Fish cant see food in black sand

[freshwaterplimpy]

I have these new discus that I bought and theyre tank raised (bare bottom) but when i moved them into my new tank with the black sand they cant see their food because theyre pellets. My sand have rocks which are as big as the pellets which gives them a hard time to look for the food. Theyre only eating and spitting the rocks but im scared that they might eat the rocks and choke. Im also afraid that theyll get hungry and die. Help me please:(

Im new to this forum so if i post this on the wrong thread please move it or anything. Thanks :)

[DiscusLoverJeff]

Just stop feeding pellets and focus on flakes, frozen or freeze-dried. Or your other option would be a new substrate? I don't believe discus have a hard time distinquishing food from rocks or sand, its instinct.

[freshwaterplimpy]

thank for the reply! :)

I have five discus in a 50g with 4 cardinals and one of them can eat the pellets and the flakes in the sand. Now I'm worried about the others because they still dont know what to look for and one of them is desperately starving that he pecks on the plants to find food. I did try an experiment where i put the pellets in a shell for them to see the food but they just pass right through the shell and go on looking for food in the sand. That's all i have to say. Thanks for the help! :)

[Ryan]

What were the discus eating before you got them?

It may not be that they can't find the pellets, but that they don't like them. Most people who raise discus use things like beefheart, frozen bloodworms, blackworms, and maybe a couple kinds of flakes. It's rare that discus take pellets. I have found that my discus will take very small (1mm) pellets but they have to sit on the bottom first until they are soft enough to eat, otherwise the discus spit them right back out.

If I had to venture a guess, I'd say your fish just aren't interested in pellets. Sometimes one or two fish will pig out on them while the rest just ignore it.

[freshwaterplimpy]

Right now im feeding them both flakes and pellets but i dont feed them any live (frozen) food because i dont think ill need them that much. Maybe next time ill feed them live foods but not right now. Anyway, thanks for the feedback. :)