What do you feed your discus?

[ryansmith83]

Discus are really no different than a lot of other South American cichlids. They appreciate a wide variety of foods. If you feed too much of one thing, they'll get spoiled and sometimes refuse other foods. Keep the diet varied.

I use frozen beefheart, frozen Hikari bloodworms, freeze-dried blackworms (I used to use live blackworms, but they were a PITA to rinse and keep alive, and the freeze-dried ones are just as good), ONF1 and ONF2 flakes, Hikari cichlid pellets/granules, frozen mysis shrimp (thaw in a net and rinse under water to get the oils off of them or you'll have a mess in the tank!)... the list goes on.

Basically, if they'll eat it, give it to them. High protein foods are good for younger fish to achieve good growth, but they do appreciate some veggie matter. A lot of people mix veggies like spinach into their beefheart, but you can also feed them veggie flakes like ONF2.

 

[swervo513]

Thanks for the informative post Ryan! Good advice. I find that discus also have healthier appetites when they are in groups of 5 and up. Do you find this to be true ?

 

[ryansmith83]

Discus just do well in general when they're kept in groups. They are a shoaling fish. Most discus keepers will recommend buying 6 or more when starting out. They feel more secure and it spreads out their pecking order a bit. If you only keep 2 - 3 discus, you'll see a lot of problems with aggression.

 

[JohnG]

I used to feed my discus frozen bloodworms and brineshrimp, with some beef heart from time to time. I now feed them mainly live blackworms, with some beef heart and brineshrimp once and a while. Live blackworms are a pain to keep, but the discus love them, and the little ones really seem to grow alot faster eating them.

 

[ryansmith83]

John, have you tried the freeze-dried ones? They are supposedly just as nutritious but no rinsing or worms in the fridge. I've been feeding them to my severum and Laetacara grow-outs and they devour them.

 

[golfhacker]

John, have you tried the freeze-dried ones? They are supposedly just as nutritious but no rinsing or worms in the fridge. I've been feeding them to my severum and Laetacara grow-outs and they devour them.

They are crazy expensive. 10 dollars for 10 grams of worms. That's $453.59 a pound for fish food. People would be nuts to pay that much for fish food. Even 200 grams for $87.99 is crazy. That's $199.55 a pound for fish food. That's insane.


1 pound = 453.592 grams

 

[xxfish_manxx]

i used tetrabits and bloodworm for my discus

 

[valderi123]

beefheart, bloodworms, brineshrimp

 

[FLESHY]

Mine love NLS "Discus" formula and bloodworms

I have been feeding my discus only NLS

Well I like to hear this...I feed all my fish NLS...and very soon I will be getting a batch of discus fry for raise out. Im super excited to start this journey and so far have bloodworms and the finest NLS pellet available. I will try and keep the diet varied, but NLS is just so good!

 

[jdvue]

beefheart, bloodworms, brineshrimp. all frozen.
occasional live black worms.

tetra color bits and flakes as well