How can I coax my discus onto ColorBits ?

[G-1000]

Hey Guys,

I have a question about my discus which basically goes along the following lines:

I have 4 discus, which ALL eat bloodworms, brine shrimp and daphnia quite regularly. However, I have 1 of them that eats colorbits like anything, another that will nibble away at them and eat a few BUT the other two will not eat colour bits at all.

Why is this?

How do I get them to all eat colorbits ?

ammonia and nitrite is zero, nitrate around 15

fairly soft water, pH around 7

30-40% water changes 3 times a week

Suggestions most welcome...

[Benny]

i have one greedy little juvie turq that eats the colourbits i put in the tank, my 5 other discus dont touch it, sometimes leopards (hahaha or turqs and malboros in my case) dont change their spots....


Theres the starvation technique otherwise, where u feed them colourbits in the morning where they are the most hungry... and keep trying that way...

Wait for LRs answer, she knows all

[Merrilyn]

Hahaha thanks Benny, but you already had the right answer.

G-1000 most discus have to be trained to eat dry foods. Very few of the imported fish would have ever seen any type of dry foods. It's much too expensive for the fish farms to use.

But all fish can can be taught to eat new foods simply by feeding them the new food first thing in the morning when they are really hungry. Only add a small quantity to the tank. The fish will be in a rush to get to the food before it's all gone. Feed the other foods later in the day or evening, but only one meal. They will soon learn that they eat the new food, or they stay hungry foir the rest of the day.

No healthy fish will intentionally starve itself.

[oscar]

What about making your own frozen mixes and "hiding" some Colour Bits in there?

[rytis]

How can I coax my discus onto ColorBits ?
very simple:

step one: they have to be in good condition first: for example, when i first get them (ordering online twice) they were weak and main concern was to get them to eat ANYTHING, i raised mosquito larva (my neighbors provided the blood donations) and would go and get live blackworms, and they were eating those only after few days, .....

after they got strong and steady in a month or so later...
step two: dont feed them anything for 1-2 days, second day start feeding dry food whatever in smal amounts....

they will eat it.

[oscar]

Rytis,

You're big on starvation aren't you.

[rytis]

Rytis,
You're big on starvation aren't you.
no, i just know a little more then you... :)
maybe you're a genius who can just make them eat new foods with your smile? :wink:

[endless]

im gonna try your idea oscar and slowly increase the amount of color bits in the frozen mix until they get so use to it that i can feed them color bits straight from the can.... well thats wot im hoping will happen

[Merrilyn]

Keep it nice gentlemen please. :P

You know we allow everyone to express an opinion here, without fear of ridicule.

You don't have to agree with every statement, but please, respect the rules of common courtesy.

This is such a lovely friendly forum, let's try to keep it that way. :D

[rytis]

ok sorry if that sounded rude :)

[Merrilyn]

Thanks rytis. I appreciate that :wink:

Just couldn't bear to see our lovely forum become like some of the other free-for-all slanging matches on the net.

Never met a discus person I didn't like.

I think we're all pretty special people :P

[bgi]

I just picked up some medium-sized discus from a LFS manager's personal collection. He said when he had them, they can't get enough color bits. For me, they don't seem overly interested in them. They ignore them until they are on the gravel, then they go looking for them. Maybe it's the new environment? They all go after tetra flakes.

[electric molecular]

That's odd bgi...maybe it is their new environment or maybe they just like the tetra flakes more or maybe they are just too well fed. :wink: I can't say that my discus have ever gone for the colorbits either. But keep in mind that discus do like to peck around for their food for about an hour after you give it to them. Maybe your LFS guy kept them in a barebottom tank where they never had that luxury? It might be a novelty for them now. :)

Claire.

[Del]

I have 5 discus and even after going without food for a day then being fed colour-bits in the morning, I still have only 3 that will eat them.

I do feed them my home-made beefheart spiked with colourbits and vitamins so they are eating them without even realising...

Sneaky...?

[kalebjarrod]

In your beef heart mix is the way to go 8-)

[catfishbone]

mine didn't even take any of those ... arrghhh :cry:
even now they rejecting the most delicious lively blackworms ... :(

i used to have a couple of discus ... and one of them died of hex so i treated the other one with metro and after treatment is done now he didn't even look at the food at all ... :(

I gave him sera granules and colorbits ... but he just ignore it ... and gave him blackworms ... he ignores it too ... arghhh

what else do you guys think i should do with him ??? or do you think he feels lonely and need a mate ?? but i put him in my community tanks ... so he shouldn't feel lonely right ??? hehehe :lol:

[goldfish]

if your new fish does not want to eat anything, make sure u try feeding them abit of bloodworms,brineshrimpe or other frozen food just to keep their appetite up.
from my personal experience, the fish that doesnt want to eat is very stubborn. they will starved themselves until death.
u can always get a feeder cone and mix the frozen food and tetrabits in there, that way they hav no choice but to peck on the tetrabits aswell if they want to get the frozen food. they will spit it out at the beginnning, but persistent will pay off.

[weird]

G-1000, I would not get too frustrated if some never eat colourbits. I have tried starvation techniques, a few pick up on it and start eating others won't (after 5 days of starvation, it if they don't start eating it, you have to question do I really need them to eat colourbits).

I have noticed that the Discus I pick up from SLS seem to eat anything.