How much to feed?

[swinters66]

You know trying to measure discus from the glass is a pain in the rear!!

Anyway...how often should I be feeding these guys? They are roughly 3 inches long (mouth to tail). Right now I am feeding them once a day, about an hour after I turn the lights on. I'll give a half a block of frozen food (San Fran Bay frozen foods). If they eat it all pretty quick Ill add a little bit more. Most nights though, they attack the frozen block, then once it hits the bottom and starts disintergrating...they do their usual grazing, picking, etc. so I don't add any more frozen food. Am I feeding them enough for their size? They don't act hungry all the time (my other cichlid tanks...boy you'd think I starve those fish they way they act :p ). I guess underfeeding can be as bad as over feeding, but right now I'd rather underfeed (if that's what I am doing) than pollute the tank water with food they won't eat. Sometimes Ill add a few color bits after I feed the frozen food, but I don't think they like that food, I never see them go after it. So, I don't add that a lot.

I don't want their growth to be compromised by underfeeding them. With my work schedule...I can either feed them in the morning or when I get home at night. It's just easier for me right now to feed them when I get home from work.

Thanks all!!

[Elite Aquaria]

Yes you are underfeeding your fish. They will never reach thier potential size unless you feed more food.

Here is my feeding schedule:

6:00 - Lights come on
6:30 - Beef Heart Mix
10:30 - Tetra Color Bits - Automatic feeder
2:30 - Tetra Color Bits - Automatic feeder
6:30 - Beef Heart Mix
10:30 - 75% water change
11:00 - Black worms
12:00 - Lights go off

I plan on adding Earth worms and White worms in the near future

Dan

[swinters66]

Ok, So should I feed in the morning, then again when I get home at night? I am not here during the day...so feeding twice a day is what I can do.

[Timbo]

even twice a day is inadequate for juvies. 6-8 times a day is recommended for good growth.


Elite Aquaria -10:30 - Tetra Color Bits - Automatic feeder
2:30 - Tetra Color Bits - Automatic feeder

elite aquaria provided your answer tho in his reply!

[Marinemom]

Stephanie,

For discus that size I think they need at the very least five feedings a day and water changes every day. If I were you I would feed in the morning and again in the evening. For the other feedings I would check into automatic feeders. However, please be careful with automatic feeders, since they can malfuntion and dump too much food in the tank at once. Of course this will pollute your tank in a real hurry. Set them up when you are home so you can see how they are working before you leave the automatic timer in charge.

Diane

[swinters66]

Ok thanks all. Ill check the automatic feeders...but what do I put in them? I cant put frozen food...I am sure it would be a goopy mess once it thawed.

I fed them brine shrimp this morning....then about 2 hours later some color bits before I jetted off to work. Tonight I added some beefheart plus and some emerald entree (sort of mashed it together.)

[Marinemom]

There are some good discus pellet foods and flake foods too but for the life of me I can't remember the names of them. I'm sure someone will come along soon and let you know what they are. Just make sure with all those feedings that you keep an eye on the water quality and keep up with the water changes.

Diane

[swinters66]

Oh yeah...I wont be lax on the WCs...I know how important they are. I mean they are good eaters, I really dont see a lot of left over food, esp. with the rasboras and the corys. Everyone eats pretty well in that tank!

Water changes every other day, around 715 am on the nose! After my cuppa coffee, its the next thing I do when I get up in the mornings...so every day water changes would be better than every other day then?

They really like that beefheart plus!

[Marinemom]

The more water changes you do the better. Your fish will thank you for it by better growth and color. Also I think I read somewhere that excellent water quality is right in tune with the prevention of HITH(hole in the head). We all know that we don't want to deal with that.

Diane

[Tony_S]

I fed them brine shrimp this morning....

One other thing you can do if your limited to feeding the discus twice a day yourself, is eliminate the Brine Shrimp. Its a low protein food, and not recommended as a 'growth food'.
It's alright as a treat, and great for 'roughage' but thats it.

Tony

[poconogal]

Ok thanks all. Ill check the automatic feeders...but what do I put in them? I cant put frozen food...I am sure it would be a goopy mess once it thawed.

I fed them brine shrimp this morning....then about 2 hours later some color bits before I jetted off to work. Tonight I added some beefheart plus and some emerald entree (sort of mashed it together.)
Once your Discus are eating everything, and eventually they will, you can put in Tetra Bits, Hikari Discus pellets, Sera Discus Granules, OSI Discus Flakes, Omega One Flakes, etc. I like the Tetra Bits the best since they drop more slowly. Hikari and Sera drop very fast. Since they are eating the Tetra Color Bits now, put those in the feeder. Oh, and if you get a feeder, don't get the one by Aqua Chef. It worked well for me in the very beginning, then the programming wouldn't work any more and it started dispensing unevenly, sometimes a small amount, next time a big blizzard of Tetra Bits all over the tank. Everyone recommends the Eheim feeders, that's what I'll be getting next.

Connie

[swinters66]

Wow this is like feeding a small child haha...but last night I gave more beefheart plus and emerald entree, then some color bits. This morning I gave just beefheart plus.

Ok I had no idea WC's affect their growth.

I've been reading on the san fran bay web site about each of their frozen foods. I feed the spirulina brine shrimp, which they state helps their immune system. The Emerald Entree they state is fortified with omega-3 fatty acids such as EPA and DHA, which are proven to be important for optimal growth and disease prevention in fish. It also has spinach, krill mysis, brine shrimp, romaine lettucse, vitamins, etc. Plus they really seem to like the emerald.

Most of the frozen food I feed them has brine shrimp in it already. So I guess I can not feed the regular brine shrimp blocks.

I read the nutritional values on the beefheart plus...
Crude Protein Min 8.10%
Crude Fat Min 0.71%
Crude Fiber Max 0.00%
Moisture Max 88.80%
Dry Protein % 72.32%

What is the difference between crude protein and dry protein??

[wolfbane]

Dry protein is the protein content after you take out all the water. Dry foods always have high protein cuz its DRY protein content.