My discus are super picky eaters!

[MariaF]

Hello, I am just looking for some suggestions on how to get my young discus to eat their flakes and pellets. They absolutely refuse to eat either one. I've had them for about 2 weeks and I've been feeding a frozen discus mix the breeder gave me (but it's almost out), bits of white sole fish, blood worms, beef liver and a frozen brine shrimp mix. I'm currently looking for a good source of beef heart. I don't mind feeding frozen food, except that I'm concerned about it being all protein and no vitamins/veggies. I thought it would be good to get them to eat the flakes to supplement their diet but they are really stubborn. It's been 2 days that I haven't fed anything else and they still won't eat the flakes. I've tried several brands. I don't won't to starve them, should I keep feeding flakes or just give up? How long can they go without food?

[WMD]

not an expert but what i did was i starved them for 2 or 3 days then i feed then flakes or pellet the next day, dont worry if they still wont touch it, just give them a tiny bit of what they usually eat that would be frozen mix as you mentioned above, but remember dont give them frozen mix too much, give them just enough for them to survive, keep trying this till they eat the pellet or flakes. Know your weakness. Mine would be feeding them their favourite food ( 3-4 times a day ) while trying to get them eat flakes and I failed miserably.

[Hsunami]

mix in what they love and what they you are trying to give them. So if you are making a beef heart mix and want them to eat flake mix the flake you want them to eat. They are not going to automatically change to another type of food because we want to. They are like us, we like a specific kind of food, if some person came over and took what you love the most and are use to and told you to try something new most likely you wouldn't eat it.

So best thing is make ur own mix and mix in the flakes and pellet you are trying to feed them so they get use to the flavor. Hope this helps maria

[Northwoods Discus]

Feed the flakes and pellets in the morning when they are most hungry. Only feed the mix last feeding at night. That may work without starving them completely.
Bill

[scottthomas]

I have read many posts about discus that are picky and only eat one type of food. All of my discus eat flake food. Even the ones who were very picky upon purchase. Your discus will not starve in 2 days. They will eventually eat flakes if you add more and more each feeding and less of their favorite food. Also, do as Bill suggests and feed them only flakes or pellets in the morning when they are most hungry. Eventually one brave or hungry discus will start weating the flakes. Others will soon follow example.

[Hsunami]

yep! very correct scott it just takes one. LOL i was just feeding my discus i got yesterday. This morning i put in food and they didn't bother to even look at it. And its the same food being fed at their old place just i added small amounts of another type of beefheart flake and some garlic juice. about 20 secs in 1 knibbed at it and was like woah its the same food and kept eating. Then the rest followed. It was cute.

Garlic juice may help too maria if you soak it. put the pellet or flake in a dish and pour the garlic juice on it and let the food soak.

[RebelThunder]

I wanted to try that garlic extract/juice approach too. may I ask if there is a specific brand of garlic extract and the amount I need to soak them in. there are some in our local grocery for human consumption. I just don't know if it will work.

[Hsunami]

i got the Seachem Garlic guard. Just put them in a small dish with a curve so the juice can flow towards the center. Not a flat out one. THen just plot the food in for 10-15 mins and ur good to go. If its with frozen food i keep it in there till the frozen food gets soft.

Some people have cut regular garlic and used the juice from that too, but man.. . have you smelled the garlic guard? i want to use it on my own food. Smells so good once you shake it up. OMg

Not sure about the pre-made garlic ones for human consumption but real garlic diced up is fine and the juice smash out of it. Not sure about those. Maybe someone can help you with that. I just rather be safe and use the garlic guard. To lazy to waste around with a small dish and dice up garlic and smash the juice out of them.

[RebelThunder]

ok. I will try processing some cloves of garlic that I have here. the nearest lfs here is about an hour or so. the seaguard garlic guard might take a while. thanks

[Hsunami]

yea just wash them then dice them really really small. Then add a few drops of water and smash away. try to get the juice all out. You can leave small traces of the garlic in there. Just don't give them a big chunk of garlic and have them choke. Smaller the chunk the better.

[MariaF]

Wow, thanks for all the great advice. They must be bloody starving by by now after 2 1/2 days and this morning they still just spit out the flakes and swim away. I have tried mixing the flake in with some frozen foods with the blender in the past and they just pick out the meat and leave a flake mess behind. That's why I took away the frozen all together. I have garlic in the fridge, I will try that and if it doesn't work I will buy a bottle of Seachem Garlic. I think though that if they haven't eaten by tonight I am going to give them some of the frozen stuff. I'll keep trying to feed them flakes in the mornings, but I am concerned that if they refuse the flakes and I reduce the amount of frozen food that I am going to stunt their growth.

[Hsunami]

hows ur blending of the frozen food? if you blended all the food correctly they should not be able to pick out the flake. Blend the meat, flake and some seafood together to hold it better.

My mix i use

Extra learn turkey
Shrimp
Cod (just which ever saltwater fish is on sale)
then i just mix all the flakes and pellet i want them to eat.

When its time to survive i put the small block in a sandwhich bag and a capful of garlic juice so that it sits in there and marinates. Make sure to put it in a corner and twist it, so the juice completely covers the food. Then it takes a few mins for it to soften and not be so hard and i drop the block in and they eat.

[MariaF]

I blended it with a small electric one I have. It doesn't do a very good job I admit. They can still pick out the meat chunks and they spit out the tiny flakes bits making a huge mess. I am heading out to the grocery store. I am going to try your mix just a few questions:

1) Do you cook any of it or just blend it up raw?
2) Do you use a meat grinder or just a plain old blender?
3) I can't seem to find raw shrimp that hasn't been processed with salt. Is the salted stuff ok to feed?

[Hsunami]

No I don't cook anything but I do blend each one seperately then add it into a mixing bowl and mix. Take the turkey and put it into a 1 lb bag and smash away. U don't need to grind it. Just pound away at it with ur fist.

I use a plain old blender

Raw shrimp wise am not sure about the salt, I bought them from a local store and put them in, gonna try pre_skined shrimp next.

[Hsunami]

Don't forget to add some vitamins. 2 adult pills per 2 lbs.

[Hsunami]

Look up the thread my mix, it'll have picture and everything I added

[RebelThunder]

thanks for this Kevin.will try the next time I go for grocery. beef heart is pretty hard to find here.

[Hsunami]

I don't use beefheart either. I use super lean turkey. U want the 99 to 1 one.

[MariaF]

Ok, I've got all the ingredients, tomorrow night I'm going to make up a batch and I'll let you know how it goes. By the way I did try the flakes with garlic juice but they still wouldn't eat it silly buggers.

[Hsunami]

boooo lol. Yea try the mix, just add a few of the flakes your trying to get them to eat so they get a slight taste of it. I also noticed my fish don't eat the beefheart flake from kensfish. I need to mix it with Bill's super beefheart flake w/ pro-growth for them to eat it. His flake is great stuff "S" grade food i tell you. I mix both the flakes in a bowl and add garlic juice to it so they form a clump and toss it in.

[MariaF]

Well, I made up a batch with lean turkey, scallops, pacific snapper, flakes and a little bit of Seachem garlic guard all blended really well. I couldn't find any non-salted shrimp so I left that out. Also, the flakes have vitamins in them so I didn't add any extra. It was a major hit however I don't really know how much of the flake they ate. They were spitting some of it out, but in general they seemed to love it. The only complaint I have was that it was super messy, breaking up into tiny bits very quickly and floating everywhere. I have read several methods of binding food together, what is the easiest/best way? Gelatin? Ripe Bananas? Agar Powder?

Husunami I looked for your recipe with pictures but couldn't find it. Could you post link?

[Hsunami]

here you go.

http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?88543-My-Mix

Glad it was a big hit, well shrimp will really help bind it together. You not adding it, it will do that. And it really depends on how much you added. Also if theres too much moisture it could do that too.

I used the shrimp and fish. Double the binding.