Why Hobbiest find Discus fish Demanding!

[Colin_T]

Nope. Even the paper you linked disagrees with this. They are predominantly herbivorous but their diet varies with the seasons and also their location. When they're available, insects, insect larvae, worms and crustaceans are also eaten.
This can easily be verified by the examined stomach contents given on fishbase and nearly all studies to date. The paper you quote, while recognising discus as predominantly herbivorous, also states...

"a large proportion of discus exhibited only partially filled stomachs at low water, and... invertebrates comprised a greater fraction of their diet. During the high water period discus were usually found in open, well lit flooded forests where periphyton grows most profusely. At this time of the year, invertebrates constituted a surprisingly small volumetric component of discus diet, although they may represent a vital source of protein."

By definition, discus are not "vegetarian"".

They do generally get fed too much protein in captivity though, with beefheart being the most ridiculous choice, and presumably the most damaging to their long-term health.

Valid point. primarily vegetarian (55-85% plant matter depending on time of year).

Most fish can't digest mammal meat very well, even mammals don't digest mammal meat that well when it's raw.

 

[Mazain]

Any Discus keeper feeding only Hikari Discus Bio-gold and how often do you change your water.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

You apparently read lead than even that?

I didn't read the article but the part you underline is of course artificial since they won't find hamburger in the wild. I think you should highlight the conclusion if any of the impact of feeding hamburger.

When entering the adult stage, the discus mainly feed on beef-heart hamburger

They are being fed ground beef-heart. If it is not turned to "hamburger" the discus coould not eat it. Note that the researchers are Chinese. I would assume that English is not their first language and/or their work was translated for publication. But I think it is clear what they mean when calling it beef-heart hamburger. A better translation might have been beef-heartburger?

Now as for plants in warmer water, have a read here for a number of plants that do well in warmer water.
https://www.plantedtank.net/threads/list-of-warm-water-plants.64671/
In the above thread you will find this link:
https://aquariumplants.com/discus-plants-warm-water-plants/

 

[Mazain]

Out of my 6 schooling discus juveniles only 1 is feeding the rest just school around. Its been a week now. How do I get the others to eat?

 

[anewbie]

Out of my 6 schooling discus juveniles only 1 is feeding the rest just school around. Its been a week now. How do I get the others to eat?

Are they domestic or wild caught; what are you feeding them; what did the seller feed them; what is the temp of the aquarium ?

 

[Mazain]

They were kept in a dark corner and trained only on ox heart. Since I'm keeping them in a planted tank I'm feeding them Hikari Discus Bio-gold. A Few things with Bio-gold the fellows 98% miss the target and lose focus but constantly keep pecking. That's very frustrating to watch. The ones who swim pass around everything has no idea where the food is. For now I'm looking for signs of any ich, parasites and internal infections and doing WC until they all fall on track and switch to the weekly WC.

 

[Colin_T]

They were kept in a dark corner and trained only on ox heart.

That's part of why they are nervous when the lights are on. Discus and all fish do better in aquariums that are kept in areas with lots of people moving around them. The fish get use to people and animals moving around them and calm down a lot quicker. Eventually they don't care if people are standing next to the tank staring at them because they see people every day.

When people keep discus or any other fish in a dark quiet room or somewhere nobody goes, the fish freak any time someone goes near the tank because they think it's a predator. I have seen this hundreds of times and we proved it in the shop. We had several tanks of discus at varying heights in the fish room. We had a discus display in a corner of the shop, and a discus tank on the counter where we served the customers. The fish on the counter had kids tapping the glass, pet birds drinking the aquarium water, people shoving their hands in the tank, etc. These fish bred and reared the young in an aquarium on the counter. None of the other discus even showed an interest in spawning and they were always on edge when we were cleaning the tanks, especially the ones in the corner of the shop where not many people went.

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The reason you have trouble feeding them is due to the dry food. The breeder didn't do the right thing and should have fed the fish a varied diet. You can try frozen foods like brineshrimp, bloodworms, daphnia, raw or cooked prawn, and that should get the fish eating. It will be closer to what they were reared on and the food will sink through the water. Once the fish start eating a varied frozen diet, you can add dry foods and try to get them to accept that.

A good fish breeder will offer a wide range of dry, frozen and live foods to their fish so they get use to different foods eat anything. If the fish get sold to a shop or person, they won't go on a hunger strike because they have been brought up on a variety of different foods. It also means if you run out of one type of food, the fish will eat the other foods while you find a replacement food.

 

[Mazain]

Thanks colin_T you are right about the breeder he has not varied the diet. The concept of Discus Breeding and growth is Bare bottom tanks till they reach 4 to 6 inches during 12 months before breeders release good specimens to the market which are over 4 inch sizes ( this is for recommended and reputable breeders).
My task was a challenging and risk I took to bring in juvis for planted tank setup and watch them grow by researching about them. Most of the information I learned was after getting them. I even got scolleded from a friend (Discus keepers) for taking up Discus juvis and not opting for a barebottom tank with a sponge filter.
Right now TFF helps with the responses and how adaptable they are on my timepass project.
The solution which I came up for the moment is dumping all the Discus biogold pellets on top of a bogwood In my tank where they find it cozy. It's working for now and I don't have to worry for food all over the tank and NH3 spikes.
The fish looks healthy with no clamp or pinch fins however I'm worried of stunt growths starting from its eyelids above and below. So trial and learn for me on the underdog batch I bought home.

 

[Colin_T]

Bare bottom tanks are bad for fish. The reason the breeders do it is to reduce diseases because they have artificially reared the young. If the young are reared on the parents for the first few weeks, they don't have any health issues, certainly not like the artificially reared ones. The other reason they have issues with young discus is diet, which was covered earlier in the thread.

Your tank is well planted and has substrate and is probably a better tank for them to grow up in compared to a bare bottom tank without plants.

 

[Mazain]

Bare bottom tanks are bad for fish. The reason the breeders do it is to reduce diseases because they have artificially reared the young. If the young are reared on the parents for the first few weeks, they don't have any health issues, certainly not like the artificially reared ones. The other reason they have issues with young discus is diet, which was covered earlier in the thread.

Your tank is well planted and has substrate and is probably a better tank for them to grow up in compared to a bare bottom tank without plants.

Some of the best sources of vitamins for discus fish are crustaceans, vegetables, and algae.

Bloodworms, which are actually the larval stage of the mosquito are a very popular food type for discus fish. Bloodworms are rich in protein and can be administered live, frozen, and/or freeze-dried (MYRTLE BEACH DISCUS 2019).

The Growth rates of juvis depends on being same sized and good health conditions from what I have read and observed. If my juvis survive and make it without food then the above reference is working.

Mother Nature always have a way of messing up things. The Bio-gold on the bog wood worked for the discus, but the CAE and Roslinebarbs discovered the place and ate all every time I was filling up for the juvis.

 

[Colin_T]

Have you got a Chinese algae eater in the tank?
If yes, you might want to rehome it or at least monitor it. They can get really aggressive when they mature and can grow to a foot long. I wouldn't keep an adult Chinese algae eater with discus.

 

[Mazain]

Have you got a Chinese algae eater in the tank?
If yes, you might want to rehome it or at least monitor it. They can get really aggressive when they mature and can grow to a foot long. I wouldn't keep an adult Chinese algae eater with discus.

That was on top of my mind, but since the tank is big and spacious and always fight with hill stream loach, the discus are safe plus CAE is about 2.5 to 3 inches long.

 

[Ichthys]

Bloodworms, which are actually the larval stage of the mosquito

Bloodworms are the larvae of midges. Mosquito larvae are the larvae of mosquitoes.

 

[Ichthys]

That was on top of my mind, but since the tank is big and spacious and always fight with hill stream loach, the discus are safe plus CAE is about 2.5 to 3 inches long.

You have Hillstream Loaches with Discus?

 

[Mazain]

You have Hillstream Loaches with Discus?

Yes, most of the time he is fighting to clean the tank and do his job with the CAE.