Uneven growth rate

[Musky Hunter]

Hi all.
Great site and this is my first post.
I have been in the aquarium hobby for about 15 years and this is my first experience with discus.
Looks like I saved the best for last because I can't believe I wasted all those years with all those "other" fish!

I have a 125 gallon "in wall" tank.
Sand bottom with some extremely large pcs of driftwood.
9 discus, snakeskin, pigeon, powder blues, all 4-5 inches, no other fish in the tank.
Daily 50% water changes with aged water.
7.2 ph, 84 degrees, ammonia and nitrites always 0 and nitrate has never been above .5.
Filtration is a eheim 2075 and a AQ 70.
I feed flakes, pellets, tetra bits, frozen bloodworms and frozen brine shrimp.
Feeding 4 times a day.
I have had these fish for 8 weeks now.

5 are doing fantastic, eating everything I drop in the tank.
3 are doing ok, from what I see they only eat the frozen blood worms which are fed every other day.
They seem active and the is no dark coloration.
1 is very pale and only eats the frozen bloodworms.

My question is, is this still an acclimation period for the 4 only eating frozen bloodworms?
Should I continue with the normal feeding and they will eventually accept the other types of food?
Also, the 1 that shows pale coloration, in this normal for the last guy in the pecking order.

Or am I missing something serious?

Jay

[Skip]

i thought you were asking about growth rates..

but you are asking about 3 fish only eating bloodworms..

8 weeks later and they still are not eating the other foods..

maybe crank up the temp. to 88ish!? to increase metabolism... not sure about medicate at this time..

are you spreading the food around the tank..? are the 3 at bottom of pecking order?

[Musky Hunter]

Sorry for being unclear.
The food gets spread around the tank.
The 4 that are eating only the fbw are noticeably smaller then the 5 that are eating everything.
I don' t think that the ones only eating fbw (except for the pale one) are at the bottom of the pecking order because the get quite agreesive when any food is put in the tank, even though they may not eat it.

[YSS]

Not eating well is usually a sign of something not being right with the fish. Healthy fish will eat pretty much anything you put in the tank based on my experiences.

[Maria Ashton]

you could try tempting them with live brine shrimp or earth worms

[Larry Bugg]

Growth is not the same in all discus. A lot depends on the genetics. Some strains just seem to grow slower also. Sounds like your problem isn't that they aren't eating but that some of them are only eating Frozen Bloodworms. I would simply stop feeding the frozen bloodworms for a few weeks. A hungry discus is eventually going to eat what is available. Fish find frozen bloodworms to be like a desert and this is not a uncommon problem. We hear it here often. You want them eating a good balanced diet so get them off the bloodworm kick for a while. Then when they start eating flakes or lellets you can add the bloodworms back to the diet.

[Musky Hunter]

Growth is not the same in all discus. A lot depends on the genetics. Some strains just seem to grow slower also. Sounds like your problem isn't that they aren't eating but that some of them are only eating Frozen Bloodworms. I would simply stop feeding the frozen bloodworms for a few weeks. A hungry discus is eventually going to eat what is available. Fish find frozen bloodworms to be like a desert and this is not a uncommon problem. We hear it here often. You want them eating a good balanced diet so get them off the bloodworm kick for a while. Then when they start eating flakes or lellets you can add the bloodworms back to the diet.

They can go that long without eating?

[damba]

No problems. They need to learn to eat what you want them to eat. I have a female pb who went two weeks. I also have an oscar who was fed on dogfood. Took six weeks to get him on pellet.
Try frozen mussel with them, squish between your fingers. I have never had a discus or other fish not eat this.
Tom

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