How do get my new Discus to eat dry food??

[ODPILOT]

Got my first two Discus (have had fish for 30 years, never had Discus) and for 2 days they wouldn't eat anything. I tried frozen bloodworms, frozen tubifex worms, frozen brine shrimp, Discus Pellets (made by New Era) - nothing was eaten. I then purchased LIVE Blackworms and PRESTO !! They love them. Do I have to feed these little guys Live Blackworms all the time, or is there a way to get them used to dry food? Picky little Divas !! Thanks for your help in advance.

[eaglesfan3000]

Nah, give them time they will eventually eat the flakes. It took mine almost three weeks to eat flakes.

[Bill63SG]

I fed mine live blackworms until we were hit with a blizzard.No fedex,nothing at the lfs.I had some tetra bits they would'nt eat.I'm talking 3ft of snow.I wasnt going anywhere.End of story...they now eat tetra bits,and other flakes.You've just got to wait them out.Feed them the new food in the morning when they're thier hungriest.

[ODPILOT]

I fed mine live blackworms until we were hit with a blizzard.No fedex,nothing at the lfs.I had some tetra bits they would'nt eat.I'm talking 3ft of snow.I wasnt going anywhere.End of story...they now eat tetra bits,and other flakes.You've just got to wait them out.Feed them the new food in the morning when they're thier hungriest.



Thanks Bill -- I will try it -- although lucky for me down here in Florida -- I won't have to wait for a snow storm to do so. This morning, instead of feeding them the Blackworms - I let them wait it out and threw in some Discus Pellets (made by New Era) - one of them seem interested and was picking or grazing off the gravel - not sure if he actually ingested them or spit them out. I guess I've gotta train these little Divas !! Thanks again,

Mike

[strawberryblonde]

I just got a batch of discus a week and a half ago. I didn't feed them the first day and only gave them a few flakes on the second and third days. By the fourth day I put the flakes in for breakfast and they attacked them. Once that happened, I slowly introduced freeze dried blackworms, alternating between those and flakes for the rest of the day. Did that for another day, then introduced a frozen discus type cube (not beefheart).

They now happily eat all three items and today I introduced them to beefheart cubes. They looked at it suspiciously and refused to touch it! LOL

I tried it again 2 hours later and they dove in. Once they did that, I was ok with offering them flakes again.

It's all about being tougher than the fish and refusing to give them anything else till they've had a chance to learn to like the new food.

[DiscusDrew]

I just got a batch of discus a week and a half ago. I didn't feed them the first day and only gave them a few flakes on the second and third days. By the fourth day I put the flakes in for breakfast and they attacked them. Once that happened, I slowly introduced freeze dried blackworms, alternating between those and flakes for the rest of the day. Did that for another day, then introduced a frozen discus type cube (not beefheart).

They now happily eat all three items and today I introduced them to beefheart cubes. They looked at it suspiciously and refused to touch it! LOL

I tried it again 2 hours later and they dove in. Once they did that, I was ok with offering them flakes again.

It's all about being tougher than the fish and refusing to give them anything else till they've had a chance to learn to like the new food.
Amen, shes got it right on.... Its like with dogs, you gotta make sure your walking the dog, not the dog walking you... Show them some tough love, they gotta eat and they will eventually, you just gotta be tougher than your precious discus.

[tonytheboss1]

:bandana: From another post:

Re: Problem with Dry Pellets








Originally Posted by farzadkavari

Hello, my 5 month old Discus have never liked Dry pellets such as Ocean Nutrition pellet or Hickari Discus Pellets. For most part the pellets sink in kinda fast and drift all over the tank and the Discus don't show much interest all to eat them. They end up making a mess in the gravel, what is the secret to having them eat Dry Pellets. I have tried not feeding for a day method and it does not work! They main diet has been home-made beef heart with salmon meat and FDBW. Are these 2 enough to keep them healthy and big?

They're probably content w/ the tasty menu you've been serving so it's not gonna be easy. Try fasting a day or two & use a touch of garlic (GarlicGauard) on a few pellets. Don't dump a lot of pellets in till you get a positive response. This might take several tries over a few days but they will surrender rather than starve. Once you get positive reaction vary the diet so they don't just 'lock' on to one thing. It took almost 4 days for my 8 sub-adults to give in. Now they eat whatever hits the water.

PREV POST:
Looks like you've covered a good number of bases. The actual choices are somewhat subjective. My list is a bit more extensive due to OCD (lol). Someone elses might include more homemade mixes. Variety is key. My list (from prev post)

There are a number of different things you can choose to diversify your discus' diet. Mine is a bit extreme (OCD) but the choices are many. Food varies every couple a days - live blackworms, Hans frozen beef mix, San Fran Bay Frozen Bloodworms, Mysis Shrimp, Ocean Nutrition Discus Flakes, Als Austrailian freeze dried blackworms, O.S.I. Spirulina Flakes, NLS Discus Formula pellets & Dainichi Cichlid - Color FX + Vita-Chem once a week. "T"