Discus snacks

[chris]

Hello, can anyone recommend me a good snack for my fish,
I currently use tetra colour bits.

[Merrilyn]

Tetra bits are excellent, so is Breeders Premium. Live brine shrimp are always welcome, and so are mossie wrigglers. Frozen bloodworms, frozen mysis shrimp are also good. I never feed live blackworms - too many problems with gill flukes.

[chris]

Sorry Merrilyn.
I meant dried snacks, something quick to have on hand to make active, when there lazing around.
What are mysis shrimp Never heard of it in Adelaide, well I havent.

[Ben]

Hi Chris,
i have done a little research on MYSIS SHRIMP and this is what i have come up with.

It's a freshwater Mysis (Mysis relicta). Which can or is better for freshwater fish As fish don't need to eliminate excess salt, it's easier on their systems.
Unlike brineshrimp.
Mysis is a natural product enriched by the food chain of lakes from which it is harvested. There is no artificial enrichment on this product, yet fatty acid profiles are higher than that of enriched brine shrimp. It also has more than three times the fatty acid content as compared to krill. The density of Mysis is greater than that of brine shrimp. This results in less waste when feeding. Mysis is a nutritionally complete food, without enrichment. This is because of Mysis relicta's highly diversified eating habits. The extremely high levels of EPA and DHA (fatty acids) is related to the food chain found in deep cold waters, such as those where Mysis is harvested. These fatty acids not only provide your fish with essential nutrition, but also stimulate a positive feeding response.

The notable qualities of MYSIS are:

Completely Natural: Unlike many processed fish foods, MYSIS are (or very closely resemble) a food item which fish would normally contact within their native environment.
High Protein: The protein content is in excess of that normally recommended for growth, maintenance, and reproduction.
High Animal Fat: Mysis relicta make nightly vertical migrations from 360 feet to the surface to eat, then return to 360 feet at daybreak. These migrations require enormous amounts of energy which is stored in MYSIS as animal fat. The consumption of MYSIS makes this energy available to fish for general metabolism, swimming, defending territory, and for reproduction.
Sodium Free: MYSIS are truly "freshwater". The lack of salt intake for fish (especially for marine animals) is desirable since these fish are constantly struggling to expel salt from their bodies.
Fish Eat Them: It has been well noted that the most finicky fish will eat MYSIS with enthusiasm. Credible sources (references available) report that discus, seahorses (including the leafy sea dragon), tangs, and butterfly fishes will eat MYSIS eagerly (even when stressed or poorly acclimating)! It is a naturally occurring fatty acid in Mysis relicta that initiates this positive feeding response in fish and only Mysis relicta has such naturally high quantities of it.

For a bit more infomation go to:

www.mysis.com/naturalhistory.html

[chris]

Cheers for the info prodigy,
I take it that mysis shrip can only be bought in a live form?
Sounds like the complete food, do your fish go crazy over it more than live blood worms.

[A1pryo]

Mysis shrimp sold as frozen food. Hikari brand i think the only one has it. I maybe wrong.
I knew it was good tucker my youngens doing well on it but Ben that post just proves it

[chris]

A1pyro wrote

Mysis shrimp sold as frozen food. Hikari brand i think the only one has it.

Maybe im alredy using it. We can get hikari products here, I just buy Blood worms brine shrimp, discus dinner. I always try to buy hikairi it seems to be better quality.
Ive noticed the foil sheath always comes off so, I not even sure if Ive got them now.

[A1pryo]

Mysis shrimp are lighter in color than brine they are a larger in size and there appearance is more like a prawn shape body. Hikari packs have a green and white color foil which falls off like all the rest.

[Ben]

It would be GREAT if we could get the little mysis shrimp live, i am huting around a bit , but i think its quite tricky as i believe they migrate?

The brand i use is Hikari, i buy it frozen 450 grams for $20-. It has been inriched with vitamins so it must be much better. As i believe there are no mysis shrimp in the amazon but it would have to be better feeding mysis shrimp than brine shrimp on a more than constant basis?

Heavy feeding of brineshrimp would have to build up a high sodium content in discus?

My discus took a couple of feeds to really get it to it but now they love it! ( not quite as much as live black worms!)

[chris]

Thanks heaps for your input guys, I reckon in going see if I can get mysis shrip, think im buying normal brine.
But my post was to see what other discus owners used as a dry food alterate sort of like a quick run out the door snack for the felas,
I use tetra colorbits.