Tetra Color Bits vs Breeders' Premium

[TeeFM]

I am buying some discus, maybe super red melon. Can anyone please advise their opinion on using either tetra color bits or breeders' premium to feed the discus? Which one is better? Thank you.

[kalebjarrod]

i use both

i suggest you do too!

they have different things in them and a combination is great

[TeeFM]

Do you mix them together or feed them on alterative day?

[Ben]

I would feed both types of dry food as part of thier diet. But feed other things like frozen and fresh brine shrimp, frozen mysis shrimp, blood worms etc.

You could mix the two types together, its personal choice i think.


Ben

[kalebjarrod]

yeah i mix mine up

no set rate, pinch of this pinch of that :wink:

[skoom]

I've had two red melons and naturally i fed them colorbits (cheap, widely recommended).

Over 1 year, never again did i see them live up to the 'red melon' name. It's more like 'orange melon'.

so has anyone managed to keep their red melons red? What's your secret?

[TeeFM]

I have heard of red colour enhancer, but not sure if they work. How about feeding worms or brine shrimp? Will they work?

[Mattzilla]

try to track down some astaxanthin powder. it is a very good natural colour enhancer.

i add it to my beefheart mix along with spirulina powder/or crushed up spirulina wafers, paprika, carrot and prawn

all are said to be good natural colour enhancers.

all of my discus show strong colours, including my red one

[dreamer]

how about new life spectrum? heard good feedbacks about them

[Ben]

I just bought a small 150 gram container of Spectrum Discus Formula from AOA.

http://www.aquariumproducts.com.au/category55_1.htm

I have only fed once, so far so good.
The size of the grains are very uniform in size.

Ben From AOA said some of the bigger Australian Discus breeders use this dried food with great results!

Cheers,
Ben

[Ben]

Some infomation to think about!

Spectrum Discus formula:
Protein (min) %34
fat (min) %5
fibre (max) %5
ash (max) %9
moisture (max) %10

Tetra colour bits
protein %47.5
crude fat %6.5
crude fibre %2.0
max moisture %6
phosphorus %1.5

Breeders premium discus food
protein %50
max minerals %12
max crude fat %8
Max crude fiber %1


If anyone has any other discus food i would like to see the break down as wriiten on the container.


cheers,
Ben

[mtchye]

Hi Ben,

I feed my discus Inve NRD, and have found a really cheap source for it (I think Rod put me onto primo, where you can mail order it). I was put onto it by a mate in aquaculture who sold me some, and now it is available to the general public. A very good complete food with lots of carotenoids, in fact it tells you exactly how much. If anyone has tried to raise marine fish you'd know they need pretty much spot on nutritional requirements. Most of my discus eat it but some of the pigeons only like the flake version. Having said that every other fish besides some of my very picky pigeon blood based discus have eaten it straight away. Unfortunately it can be a little high in carotenoids, as when I put some yellow fish onto it they did turn orangey.

Moisture 7% Vit. A3 30,000 lU/kg
Crude protein 59% Vit. D3 2,500 lU/kg
Crude lipids 15% Vit. E 400 mg/kg
Crude ash 12% Vit. C 2,000 mg/kg
Phosphorus 1.7% Antioxidants ethoxyquine, BHT,
propylgallate
DHA/EPA 2 Sum3 HUFA 28 mg/g dwt

[nicholas76]

I've had two red melons and naturally i fed them colorbits (cheap, widely recommended).

Over 1 year, never again did i see them live up to the 'red melon' name. It's more like 'orange melon'.

so has anyone managed to keep their red melons red? What's your secret?

common problem with many buyers of red fish!. You buy them red but they soon return to there normal pigeon orange colour.

try a beef heart mix like lady reds.

[mtchye]

Forgot the site I got it from, www.primo.net.au

I really like this food and it would be good to see what some of you others think of it. Rod Lewis did mention he used it too and its very economical in bulk.

Cheers
Vincent

[ozarowana]

mtchye,

In regards to the Inve NRD, what sizes are you using?

[mtchye]

800-1200 micron for larger fish (however even smaller fish down to 2cm baby angels can chew on them) and 300-500 micron for the baby fish, and the smaller size for the really small babies.

Having said that when I use the 8-12 size in a tank with gravel it gets lost in the gravel so I only use this food in a bare tank. I use the flake frippak version for my planted tank discus. Perhaps the 12-20 size might be good to try for tanks with gravel?