feeding schedule

[god61021]

i work ten hours a day four days a week then five to ten hours on fridays. i work 3:30 pm till 2:00 am.i am out of bed around noon.i am only able to feed my fish twice a day.can anyone recomend a good feeding regimine with this schedule?i dont have my discus yet but i plan to start with about a dozen babies.i know one feeding will be beef heart and i will try carols way with the salad shooter.i will do daily water changes of 25-50% as needed.so if you could suggest what to feed and when it would be greatly appreciated.
thanx dave

[marilyn1998]

I would feed the beefheart just before you do your water change. It fouls the water and you dont want that to stand in the tank too long.
A varied diet of high protein is what is needed, (as well as pristine water) to grow your discus.
I would use a high protein flake, like OSI krill flake, discus flake or the like.You can put this in an auto feeder. Eheim makes a good one.
I would feed FBS (frozen brine shrimp), FMS (frozen mysis shrimp), or FBW (frozen blood worms) for your other manual feeding.
I would also use Tetra Color Bits as an auto feed too.
There is a thread where you can get a large can for $5 from Drs Foster Smith.com.

There is a GREAT debate over feeding live foods. I DONT feed live, so I will let others lead you down that path. :argue:

HTH and Good Luck!!!!

Buy your discus from one of the sponsors here and you will NOT regret it! I would stay away from LFS... many threads here as to why. Also, dont just buy from any online place. There are some really awful experiences described here from those that didnt do their homework. (I am one. $600 later I have one substandard discus from this type of purchase.)

The ACA is having their annual show in Chicago at the end of June. DO a search here for more info!!! It would be a great experience for you, and a place to pick up some nice babies!!!

[yeomans]

If your having trouble maintaining several differnt feeding a day, you could always purchase an automatic feeder and put a dry peelet food inside.This way you can leave the beefheart and live foods for your regular two feedings a day. I usually feed my discus 5-6 times a day, sometimes even more.
There are all kinds of food that discus like, for dry pellets I use tetra bits, this is probably what most peolple feed for dry food. Discus will take all kinds of food, bloodworms, pelllets, mysis shrimp, beefheart, spinach, flakefoods and the list goes on and on. The best thing you can do is feed foods high in protein( ie. tetrabits).Also by feeding loads of different foods is the best way to ensure your fish have a varied diet, which is important, after all, would you want to eat the same meal everyday?

[god61021]

well i never thought of the auto feeder that would seem to fix that problem thank you for the info.