings. Salmon is a high fat food and its likely at their age they will start packing away the fat more than they should. You should keep an eye on the chin to the belly region as an indication of if they need to cut back on the calorie intake.
Speaking from personal experience (mine not the fish) theres a fine line between stout and obese .. once crossed its hard to go back! lol.


hth,
Al

[Paul Sabucchi]

Thanks Al, will try to re-introduce cod. Wondering if discus can shed fish oil derived adipose tissue any better than saturated fats? The alleged issue of (land) animal fats being solid at discus body temperature and not metabolized by fish is one of reasons why I decided to use fish rather than beef heart -the other being I find a lot less messy grating a nice clean frozen fish fillet rather than trimming a lot of beef heart.

[brewmaster15]

Paul my guess is if you arent seeing oil slicks on the water, the fats largely accumulating in the Discus much like it does in the salmon itself.

[Paul Sabucchi]

No doubt the calories are ending up in the discus, no oil slicks except the one time I could not find any wild and fed them farmed salmon! Will try and prevent them getting too much of a double chin. Do you think there is any substance to the belief saturated fats are just accumulated without the possibility of ever being metabolized?

[brewmaster15]

Im not sure on that Paul with regards to saturated fats...it just may be the last fat used. I do suspect that discus are very good at storing fats given the seasonal changes they evolved in.

Al

[Paul Sabucchi]

As far as I know fish can transform saturated fatty acids into mono-unsaturated but lack the enzymes to transform these into poly-unsaturated. I may have found an answer to my own question, I think fish can oxidize (burn) saturated fatty acids such as myristic acid. Will gradually swap them to cod now, that store fat mainly in their liver rather than muscle