# Feeding discus in a heavily planted tank.



## JRJ (Feb 9, 2005)

My discus are presently in a bare tank, soon to be moved into a heavily planted tank. It's obvious these fish like to eat off the bottom - which is going to be a problem in my tank because every inch is planted. Right now, they're taking frozen blood worms and little else. Can you use a floating worm feeder with frozen worms? Please clue me into any other techniques or ideas.

-Russ:retard:


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## dkfennell (Apr 19, 2005)

You will be surprised how much effort discus will go to to get under plants. Mine will even swim horizontally near the bottom like halibut to get under leaves. So I wouldn't worry about having planted every square inch (as I did).

Even if you use only food that sinks, not all of it will hit the bottom, and discus can find food on leaves, stuck among stems, etc. They will also move leaves aside to get to the bottom.

But you might also want to use food that doesn't fall to the bottom so fast. The San Fransisco Bay Brand freeze dried bloodworms I use stay on the surface for quite a while, and the discus quickly learned to eat from the surface. Also cubes of freeze dried tubifex worms stick to the inside of the glass and discus will generally eat right from the glass and only a small portion reaches the ground.

But my discus graze all the time on the ground under plants and grasses and I suspect they get a good portion of what falls there. What they miss my corys get.

Cheers,
Darrell


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## JRJ (Feb 9, 2005)

dkfennell said:


> Also cubes of freeze dried tubifex worms stick to the inside of the glass and discus will generally eat right from the glass and only a small portion reaches the ground.


Are there brands that are safe? I've read they can contain nasty bacteria that can kill sensitive fish.

BTW, thanks for the reply.

-Russ


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## dkfennell (Apr 19, 2005)

Russ, I use SF Bay Brand freeze dried tubifex worms, and have never had a problem. I started using them because the breeder I get the discus from uses them so much that it took a while to get mine to eat anything else. I had never heard of problems with freeze, dried tubifex, and the breeder has hundreds of discus at a time, all of which appear extremely healthy (they eat like pigs and following your finger around the tank). 

I don't use these exclusively, however. I also feed live food (bbs, grindal and white worms). My discus have also occasionally eaten the fruit flies I put in for the hatchet fish. 

The problem that I've worried most about was the live worms. The discus eat in such a leisurely way that they are always leaving a bunch to hit the bottom. And while they will get down on all fours to go after beef heart, they don't make the same effort for worms. While corys will eat them, I worry that a bunch of rotting worms are building up in the substrate.

Darrell

PS: I only just now noticed that this was a thread in a club forum. Hope my remarks are not considered intruding on the forum.


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## JRJ (Feb 9, 2005)

dkfennell said:


> PS: I only just now noticed that this was a thread in a club forum. Hope my remarks are not considered intruding on the forum.


Not at all, and thanks for the responses.

-Russ


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