Conflicting ideas on Discus food.....

Sportsnutim

Sportsnutim

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Jan 1, 2007
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Western Washington
I have been feeding my discus Blood worms which they Love. But I am hearing that Discus pellets are not a good source of nutrition for them, due to type of ingredients in the food. Omega flakes, colored are better? I would like to get this straight please. I had to move one of my discus into my 55 gal tank. Buying two more too go with him and the other three into the 55.
 
I dunno.
NLS makes a Discus pellet and to many NLS it the ultimate in food.

I perfer to give my discus a varied Diet.
I have Angel/Discus Flake, pellets , color bits, NLS, FBW, occassionally Beefheart(rare).
many of the Flakes , pellets are very similar in ingredients.

basically protein is protein, carbohydrates are carbohydrates.
the difference is digestibility (is that a word?)
the digestive system will always use what is easier to use .. ie complex carbs vs simple carbs.
so if the pellets you are using are harder to digest there could be an issue.

but???
 
Star rider, do you not feed beef heart because it's messy or for some other reason? My new discus were raised on a homemade shrimp & BH mixture (& other foods too) so I got some frozen Beef Heart Plus as part of their food rotation. I don't know if I'm up for DIY heart, lol.

For other fish bloodworms are sometimes constipating from all I've read so I only feed it once or twice a week. I also worry my fish will eat nothing else if given too often. But again I have been feeding the new discus BWs as that was already a favorite. Is once a day ok? They don't seem "bound up".

I like to use a wide variety foods for all fish. That keeps them from becoming picky & should cover all the nutritional bases.
 
Mine get 2 kinds of flakes, bits, sticks, a burger mix (which I will slowly be getting away from) and blood worms. I haven't gone with pellets because I figured they would be harder to digest. It does take them longer to dissolve in water so I would assume they would take longer to digest. I am getting away from the mix for 2 reasons. One it is very messy and 2 (and maybe I am wrong) but beef is very hard to digest. Discus would never encounter a cow or the types of fat that come from a cow where they are from so it must be harder for them to digest than say brine shrimp or krill. So I will be feeding high protein aquatic foods.
 
I don't know what kind of pellets you'r eusing or why they wouldn't be nutritious. I use NLS discus formula pellets which is fortified, and is 34% protein with kelp and herring being the first two ingredients instead of some "fish meal". It also contains some algae, spirulina, garlic, and beta carotene along with vitamins and is low ash, moisture and fiber. With that I feed Ocean Nutrition Brine Shrimp Plus flakes which is 50% protein and the first two ingredients are brine shrimp and salmon and also contains brine shrimp naupli, plankton and algae and is also highlly fortified with vitamins, low in moisture, ash and fiber. They get some of these two every day. And their main meal is frozen bloodworms by Hikari which are also fortified. I also add live white worms twice a week. I've never had a discus "bound up" from bloodworms. With all my fish foods I try to stay away from the ones that start with fish meal and lots of grains and they are very healthy.
 
fishorama said:
Star rider, do you not feed beef heart because it's messy or for some other reason? My new discus were raised on a homemade shrimp & BH mixture (& other foods too) so I got some frozen Beef Heart Plus as part of their food rotation. I don't know if I'm up for DIY heart, lol.

For other fish bloodworms are sometimes constipating from all I've read so I only feed it once or twice a week. I also worry my fish will eat nothing else if given too often. But again I have been feeding the new discus BWs as that was already a favorite. Is once a day ok? They don't seem "bound up".

I like to use a wide variety foods for all fish. That keeps them from becoming picky & should cover all the nutritional bases.
Click to expand...

actually my discus don't like it(beef heart) i suspect it was never part of their diet when they were young.. they will peck at it but usually the angel will get it.
they do like the flake and angel pellets .. they also love tetra colorbits.. but I now feed Kens's formula.
I alos feed NLS pellets but the discus like the full meal deal and usually don't go after the NLS.. the angels , a pigeon blood and rams love it tho. ;)

I use Oregon Dessert brand FBW I've had the best luck with it. mine get it several times weekly.
they will also steal my BN's algae wafers.. they love those so I toss them in a couple times weekly.
 
Today when I fed Ocean Nutrition beef heart plus there were some bigger, shrimp? pieces that were too large for the little discus but they kept trying. I use a few of Ken's foods, color bits & earthworm flake for them so far. Right now they're eating NLS Thera A & seem to like it.

Angel pellets, what brand? I will be ordering sometime soon from Ken (actually I can pick them up). So suggestions would be great. Snoopy has beefheart flake I may try. He has so many...

I use Hikari FBW too, I like the smaller size & vitamins too. Ocean nutrition frozen brine shrimp are just ok, but have Hikari when those are gone.

Any opinions on decapped brine shrimp? Are they tiny?
 
Discus need a balanced diet. Take good quality protein sources like beef heart, worms, shrimps, etc. and supplement with good quality commercial feed. Pay particular attention to the ingredients used because they ultimately affect the quality of the feed. As an example, fish and animal protein are superior in quality when compared to plant protein.
 
Sportsnutim said:
I have been feeding my discus Blood worms which they Love. But I am hearing that Discus pellets are not a good source of nutrition for them, due to type of ingredients in the food. Omega flakes, colored are better? I would like to get this straight please. I had to move one of my discus into my 55 gal tank. Buying two more too go with him and the other three into the 55.
Click to expand...

I'd feed a variety of food. You should make your own beefheart too. Here's a listing of recipes on the web.


http://www.simplydiscus.com/library/..._sabetta.shtml

http://www.discushatchery.com/food.html

http://www.simplydiscus.com/library/foods_nutritions/recipes/index.shtml

http://web.cecs.pdx.edu/~davidr/discus/diet.html
 
Discus are slow and someway mistrustful to accept new kind of food...
a varied diet is the best way...
if you don't want to prepare your own beefheart, it could be great if you can feed them some dehydrated shrimps or some artemia (grains or dehydrated) or chironomus...
live or frozen food is even better but quite a problem...
 
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