My discuses don't eat

[krich]

Just got 4 of them on Tuesday night from my reputable breeders here. I'd tried to feed them the Tetrabits as my breeder's advice but looks like they haven't eaten since. Not sure if they did when left alone. If so, it'll be very little amount since I keep checking and found some leftover on the floor.

Tankmates are 15 neon tetras and 1 clownloach. Fishsize is around 3-4 inches in a 20 gallons tank. Small one I know but plan to move them to a 80 gallons one in a month or two.

My question is normally how long does it take before discus can adopt to the new foods, given all the other parameters such as water quality, temp, etc. are good.

Is it necesssary to feed them some live-foods ocassionally? Know that it can cause illness if they're not clean enough.

Thnk you!

[Nathan]

dw there quite new to your tank and discus are very touchy fish and dont like being moved!

it can take up to 2 weeks for them before they start eating, an up to amonth before they settle in properly!

if after another 3 days or so they arent eating try an get some live food, they cant refuse it, but as u said they cna cause illness's if there not cultured in the right conditions.

so dont stress yet, there still settling in, my advice is to make sure you dont do anything to stress them out (eg vaccum near the tank etc.) just keep that area quiet an they should be fine a week or so

[krich]

Thank you for your valuable advice Nathan.
That makes me feel at ease now.

[Nathan]

no problems, i remember when i first got mine i was a bit worried aswel, but i assure you these guys are quite touchy fish an can take a while to settle in. Just keep an eye on there behaviour as while there stressed ive found they are more sucseptible to diseases.

keep us posted an a big welcome to the forum

[enigmatic]

I was going to ask a similar question but did a search first :D

I got my first Discus on Fri and I don't think they have eaten anything since. I've tried small amounts of Tetra ColourBits, Sera Discus Granules, frozen beef heart, frozen blood worm but they don't touch any of it.

Only thing I've seen them eat is something on the driftwood - they keep pecking at that.

The 20 neon tetra and the flying fox seem to enjoy every bit of what I put in but the Discus stay well clear of it - almost seem nervous of the other fish.

I've read elsewhere that Discus have a stomach as small as their eye. These Discus are only 4-5 cm so that has to be pretty small.

I'm on the look out for some live blood worms or brine shrimp but is there anything else I can do?