When Feeding Frozen Food

[Mr.Trips]

Is it ok for Discus to eat the frozen food out of your hand, or should you thaw it before putting their meal in the tank? Im wondering if discus can get Brain Freeze!!!!!!!!!! :P

[hunterbeav]

lol I feed frozen beefheart and they eat it right away with no ill effect. Been doing it that way for over a year now :) Jim & Diane

[Ryan]

Same here. My fish get both frozen beefheart and Hikari bloodworms. I break off a chunk and it goes right into the tank. As thin as the chunk of food is, and as warm as the tank water is, it doesn't stay frozen for long. The bloodworms start to thaw and break apart as soon as I drop them in.

Ryan

[allan_mark76]

You don't have to defrost the frozen foods... you can just throw it in and your discus will devour it regardless...

A- ::)

[fcdiscus]

I agree, but I do thaw beefheart and ONfrozen food for about 15 minutes. Bloodworms- right in!
Frank

[Dennis_Hardenburge]

I chop my beefheart into bit size peices and let thaw a few minute before feeding.
I personally don't feel it is good for them to eat frozen food, it fact if you do feed frozen food to young fish you will notice ther nose will turn red, obviously causing problems with blood vessels.
Dennis

[Fish_Fin-atic]

I read somewhere that frozen food can lower the internal organ temperatures of your fish to a certain degree, but as most of us know, there is a lot of "mis-information" in Discus books. However, I usually stick my frozen bloodworms and beefheart into the microwave and set it on defrost for about 20 seconds before I feed it to my fish. The food is still cold when it comes out, but at least it's soft to the touch, and not rock hard. My Discus will attack it, the second it hits the water, so I figure the closer it is to being defrosted, the better for them. So far, no ill effects.

[Shari]

I'm glad to hear all your opinions on this issue.
I've been hand feeding my three tanks frozen bloodworms and then read/heard that if any frozen or really cold foods make it down their digestive tracks can cause not only discomfort, but possibly irreversible damage internally - so then stopped hand feeding and dethawed first - the Discus almost immediately stopped being as "friendly" - which really bothered me!!!

[CARY_GLdiscus]

Good Point Dennis.

But I have never noticed the red nose. I will look closer at this.

However when small discus rush the frozen food I have seen
some get trapped in the middle and get brain freeze and sink to the bottom.

HTH
Cary Gld!

P.S Dennis the 75 gal breeding tanks are working very VERY well. It's all about the discus pair not the tank!