I had "That" experience.. discus eating from hand

[dagray]

Well today I tried yet again to get the discus to eat from my hand and today one actually did.

I took three San Fransicso Bay brand frozen beef heart cubes and put in a very small cup of tank water to which I added seven drops of Kent Marine's garlic extract. One of the medium sized (about 3 1/2 inches) came and ate out of my hand while the largest (almost six inches) swam inches below.

The tank is a 75 gallon with angels (I know some don't advise keeping angels and discus together), a large raphael striped cat, two small clown plecos, two salt and pepper cories, and four otinculus; the tank is planted with a large manzanita stump in it some argentine sword, a melon sword, amazon sword, sagitaria, cardinal plant, and broad leaf ludwigia.

I have raised these discus from dime sized and started them in a breeder box that had an airstone/filter floss filter on the side of the box to promote water movement.

I feed the Californa Blackworm frozen blackworm/beefheart in the evenings.

Dave

[troysdiiscus]

Haha, nothing like it, I feed most of mine by hand about 9 of them and they all come up and tear it up, fun to watch....yeah be careful with the angels, I also had one in there and he started getting very aggressive so took him out...

[pauline]

That's so cool isn't it. Perhaps the rest of them will follow suit real soon.

Mine are quirky probably because they've not been here very long. One day they'll eat out of my hand, brushing along my fingers, the next day I make one wrong move and they act like I'm a monster. I have noticed though that they're warm and very smooth from the water temp and slime coat.

[DonMD]

Congrats on that. Now, can you pet them? Here's a vid of me petting my discus! http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?75525-Discus-Petting-Zoo-!-!-!&highlight=petting

Discus can really be interactive with humans, one of the reasons they are such neat fish. -Don

[troysdiiscus]

yeah alot of times, since they kept in groups, all it takes is one to come up and the rest will follow. At first you have to be real still, dont blink lol or it will spook them. Sometimes another discus bumbing into them while eating from your hands will spoke them but keep it in there they will come back to it. Then you will get to a point when you shyphon out your tank they want to come peck at your hand cause they think you want to feed them. lol

[DonMD]

Then you will get to a point when you shyphon out your tank they want to come peck at your hand cause they think you want to feed them. lol

That is exactly right!

[dagray]

I think it is a neat experience when they stare at you through the glass as if to say "feed me" when my family sits down to eat dinner.

Dave

[pauline]

They sure do stare. The angelfish "dance"....that wiggling back and forth thing they do. Discus stare.