My Discus won't eat beefheart!

[jwcarlson]

Well, they won't eat it all day. But they will eat it right after a water change. Any ideas? There's lighting in the room as well as from outdoors that change, but it's nothing too drastic. Has basically been that way the whole year+ that I have had them. They used to est it whenever, but it's slowly gotten to only in the evenings. I just tried one this morning again after months without giving it during the day and they look to be ignoring it.

I have tried feeding nothing all day and giving them a cube before water change, they ignore it. I water change around that cube and they will eat it when it refills.

[brewmaster15]

Jacob,
How old is the batch of beefheart?

Al

[jwcarlson]

It's been in the deep freeze for close to a year. It's just beef heart with nothing added. When I thaw it a bit I dump some garlic guard on it. This last batch I also dusted some spinach powder on it. Their hesitance to eat it has been going on for quite some time. I should really do an experiment killing the lights and seeing if that makes a difference. I cannot recall when the lighting changed compared to when they starting being hesitant to eat it. It could also be that I just expect them to eat more than they really should be by nature of them maturing and what-not. Today they ignored it during the day once again, but ate it just fine once the water was filling back up from the water change.

[brewmaster15]

I have to wonder if the water filling is spreading the scent more and enticing them. A year is a while and it may be that Beefheart is getting old. One thing to note is when your Discus are young they are more likely to eat anything and voraciously.. As they become adults they can become a bit more picky and the appetite can drop off. If they are eating other foods without issue, its a probably a "being picky issue: or the food is old.


A suggestion, .. thaw some beefheart and add garlic powder and paprika to it.. Refrigerate for an hour or so to let it mix, and try feeding that BH Mix, .. You could also try adding some chopped up freeze dried blackworms mix that it well and see if they eat it then. YOu can also try mixing with some lean venison since you hunt.


hth,
al

[jwcarlson]

They're more picky about everything, truthfully. And also eating a lot less. I had a big drop off in eating after I had them something like 7 or 8 months and now again (but less markedly) at about 14 months.
I have done the garlic and it does seem to help a bit. I have quite a bit of black worm dust, I didn't think to mix that in. That's actually a good idea.