Weening wild's off live foods

[M0oN]

I've got a wild green that was fairly emaciated when I obtained him but I have now moved him into my community discus tank as he is looking a lot better.

Before this I was feeding him live blood worm as I thought trying to ween him onto my beef heart mix at the time would be poor to his health.

My question is, are wild discus harder to get onto different foods then the designer types?

He's been in the tank for about 3 days now and is still not eating as far as I can tell are there any good methods to get wild types onto beef heart mix aside from simply not feeding them anything but the beef heart mix until they take to it?

Thanks,
Jason

[fishfarm]

Hi, I import lots of wilds, usually within two or three weeks they will eat anything. I start with frozen bloodworms for about a week (live balckworms if I have them) then start giving them beefheart. They all eat it within a week or two, then that's all I feed. Healthy fish will pick at anything. if he's emaciated and not looking for food, then you need to treat him with metro. Ken

[wildthing]

Hi, I import lots of wilds, usually within two or three weeks they will eat anything. I start with frozen bloodworms for about a week (live balckworms if I have them) then start giving them beefheart. They all eat it within a week or two, then that's all I feed. Healthy fish will pick at anything. if he's emaciated and not looking for food, then you need to treat him with metro. Ken




2-3 weeks Ken?
:)
Mine usually eat almost anything within 2 or 3 days.....

[Fishin dude]

I would have to say upon my limited experience with the wilds....Adult Heckels are the pickiest with new foods.
I have 2 that are still only accepting Hakari bloodworms after over 2 weeks, but I still try flake, bits, and beefheart....only way might be a skip-a-day? :)

[fishfarm]

That's good David, just means we do things differently. What's your point?? ;D

[wildthing]

Just teasing, no offence intended at all.......I think yours should also eat a lot quicker than you posted above?

[fishfarm]

They do, Usually within a day or two, depends on how stressed they are when they come in. They know what worms are and take to then faster. I like to get them eating good before I switch. I just wait a little longer on putting any beefheart in there than you do.. I just hate to vacumn out a bunch of uneaten chucks. :) Ken

[Paulio]

I gotta say wilds are WAY easy to get onto new foods. Beefheart can be a challenge with some but that isnt a huge part of my feeding program any way. Day two they are taking flakes and frozen blood worms. A week or so to get them taking Mysis but then they never get really excited about the stuff. I also feed a Turkey, fresh fish and Mysis mix with vit's and garlic from the start. They pick at it at first but within days they are eating it like mad. All in all IME Wilds will more readily take new foods faster. Might be because of the length of time they are without food or the fact that the diet they have in the wild is so varied that they are just more accepting than our spoiled domestics. Also, if a wild isnt atking to foods quickly it is most times due to worms or other internal problems.

Just my 2 bits

Paul

[M0oN]

Thanks a lot for the replies guys,

Paulio, I've been trying to get ahold of you about your zebra pleco's.

Could you PM me when you get a spare moment?

Thanks,
Jason

[jn4u]

Well I’m not an importer of wild-caught discus. But I have some small experience in wild not compare with David but still. I can take from 2 days to 14 days.

Small discus in my tank starts to feed a lot easier than large. Higher temperature stimulate them to start to feed, I keep them from 32 in the beginning. And last and most important I put them in well establish tank with run-in filters. If they don’t want to start feeding I give them captive companion.

When the discus comes to me they have often starved for a long time. The first thing the need is some stable … and not the new tank syndrome.

If my discus refuse to feed in my case it’s often connection to the filters and the water changing plan. The spin-off is that the discuses get sick.

[M0oN]

I pretty much found a solution, seems kind of silly but I guess fish aren't as dumb as people think...

I fed a small portion of CBW to the entire stock in my tank for two days then switched them back over to the beef heart mix, I guess seeing that the other discus were willing to eat what the wild green was willing to eat then watching them eat the beef heart bolstered his courage, he's now pecking around at tidbits just fine.

Thanks a lot guys, your help's appreciated :)