Feeding in a Planted Tank

[Ekar_Ogrit]

I am a firm believer in growing out in BB and moving into Show Tank as young adults or when they have reached a size I'm happy with. In a BB you can feed them like pigs while keeping the water quality near perfect. I was wondering though what ammount and frequency everyone feeds their discus in their planted tank to balance water quality and keeping their discus fat and happy. I guess W/C regimine may also be closely related to this question. For those that have planted tanks w/o discus (can't imagine why anyone would, do you adjust your regimine greatly for the Discus vs non-Discus tanks? Do you make adjustments in the types of food you feed in a planted vs. BB tank. I know I haven't got up the courage to put beefheart in a planted tank yet.

Ekar

[ronrca]

A very good topic Ekar!

My planted 90G I feed once a day using a mixture of flake food. I do not feed any live or frozen foods. This is more to do with my schedule as the lights first come on when Im at work so feeding it a little difficult unless I get an automatic feeder. I also do a 40-50% water change weekly. Everyone is happy! This happens with or without discus!

In my BB tanks though it feed much more and using frozen foods.

[TnMark]

I'm still a newbie, but in my 135 gallon planted tank I feed twice a day, once with CBW and the second with either ONF1 flakes or tetrabits. Between my Congo tetras and cories all the food is eaten quickly with my Discus getting their fair share.
I have been doing 50% WC twice a week.

[ChloroPhil]

I fed mine frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp two to four times daily. It's just added nitrogen and phosphate for a high octane planted aquarium like I was running. (It'll be up again; after the move I'm a little short on funds to remake it as I want to.)

Ekar,
Your tank is very similar to mine, don't worry too much about overfeeding. You can always cut back on your chemical fertilizers to compensate for the additional NO3 and PO4. Also, with the types of plants you've got in your tank the additional nutrients on top of your regular service routine may just be a blessing. It's the best sort of free fertilizer there is...

[ronrca]

Id be careful Phil about overfeeding and the such! Overfeeding will add junk that can harbor nasties like bacteria's. Ive done it and had small white worms all over my glass plus bacteria infections. Maybe I should be doing water changes more often but Im too lazy I guess! Not saying that it can not be done but just a caution!

[ChloroPhil]

Ronrca,

LOL, I hardly ever had food stay on the bottom long enough to start decaying. My apistos were there in a heartbeat, as were my Discus. Those two and 50% weekly WC kept everything in hand. Malaysian Trumpet Snails were a big boon too.

[dm]

I feed once in the morning and once in the evening in my planted tanks. I don't give them any more than I think they will be able to eat.

[RAWesolowski]

Ekar,

I am on the road two days each week. During those days, the fish receive a light flake feeding from an automaitc feer (Eheim). On the other days, I do a light morning feed of TetraBits followed by three feedings of CBW. The CBW feedings are "scatter" feedings to see if any of the CBW hit the substrate. A pinch at a time until the fish lose interest or act less like sharks.

Water changes are 50% per day for 5 days followed by two days without water changes. Substrate is lightly vaccuumed on the water changes in quadrants.