Do discus know when to stop eating?

[omtay606]

Have 12 fish in a 240gal tank. Sizes are from 3-5 inches. I am using that 5 min rule as far as letting them have at it, for as much as they want in 5 mins. I give them a mix of pellets, fd worms, fd brine shrimp. All good stuff, high in protein, packed w/ vitamins. They get fed 3x a day. These guys have seriously huge bellies. Don't know if it's healthy for them. Do discus in general know when to stop eating? Your thoughts?

Tom

[Oscarsx]

I always wondered that also, from what I've heard oscar fish can eat themselves to death.. not sure if true :x

[Eddie]

Have 12 fish in a 240gal tank. Sizes are from 3-5 inches. I am using that 5 min rule as far as letting them have at it, for as much as they want in 5 mins. I give them a mix of pellets, fd worms, fd brine shrimp. All good stuff, high in protein, packed w/ vitamins. They get fed 3x a day. These guys have seriously huge bellies. Don't know if it's healthy for them. Do discus in general know when to stop eating? Your thoughts?

Tom

If they are happy and feeding, keep doing what you're doing. Huge bellies are better than empty ones. ;)

[timmy82]

Yeh mine seem to get to a point and will leave their food if they too full. They get fed 3 - 4 times a day on a big range of things even the oscars will stop too normally after around 3 pallets each andy more they end up spitting them back out.

[krislewis3]

Mine DO know when to stop.....actually, they will eat for a few min., leaving food on the bottom, and then 20 min. later, they will eat some of what is left on the ground, however, If i over feed, they will leave it for me to clean up the next day. I give them fd brine shrimp, only once a week, and tetra bits, fd blackworms and a flake that contains vitamins, beef heart veggies etc. daily! I haven't noticed unusually large abdomens though they do consume a lot of food. Do you think yours have a lot of gas? I would be interested to know what is in your pellets, and perhaps they contain an ingredient that produces gas!! Kris

[omtay606]

Do you think yours have a lot of gas? I would be interested to know what is in your pellets, and perhaps they contain an ingredient that produces gas!! Kris

I mix Hikari & NLS pellets for Discus. FD brine shrimp also from Hikari.

[krislewis3]

Well....I'm only one year into this hobby, but......in all my research and shoer term experience, a huge abdomen dosent sound normal!!! How long have they had these huge abdomens, and could you post a photo?

[bogia99]

this is just my observation. It does seems that each individual fish has its own limitation of food intake. Some will have big bellies and some will have little bellies. And this behavior is consistent at every feeding provided that food availability is not in question (overfeed and leftover stay in tank for >1hr). Another common observation is the big bellies fishes will generally out grow the smaller bellies one. This is from the 5 matching pairs that I have. It does seem the grow rate is directly proportional to the food intake (doesn't this sound familiar :). There has not been any ill effect from the big belly fishes that I can notice, except for a lot more poos. I feed the same stuffs that every one else feed their fishes.

[krislewis3]

Another common observation is the big bellies fishes will generally out grow the smaller bellies one. This is from the 5 matching pairs that I have.



I learn something new every day here at SD...,,. Thank you......Kris

[omtay606]

Snapped some pics this morning... 1 hr after eating

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/100412671738163890657/albums/5804169746397868913?authkey=CMn42buZq_eBLg

[sandy]

mine discus eat like its their last feed of their life:p

[YSS]

Discus are grazers. They will take their time eating.

[j123]

I had a Tiger Catfish once. He was about 18 inches long. His tank was in the basement. I put a couple dozen minnows in his tank. I was thinking that he would just eat them when he was hungry. Wrong. The next day it appeared he ate them all and then regurgitated them. The water was fouled and he was dead. So, in my opinion fish do not know when to stop eating.

[omtay606]

Discus are grazers. They will take their time eating.

Here's a short vid of my guys eating...

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/100412671738163890657/albums/5804169746397868913/5814974186018189218?authkey=CMn42buZq_eBLg