Feeding of discus

Hey prof Dirk.

I would like to ask you if the following foods are great to feed discus. I have gotten my advice from people on this thread.
Is it good if i feed frozen OX heart in the morning before i go to school?
Is it good to vary between Frozen blood worms, Frozen Brine Shrimp, and tetra granules in the middle of the day when i get home from school?
Then is it good to feed them OX heart again in the night?

Thanks Prof, you have been of much help on my other posts.

 

http://www.tropicalaquarium.co.za/showthread.php?564-How-to-feed-discus-and-many-other-tropical-fish-as-well

Let's take some weight off the professor's shoulders and read the above link. Clearly answers all your questions.

 

I read the thread and this is basically telling me the same thing. One thing though is i think i should take out 1 session of OX heart, so it would be like this.

In the morning i feed frozen OX heart
In the afternoon i feed either Frozen blood worms, or Frozen Brine shrimp. I will alternate between the 2.
And finally in the night i will feed tetra prima granules.

Therefore i am introducing Prof's rule of one third heart mixture, one third frozen, and one third dried.
( i may consider buying some tetra flakes as a add-on to the tetra granules).

 

Just note that it says beef heart 'mixture' . Do some Google-ing for Discus beef heart recipes. That will form 1/3rd beef heart mixture.

I was lucky enough to have live mosquito larvae when I raised baby Discus for a few months. Maybe you should consider getting a green water tub started and put it outside. You might even get some live blood worms. I actually ended up with more blood worms than I knew what to do with.

The professor sells all the foods you require. Just PM him.

 

I havent got a green water tub, but i set up a tub about 100L of water today. Expecting some activity in a few weeks from now. ive also got a pond for the blood worms to grow in, but the pond has got comets so i would be lucky to get a few.

Basically what your saying is the OX heart falls into the frozen category and i should do the Beef heart mixture with beef heart i make from a recipe. I will do some research and try and find some good recipe's and post them here. The only problem is im still young and get minimum pocket money, so if it is expensive to make i would have to supplement on something else.

I would buy all my food from prof, but the only problem is he requires big buys of food and as i said above i get minimum pocket money and cant near afford it.

Will check for some good beef heart mixtures.

 

OX heart - Beef heart... same thing. You cant just feed the beef heart alone.. You will have to mix in garlic and spirulina powder amongst other things. For example -

frozen shrimp, feeder fish etc . . I haven't tried this personally so let's leave this one to the Pro's

@Marco

 

The mix you get from your lfs is good to raise your Discus, you only need to add the garlic spirulina, shrimps, spinach etc, if you make your own mixture. There is many recipes on the net, the problem is the effort making it, you will need a grinder, need to remove excess fat and so on. Best is to buy a mix @ your lfs.

 

Thanks guys. So i it fine if i do the OX heart in replace of the beef heart?

 

Remember that OX and beef is the same thing!

 

Oh..... :embarrest: Haha i will remember that now. =)

 

Hi

With all due respect - the most beef heart mixes at lps are crap! Its travelled long distances, defrosted, refrozen and to start with these products do not nearly contain the balance Discus require. Apart from that these foods are expensive if you consider the weight ratio.
Making your own beef heart mix. . . Sure -just consider that NO control over the use of hormones is done on SA beef, so what you will end up doing is feeding your fish whatever hormone the beef was fed. This will probably result in sterility and stunted growth among other problems.

A great deal is written on the proper diet for Discus and around the world the argument still rages on. There are some breeders who proclaim to feed ONLY dry foods, and others again refuse to feed any dry foods.
To put in perspective the importance of feeding discus properly - Untergasser dedicated almost a third of his book -"Discus health" (A "bible" to discus keeping for many) to Nutrition and correct feeding. He stresses the overuse of bloodworm and elaborates on the overuse of dry foods. A simple comparison would be - A bodybuilder can not expect to compete at the highest level by eating average food - he will stay alive, but will never reach potential. Same with Discus. Due to their genetic make up and warm water they live in, Discus have a very fast metabolism, and due to these reason's need more, and better feeding principles than say "betta's" would.

@matteffect - 3 feedings a day for young growing fish will not be enough. You need to up this to at least 6 feedings a day. Furthermore, just remember that whatever parasites may live in that pond of yours that houses the comets, will go along with any food caught from there and thus also infect your discus.

I feed ONLY food from @Dirk Bellstedt. I have suggested this food to various members on tasa, and I am sure they will come on here and tell you the improvement they have seen in their fish since feeding this food. (@nrc, @spock rider) Apart from that factor, cost is also a deciding factor for sure, and that said, comparing prices to Dirk's food is probably going to blow you away. Not only is the food of a much better quality, but it also tends to be cheaper than anything found in any lps by weight. (That is not a "sign" to up the prices Prof Dirk - hahaha)

I hope this helps you a tad matteffect

Regards

Marco

 

Thanks Marco. As i said a few posts ago i can not afford prof's food, so i am just going to go with the mix i said above.

 

Hi @matteffect

I did read your

However, I do not think you read mine, or Dirk's, or for that matter any other post in answer to questions you have had.
I am going to try and explain this to you as nicely as I can possibly muster -
If you buy a Porsche, and you drive it every day and when service time comes you go shopping for the cheapest back yard mechanic to service the vehicle for you, you can be well assured that pretty soon that nice Porsche is going to give you endless problems. Why? Because it did not get the attention it deserves and requires.

Same with Discus. You have asked Prof Dirk,me and others questions about keeping these fish, and when given advise you have stated every time that no matter what advise was given to you, you are going to follow your own head. How are we supposed to be of help then?
AND - more even than that - you waste my time.
There is NO cheap alternative, even buying a beefheart and all the ingredients required to make a proper food, ie Spirulina, Garlic extract, vitamins, vegetables, binding agent etc will set you back well over R400, of that I can assure you. I have done this before and thus do not speak out of my butt, but base what I say on my own experience.

So unless you are getting a beef heart (approx R120), Spirulina (R170) Vitamins (R80) Garlic Extract (R120) for free, then there is no way that doing this can be cheaper.

Again, i suggest you get a pricelist from Dirk, take it and go to your lps and comapre the prices to the shelf price of imported stuff, and I am sure, instead of going the route you are now considering, you will quickly note that simple mathematics make sense, and that your CHEAPEST option will be buying Dirk's food. I do not PUNT Dirk's food because I gain anything from it, I do so because after many experiences with Discus food, rand for rand, he is your best option.

I am not going to elaborate on this any further as I know full well that you will follow your own head, which after all is your perogative. Do me a favour though - do not ask advise in future if all you intend doing is wasting the time of anyone who will be offering up his time to answer and help you - it is extremely frustrating, and blatantly rude.

Regards

Marco

 

@matteffect,

A common underlying denominator that I have discovered as of late is that you repeatedly ask the TASA membership for advice, help, and guidance. And the moment the membership gives you the advice, you shut us out, BLATANTLY and openly challenge the advice given, and then openly tell us you are not going to follow our advice, and that you are going to follow your own routine. You then back yourself up with excuses: "I'm a student with limited resources." or the other one about the fact that the mollie has been doing very well with the Discus, even after you have been repeatedly advised against such practice.

Matt... you have been given advice by some of South Africa's best aquarists, and you have basically slapped us in the face saying you will not head our caution or advice. You have now requested information from one of the World's recognized Discus keepers, Professor Dirk. Dirk has posted an article explaining how to feed Discus. You have been directed to this article, and yet you openly say you want other advice. I will be extremely shocked if Professor Dirk gives you any other information other than: "Please read the article I wrote..."

Matt, if you are not going to be taking the advice given to you, then why do you bother asking? I can tell you with absolute certainty that many of the members who had given you very sound and professional advice will no longer be assisting you.

 

+1 @Zoom +10 Marco

 

@Marco has basically summarized Discus feeding and the costs behind raising this species. It's one of the reasons I gave up on discus, other than that . . .I did not have the proper space to house them.

If you are using the 'student' excuse . . .you probably wont be able to afford to keep them. They get really expensive to keep, especially when they grow up to be as big as your palm and there's always diseases that need to be treated.

My advice is simple... sell them or give them away and start off with less demanding cichlids like Angelfish or Apistogramma.

TM

 

i agree

I do not think this is true. I have followed alot of advice given to me on this thread. I have tried to incorporate Dirk's rule of food. I have followed advice that I got on feeding discus from this forum from someone on this forum. So overall i dont think this is true. I am sorry that i sometimes follow my own head but i have reasons for those decisions.

You guys have already helped me tremendously. I have learnt so much i never knew from you guys.

I am sorry that i waste your time, but i thought this forum was to help people like me no matter what circumstances, even if they dont follow what you say.

Dirk told me a few weeks ago that i could not find the food that he sells at my lfs, and food like the food he sells, but now your telling me i should go compare it with the food at the lfs?? confused.

I actually have realized this. What is stopping me is when i was chatting to Dirk he said that i could only order in bulk because it would just be too expensive if i didn't and wouldn't make sense. Again i am going to use the student excuse, i just cant order from him because I cant afford it, but i have found an alternative recommended from this site which i can afford and which i will use, in supplement to Dirks food and rule.

I am sorry you feel this way. I think not everyone thinks i am wasting there time though. I am sorry this frustrated you. I am sorry for being rude.

I am extremly thankful that we can have some of South Africans best aquarists on this site.

Kind regards
Matt

 

@matteffect, if I could also just add my 2c... Something you should also keep in mind is you are talking to adults here and not school children. Adults deserve the same respect on the net as they do in there face.

 

I am giving them respect. Please tell me where i wasnt giving respect so i can improve on it. Thanks

 

Please @discusguy , could you show me where i am being disrespectful so i can change