Food for my Discus

[wgtaylor]

This is what I will be feeding my contest discus for the year.

I have always fed a beefheart mix to my discus using the traditional mix of beefheart and 25%-35% shrimp. It has always been a great food source if not over done.
Many times I have tried different mixes and additives until I have added enough extra's they would not eat it any longer.
I added astaxanthin, spirulina, until they quit eating and once kept adding dry flake food to help bind the mix until I think I bound the discus. That stuff would dry like concrete.
What I really wanted was for them to get the advantage of the beefheart for growth and shrimp for a good food source and a natural astaxanthin.
I now again use just the simpler mix and I can feed less of it for the same benefit and all my discus wait for it. I feed the mix morning and night for growth and once in the morning for adults. Seems to work great and takes a lot less energy to make the mix. I would also feed live adult brine shrimp if I could get it easily.
Of course I can add astaxanthin to pump up adult color or medication when needed to the mix.

I rely on dry foods for the discus intake of fish, krill, seaweed/kelp and vitamins which they graze on during the day.
These are two of my favorite choices for flake and pellets for the discus. I would hate to try to add all this to my beefheart mixes.

Hikari Tropical Discus Bio-Gold
Ingredients
Krill meal, silkworm pupa meal, fish meal, cuttlefish meal, dried seaweed meal,
starch, brewers dried yeast, spirulina, carotene, astaxanthin, ..........

Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein min 50%
Crude Fat min 12 %
Crude Fiber max 3%
Moisture max 10%
Crude Ash max 15%
Phosphorus min 0.8%

Added Vitamins and Minerals
Vitamin A
Vitamin C
Vitamin D3
Vitamin E
and more......






Omega One Freshwater Flakes
Ingredients
Whole Salmon, Halibut, Black Cod, Whole Herring,
Whole Shrimp, Whole Krill, Wheat Flour, Wheat Gluten,
Fresh Kelp, Lecithin, Astaxanthin, ......
Vitamin A
Vitamin C
Vitamin D3
Vitamin E
Vitamin B12
and more.......

Guaranteed Analysis
Crude Protein Min 41%
Crude Fat Min 11%
Crude Fiber Max 2%
Moisture Max 8.5%
Ash Max 8%
Phosphorus Min 0.5%
Omega 3 Min 2%
Omega 6 Min 1%



Bill

[Disgirl]

astaxanthin

Could you tell me what this is please? Thanks@
Barbara

[wgtaylor]

astaxanthin

Could you tell me what this is please? Thanks@
Barbara

Hi Barbara, no problem.
Astaxanthin is a color additive that is sometimes put in the food to enhance the natural color of fish. It could be spirulina powder, paprika, nutra rose etc.
There are more natural astaxanthin like shrimp, krill, shrimp/lobster eggs etc.
All of these can be used to get your fish a brighter color.
A lot of packaged foods add it to their food and some are made just to enhance a fishes color. Far better for the fish than using hormones like some do.
You can get more information by doing a Google search for "fish astaxanthin"
Hope that helps,

Bill

[calihawker]

Bill, it's funny you mention these two dried foods as they are two that I have never gotten my discus to eat. Both were used in my seafood/beefheart mix. They're eating it now.

[wgtaylor]

Bill, it's funny you mention these two dried foods as they are two that I have never gotten my discus to eat. Both were used in my seafood/beefheart mix. They're eating it now.

Well, ya gotta do what ever it takes to get them to eat food that's good for them. You just out smarted them, good job Steve.

Bill

[Armandi_Fishcarer]

What I find with food is that eventually they will eat it, if you lay off there main food for a while, although if this doesn't work as Steve has mixed it in the BH mix they will take on that taste & will go for it later. For growing fish out I have found that if they lay off food for a little they will take longer to grow!

Regards
Ahmed

[Chad Hughes]

Bill,

You gotta treat them like kids that won't eat their vegetables, right?

Well done!

Best wishes!