Discus Appetite

[mark4785]

How many blood worms can a small-sized Pigeon-blood Discus consume within a 5 minute time frame?
 
I realise that the fish is quite big compared to other small cichlids like the German Blue Ram or the Boliviam Ram but it's stomach appears to be very small and I'm now wondering if I should cut back on what I feed it in a short space of time for that reason.
 
My Discus is about 7cm in length and had eat 5 blood worms and about 30 Hikari Micro-pellets in about 15 minutes. Now it won't eat anything else so presumably it's 100% full now??
 
 
Help/advice needed!

 

[RobRocksFishTank]

It's a good idea to keep your fish hungry. It's good for the fish and the tank. If the fish is full, it is likely that there will be uneaten food in the tank which can cause water quality problems. Something you don't want with Discus. Growing fish do much better with more frequent small feedings than eating until full less often. As to the amount, there are too many variables to nail that down for you. If it won't eat everything at meal time, you've fed way too much. I usually feed enough for my fish to eat in about two minutes, twice a day. I also skip a feeding or two once a week.

 

[mark4785]

It's a good idea to keep your fish hungry. It's good for the fish and the tank. If the fish is full, it is likely that there will be uneaten food in the tank which can cause water quality problems. Something you don't want with Discus. Growing fish do much better with more frequent small feedings than eating until full less often. As to the amount, there are too many variables to nail that down for you. If it won't eat everything at meal time, you've fed way too much. I usually feed enough for my fish to eat in about two minutes, twice a day. I also skip a feeding or two once a week.

 
Ok thanks for the advice there. It would appear that it had eaten too much that day. I had put more food in than usual because the fish had been very selective in what it was consuming. Unfortunately, it did a u-turn and eat everything that I offered.