feeding once a day

[ernest]

My four discus are around 4". At this size I've read they should be fed twice a day. My schedule is very limited through the week so right now Im feeding a beef heart mix in the morning and having my wife feed the same in the evening while I'm at work. So I have a few questions,

Will I be able to feed them once a day when they become adults?

(just curious) What would happen if they were only fed once a day now at only 4"? would I end up with ugly adults at this size?

Related question is about the food I'm feeding.

From what I have been reading I came up with a food mix, not necessarily as extensive as some recipes but what I have done was to just mix frozen beef heart with equal portions of peeled uncooked shrimp from the grocery. I added real garlic, frozen peas, and paprika then blend it all up. I plan on finding other things to add like vitamins next time but they love this mix!.

I have tried Omega One flake but they just ignore it.

Question is will this exclusive beef heart mix be enough for their diet?

This is a fully planted tank and I can't just vacuum up everything they don't like so trying out things could be difficult.


One last thing, from most online sources I have found say beef heart will cause hole in the head but discus forums seem to be pretty pro beef heart. Anyone care to explain?

[Mustang65]

Here is a good suggestion

Go buy one of those automatic Feeders (runs around $12)
Use dry food (that will runs for few weeks)
it will help you and your discus
of course you can not store beef heart in an automatic feeder but it's a easy cheap solution for your problem of time

[mench]

If you want to get your fish to eat different types of food...don't feed them for a few days,then just feed a small amt of what you are trying to get them to eat....when they get hungry enough they will eat...good idea on the auto food feeder.

Mench

[Dave C]

Your fish won't become ugly if you feed them once a day. They "may not grow as fast as if you fed them more often but in a planted tank the water quality will be improved with with less food so the net result may be healthier fish. In the long run they may reach their optimal size, no one can answer that question. Feeding one type of food is frowned upon but I've never had a problem feeding a single food. And your beefheart is made up of several ingredients so there is variety simply because of the mix. As for HITH, there is no known cause so it's pure conjecture to say that beefheart is the cause of HITH. I would be more inclined to believe that poor water quality is responsible.

[KIWI13]

Good point on the HITH Dave ;) . Yes water quality is a principle factor for this disease and I experienced it on certain oscar tanks of mine that didnt recieve the same quantity of water changes as the breeders did.

BTW: I hardly fed my adult oscars on beefheart. I kept em more on bloodworms. I restricted beef heart to the juvis and that too on a periodic basis.

[ernest]

Great, thanks for the help.

I saw what I thought was a red melon in a pet store the other day and it looked like it had been streched head to tail. It wasn't a very nice looking fish and I assumed that it was caused by malnutrition as a juvenile. Seeing as my fish are already 4" I was hoping their shape would not change from being nice and round.

One follow up question, will the shrimp in my food mix bring out color. I'm looking for something to bring out more red!

thanks

[Dave C]

If you want to bring out more red add some Naturose powder (pure astaxanthin) to your beefheart. The shrimp won't have an appreciable effect but the powder sure will.

[Russ]

hi,
Dave you said to add Naturose powder (pure astaxanthin) to beefheatmix to add red, where do I buy this and how much do I add to the food?

[Dave C]

You can buy it at Brine Shrimp Direct, though it's probably available elsewhere as well. Here's a link

http://brineshrimpdirect.com/store.cfm?d=3249&c=5278&p=27364&do=detail

I have some that I'd be willing to sell and I'll match those prices and include shipping to Canada or the U.S. You just add it to your beefheart mix at the last stage and mix it thoroughly. I'd use about 2oz to make 50lbs of beefheart. If you add more the color will be more intense. You can overdo it and make your fish extremely red (unnaturally so). But it's a natural product and won't harm your fish.