Feeding schedule

[azmtns]

After reading many posts on this excellent website, I am curious as to why Discus require 4 to 5 feedings a day. Is it a kind of extreme metabolism because of the very high temperatures we are keeping the fish at? I realize most people on this website want the fastest growth possible to generate show specimens. Yet for the casual fish hobbyist, that just does not seem feasable. I do not wish to insult and I am new to keeping discus, but I have worked with other cichlids and many different killifish and livebearers and I think we keep fish too warm in general. Are discus so specialized that they require such aggressive feeding and maintenence schedules or our we perpetuatin the myth that discus are too difficult for the average hobbyist. I regularly fast my other cichlids at least once or twice a week just for their health, are discus so different? I also have found that Central american cichlids and various south american cichlids other then discus enjoy cooler temperatures then recomended and live longer. I am just thinking out loud, but if we keep them cooler and feed less, with clean water will they not eventually grow to full adult size and live longer lives? They must have difficulties finding food in the wild, all creatures do?

I realize that people are getting excellent results with respect to size and spawning, using many feedings, many water changes and extremely warm temperatures. Yet are we getting good results with longevity? I'm just curious if people are keeping them a different way and just not speaking about it for fear of being bombarded with criticism?

I'm just curious, I do not intend to offend. Yet I have been put off in keeping discus because of the extreme measures discussed to keep them.

[John_Nicholson]

They don't....I have been raising them for a very long time and I normally feed twice a day. On rare occasions 3 times....but water changes are key. If you want big, healthy discus feed a quality food, buy quality stock, and change lots of water. If you do that you will be successful.

-john

[azmtns]

Thank you John, that is good common sense. Now what about the temperatures? Surely the domestic strains will become more temperature tolerant and less disease prone after years of being bred on fish farms? Is the warm temperature necessary because of disease? Usually there is much less oxygen in warm water and a large fish like a discus (relative to killifish) would need a good amount of oxygen in the water wouldn't they? It seems like the warm temperatures they are subjected to in the wild would be difficult for them. It would seem they would have an easier time at lower temperatures in captivity? Just curious.

[John_Nicholson]

I find that 82 works best for me. They can survive for a while at cooler temps but they do not normally do well.

-john

[camuth8]

At one point in my discus-keeping life, I was feeding my discus 2 times a day. Not many water changes though. So they didn't do well. Now I'm feeding 4 times a day and my temperature is at 84. It is not necessary to feed them that many times, but it will help them get bigger faster.

[Crunchy]

I feed 3 times a day. They grow slower but I'm fine with it.

Perhaps why many advise 5-6 times a day is to avoid big feeding. It's always better to feed very little but more often, as there will be less leftover food, and discus can't digrst too much food at once.

Sometimes on weekends I do feed 5 times, but each feeding is what they can finish in about 20 seconds.

[Discusdude7]

They don't....I have been raising them for a very long time and I normally feed twice a day. On rare occasions 3 times....but water changes are key. If you want big, healthy discus feed a quality food, buy quality stock, and change lots of water. If you do that you will be successful.

-john

John, you feed your JUVIES 2-3 times a day? :0

[John_Nicholson]

Yep.

-john

[strawberryblonde]

I feed mine more often than John, but I'm betting that the actual amount of food consumed in a day is about the same. =)

I feed 6 times a day, but in smaller quantities. They basically gnosh all day long and then I do a huge water change at night. There's never any leftovers on the bottom because I have some ridiculously fat cories. If the discus don't get down there and scoop the food up fast they don't GET any food.

[timmy82]

Yeh everyone has different ways Toni and John have proven that by their postings. I am just starting to get some reasonable turn over with my fish room still in construction 60 tanks atm with final number being around 70. I feed good quailty BH mix and FDB and have an auto feeder on the young to just keep a sprinkle of dry feed in between AM & PM the auto feeder is set half hour after each auto water change 30% or more 3 times a day. Still learning and refining my methods but seem to be ok with fry at 4 weeks most 1" and 8 - 10 weeks 2" it slows down a little after that but find animal produce feed like BH and FDBW to put on some really good thickness / weight. There is another guy in same area and his fry are not getting that kind of growth and very thin as he only uses cheap flake and granuals and has many losses when they go to retail stores.

[Kal-El]

They don't....I have been raising them for a very long time and I normally feed twice a day. On rare occasions 3 times....but water changes are key. If you want big, healthy discus feed a quality food, buy quality stock, and change lots of water. If you do that you will be successful.

-john


I feed mine more often than John, but I'm betting that the actual amount of food consumed in a day is about the same. =)

I feed 6 times a day, but in smaller quantities. They basically gnosh all day long and then I do a huge water change at night. There's never any leftovers on the bottom because I have some ridiculously fat cories. If the discus don't get down there and scoop the food up fast they don't GET any food.

Both are right. The key is small amounts, but frequent for juvie and lots of clean water. The clean water IMO is the key to their big jumbo growth. My Chicago blue that I raise from 1.5" to about 6.75" since Oct has grown very well with lots of water change and feed 5-6 times only enough for them to consume within 2 mins. He's still growing so we'll see how big he can get when he's done growing. When he got to 5" I switch to 3 feeding a day and continue to focus mainly on daily 80% WC.

[strawberryblonde]

Both are right. The key is small amounts, but frequent for juvie and lots of clean water. The clean water IMO is the key to their big jumbo growth. My Chicago blue that I raise from 1.5" to about 6.75" since Oct has grown very well with lots of water change and feed 5-6 times only enough for them to consume within 2 mins. He's still growing so we'll see how big he can get when he's done growing. When he got to 5" I switch to 3 feeding a day and continue to focus mainly on daily 80% WC.

Yes - this!

That's exactly how I raise my discus and it's worked like a charm three times in a row. I'm even trying it out on my new batch, who arrived at 6" from Hans. Will keep everyone updated on them in my homesteader section, but I can tell you that so far one of the 6" discus has grown 1/2" in just 15 days. And yeah, even I am shocked by that. LOL

[Gene]

Yes - this!

That's exactly how I raise my discus and it's worked like a charm three times in a row. I'm even trying it out on my new batch, who arrived at 6" from Hans. Will keep everyone updated on them in my homesteader section, but I can tell you that so far one of the 6" discus has grown 1/2" in just 15 days. And yeah, even I am shocked by that. LOL

Wow, Toni! I'm sending my next batch of "kids" to your house for the summer LOL

[strawberryblonde]

LOL Gene, it's my Idaho water! I just give them a fresh bath in it every day and feed them and they do the rest.

Maybe I should start bottling this stuff and ask Al to add me as a sponsor??? ;)

[musicmarn1]

hahaha that one made my day :) but i AM now seriously checking through all of your previous posts etc for your water perimeters.

i have to say i was scared silly, like sweating in the middle of the night and reading at least 4 solid hours a day about discus keeping ( i work 7 days a week this is my relaxing hobby LOL) about water conditions, but as i read more and more posts here on this forum, i realized then experienced (two different things) that frequent changes in warm clean, AGED areated (that was a leap and a bound in my experience) and dechlorinated water was making them happier and happier, they ate more, got more friendly or should i say relaxed and confident.

some of the fish for sure for sure look for me and shun my husband as we do our daily routine. they know a new dog that comes in at times they get a bit skittish about that (dog trainer some dogs make ME feel a bit skittish too!) but the arrival of Kenny's discus made everyone else way more relaxed and chillax. loving that !

Anyway i love what the OP is saying, in one regard, bringing logical thought into discus keeping, i do find i have HAPPIER discus at higher temps, i have some in different planted tanks, which are all moving back to the larger 125 bb now to see if i can get another growth spurt and happy group situation, i have established planted tanks waiting if not..but cooler temps = longevity, sadly will not be experienced by me until these guys breathe their last, i just won't know. i can only SEE and read, seeing WHAT the Discus honestly tell me on a daily basis, just by coloration, activity, eating habits, confidence, relaxation and general signs of health, eye color, fin positioning is similar to what i look for in my dogs on a daily basis, stress is easy to see if your looking. i wanted to go full RO when i realized how high my tds is but again i just wont know until i raise some discus in it rather than well water totally seperately (taking these guys down to that level is giving me a cold sweat again by mixing it so i think id start with discus and put them in a similar ph right off the bat, again im learning a lot)

so i can attest to the statement, warm, clean, aged, areated, water and lots of changes seem to ME from actually experimenting on a daily basis with higher filtration different filter media purigen, peat, floss, hob vs canister, sponge filter vs rocket filter, mechanical vs biological plants and so on and so on, (Joe Gragus book on the water was so good ! ) to outweigh anything else ive done except maybe peat, again i went through cold, moist fear, of ph swings, so im religious about how much i add on a weekly basis. i dont know im just reading and learning by doing. my discus are helping me out by telling me i TEND to overfeed ! they look so hungry all the time, begging at the tank.....discipline and varying foods and a standby of epsom salts (thats the ONLY med ive used ever) but everything else just seems to be about water.

my newest thing is seeing how bigger span of water compares to smaller tanks, so far after an hour of stress signs, we have discus swimming in and out of potted plants, eating and exploring, colors back to normal interactions seem normal or improved.

sorry to go on but just want to lay down my experiences because i know for a fact if id TRIED to raise these babies in planted tanks before 4-5" which is only when i put seeming pairs or bullys in planted tanks, id have a far different story to tell. i think i have great shaped discus for the LFS ones, and for Kenny's well they are superb and i am committed to keeping them that way :)

i think.........im hooked.





LOL Gene, it's my Idaho water! I just give them a fresh bath in it every day and feed them and they do the rest.

Maybe I should start bottling this stuff and ask Al to add me as a sponsor??? ;)

[Gene]

Well put me down forrrr... a few thousand gallons haha. That should do it till next year.