New discus not eating.

[Minh K]

I recently got a new fiscus, but he does not eat the color bit or Hai Feng I give him... He also gets picked on by the other discus. Although, He eats like a kid in a candystore when i drop the blackworms in. Will he ever get used to pellets? I dont want to feed him worms all the time. Any strategies?

Oh and this is my first post of this forum, I've been memebers of other fish forums but I will frequent this one to gain further knowledge of Discus husbandry.

Thanks in advance! :wave:

[cobaltblue]

Hi Minh, and a big welcome to Simply Discus! If your discus is being picky, i find the best thing to do is not feed it for a day or so, so that it becomes hungry enough to eat other things. If you feed it the worms all the time, it wont develop a taste for other things. If he is hungry enough, he will eat
eventually. Good luck.

[Jeckel]

Raising the temperature may give the fish a better appetite and make it more willing to try something new.

[traco]

How old are your discus? And the picking on, if he is the new addition, the hierachery is he is low man on the totem pole being the new one. Another thing is to introduce the new food as the first meal of the day as everyone is hungrier then. It will take a while for things to settle down, I would imagine and hopefully, he will start eating the foods you introduce.

Let us know how it's going.:)

[ValorG]

well this isnt really the same situation as mine but it could help u out anyway. anywayz my discus wouldnt eat blood worms when i give it to them in the planted tank. so for a few weeks i fed them black worms in a feeder cone, then i switched and put bloodworms in the cones, after 3 days all the discus will eat the bloodworms. maybe u can put a feeding ring in ur tank and feed them the blackworms or blood worms through that. and once they have associated food with the feeding ring, then u can put pellets inside. might work but just a suggestion.

[GulfCoastDiscus]

Hi Minh,

Welcome:)

Unfortunately live Blackworm is like crack to discus. Once they eat it, they will refuse other foods. Feed only occassionally.

or

Don't feed live blackworms and when hungry enough will eventually eat anything you put in the tank.