Stuborn Discus only eat bloodworms and won't go back to beefheart.

[Russ]

Hi,
I have a pair of discus that I moved from my display tank to a breeder tank a few months ago, and they went on a hunger strike for several days after I moved them. In order to get them eat again I started feeding them bloodworms and they started eating. The problem now is that they won't switch back to beefheart. I tried mixing the the beefheart with the bloodworms, but that didn't work to well, if they took a bite they would spit it out. I kept giving them this mixture for several weeks but all they would do is pick at little tiny pieces that fell away from the cube . I got the male to accept Formula 1 Frozen food, but after he takes a bite or two it discinergrates, and when I try mixing it with beefheart he refuses it. They only poop once in a long while and it looks normal. I also tried raising the temp with no resutls and I do 50% daily WC's. Any advice would be appreciated.

[GulfCoastDiscus]

Adults can go a long time without eating with no harm.
You can try putting the pair back into the community tank with young aggressive eaters, where they are the boss in that tank otherwise thye'll get pick on.

[sidra]

I don't know if this would work, but I have heard of taking frozen beefheart (especially beefheart quite red in color) and grating it with a cheese grater that will shred it into little strings that look like bloodworms.

Discus may be too smart to fall for that. Don't know, but you could try it.

[acorn1954]

i have only fed my discus hikari bloodworms since i got them 2 years ago
got a breeder pair out of the bunch also after a year
i don't worry about only feeding discus bloodworms. my discus seem to do just fine on that diet.
personally i don't like using beefheart as it fouls the water
acorn

[Spices]

Hi Russ,

It could be that something is wrong with that batch of beefheart. Is it something you that prepared? Perhaps it's missing a staple food that attracts them to eating it. If not, you could also try buying (another) one frozen package of it and see if that will work. Manufacture possibly missed an important element to the food. I've noticed that fish are pretty stubborn at times. They will shut down faster than a sinking boat. So keep a stock filled with fun-filled foods. Better for them to eat something than nothing in a long long long time.
*Angie*

[Russ]

Hi,
Thanks for responding, I think I'll give the cheese grater idea a try, I don't think it's the beefheart thats "fishy", because I have a new batch that I just prepared, and a little of my previous batch and they don't like either, but all the discus in my other tanks eat them both.
Acorn, you've fed only bloodworms for two years, I didn't know you could do that with out compromising health. I always thought of bloodworms like candy, they like it alot but had no nutrientional value. I've only used it when a fish isn't eating. How big are your discus? Gabe at Jack Wattley discus told me not to feed bloodworms beacuse of how they are raised, in rotting pig intestines and lovely things like that, he said it could lead to problems like heximita. But I've also heard that Hiraki brand is safe though.

Thanks-

[sidra]

The only brand of bloodworms I will use is Hikari. The local store where I buy them's freezer is shot so I had to go to another store and buy another brand and there is so much garbage in them. The worms are skinnyand uneven in color and half of them seem to be just skins. Then there's this slimy whitish stuff in with them. Hikari seems to be the cleanest and best.

[April]

go and get a container of flake onf1 and try a few flakes. believe it or not..they might like this even more than bh. then between the bloodworms and flake..they should be ok. the flakes are big..and my fish love them. if they went for the cubes..they may go for that.

[acorn1954]

well on the package of hikari it says bacteria-parasite free with use of a 3-step sterilization
as far as size, my fish are various sizes but the breeder pair are about 6-8 inches. as big as i have ever gotten discus and that includes the period of my discus hobby when i did not feed bloodworms but a homemade mixture of beefheart.
acorn

[Russ]

I'll try using some flakes, is onf1 short for formula 1? I use Formula 1 flake in my BH mix I'll see if I have any leftover. I was going to try a cheese grater for the BH, but I don't have one so I cut into bite size pieces, and they seemed more interested and ate some. I'll keep you posted on my success.

[Russ]

They ate the beefheart mixed with formula 1 frozen again today, but would not touch the F1 flakes, I'll try the flakes for a few more days. I guess 1/2 the battle was in proper presentaion of the food, thanks for the idea Sidra, now I just have to slowly stop mixing Frozen F1 with it and I'll be all set with that problem. Then I just have to get them to spawn, they did start to clean the spawning cone after eating so hopefully that's not to far away.

[Spices]

:confused: :confused: :confused: :confused: Aren't they just the pickiest things in the world? LOL

*o*

[sidra]

They are horribly picky. My juveniles have only eaten frozen bloodworms and live blackworms for the three months I've had them. Two of them will pick at flakes. And guess what...yesterday they all ate frozen brine shrimp for the first time Yippee!!! The runt would grab a few and hold them half in his mouth and act like "EEEEWWWW". After sniffing, tasting, spitting and then tasting again they decided it was OK.

My babies from the breeder, on the other hand, eat Everything!

[Dillan]

I heard Discus love beef heart so when mine got big enough I tried them on it. They'd only eaten pellets and bloodworms before that and loved it. Loved it too much maybe! They gorged themselves on it! Unfortunately, between meat and poop, my water got seriously fouled pretty quickly. Phosphate level shot way up and took ages to bring down -- just about lost all my fish in the process! My mentor at the pet shop told me she'd learned that discus don't really digest pure protein like beef heart very well. She said that while they ate a lot, they weren't getting much from it and were pooping way more than normal. I stick to pellets and a few bloodworms now and everything's fine. fish are healthy and growing quickly! Do most of you feed beef heart? Should I give my babies (3") some heart once in awhile?

[April]

well..if you look at all the breeders who have the biggest healthiest discus..you will see that most of them feed beefheart. places like roy in singapore, and cary,etc etc. you dont get thick discus on bloodworms and flake usually.
its our soft soft water..that caused your problems..not necessarily the bh. it grows bacteria extremely fast..and crashes extremely fast..if fed high bioload . you need more filters..and more buffers. i cant feed my fry bh when tiny and fragile..or start whirling..and dying at 6 weeks..or i cant use it in a small tank with breeding pair etc. they get stressed..as the water doesnt stay good.
you are in vancouver canada right? which mentor at which lfs ?
most of us make a mix of bh and flake and prawns, spirulina etc etc etc. garlic, so not straight beefheart. also vitamins like baby liquid vitamins . some people even mix in red bell pepper , banana, spinach..etc. all ground up to fine of course.
Carol uses straight beefheart and her fish are extremely healthy fish.