Discus eat plants?

[wisesam]

Hi,
I recently moved my 5 juvie discus into a 75G planted tank.
A few days after the move, I noticed my Aponogeton ulvaceus plant had tear and bite on the leaves.
At first I thought it was my otto eating it. But one night, I noticed my snow white biting on it. It was not cleaning it. It was eating the plant. Later on I saw my other turq doing the same thing.
Has anyone experienced this? Do discus normally consume plants as food?:confused:
The downside is my plant is really ugly.:( The upside is that my discus are getting good fiber.:)

[cobaltblue]

i havnt noticed by discus eating any of my plants....i mostly have swords and
java fern, so maybe they just dont like those types....:D

[Ryan]

I've never kept discus in a planted tank, but I can tell you that my adult angelfish once ripped my swords to shreds. I saw all these pictures of people with angels in planted tanks and I assumed it was fine. There was no way! They demolished an entire young sword plant in a day. Someone told me the plants had to be well-established and larger for the fish to not bother them, but I never cared to try again.

So I would say that yes, if the discus find them interesting, they'll tear them up. Especially if they've never been in a planted tank. Maybe it's like a new toy. :)

Ryan

[Alight]

It depends on the individual fish, but, yes, some Discus will eat plants. One of my Blue Diamonds loves one of my plants, and also likes to eat the zucchini I feed my BN pleco. The other Blue Diamond and my Melon's never touch the plants.

[Jason]

If Discus are eating plants and or algae its a good indication that their diet is lacking in vitamins or roughage. Whatcha feeding them?

[Kindredspirit]

I think my Discus ate all 9 of my tiny Neon Tetras.....at least i never found them.....http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/4/4_9_8.gif


But i do not have plants either...Well, now that is a lie.. i do have one tall plastic cool one as i have a 30gal hex tank and i was getting bored with the BB look...

Marie~http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/36/36_7_8.gif

[Anonapersona]

A. Ulvaceus will not like the hihger temps the discus want. It may be going dormant, the fish may be just picking at it as it decays.

[wisesam]

I feed them frozen bloodworm and beefheart. They also nibble on some flakes as well.
The A. ulvaceus is not going dormant. It is actually doing fine in my water and growing new leaves everyday. But as new leaves come out, they are eaten.:(

[kodiak]

Try adding spinach to your beefheart.

[wisesam]

I can give that a try. I'll see if they will eat that as they are picky on the food.
Hopefully they will eat spinach and will leave my plant alone.

[PJs]

You can also "hang" (I use picnic table cloth weights hung from a string) lettuce or spinach for them to eat. Slightly steamed or poached (microwave is fine). I had some angels that would peck at this, haven't tried with discus. Might be more interesting (new) and tastier?