# How to feed Spirulina tabs to discus



## bhavik (25 Mar 2018)

Hi guys so I’ve got 4 blue discus and I bought some 100% spirulina tabs to feed them to increase their colour more so than anything but just wanted to ask how I would get them to eat it. 
As I tried to crush it up into smaller pieces and they weren’t having it. 
I also crushed it into a fine powder and soaked it in with some granules but that didn’t work it either as it fell to the bottom or stayed floating at the top

Any help would be great 
Thanks!


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## roadmaster (25 Mar 2018)

Discus I have kept were fed various foods.
Some they were more fond of than other's to be sure.
I also noted that once the fishes had quickly grabbed food's I offered, that they would then forage along the substrate for maybe half hour.
Colour's seemed to coincide with good water quality,wide variety of food's.
Some food's that they maybe did not take to straight away ,I still tried to sneak them in on occasion.


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## sciencefiction (25 Mar 2018)

Try incorporating it into home made gel food. I made some last week. It's fairly easy. It doesn't take long and the food set quite fast as well.   I added spirulina, also cooked broccoli, carrots, spinach, frozen bloodworms, frozen krill, turmeric and paprika, the gel...All the fish I have enjoyed it.  Here is how mine looks:


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## bhavik (25 Mar 2018)

I see is there any way I could with it normally to them or with something else like granules or any?
I don’t really have gel at home to make the food right now so trying alternatives


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## sciencefiction (25 Mar 2018)

Pure spirulina isn't very appealing to fish... That's why I am suggesting you mix it up with something else. The gel holds it together or it will otherwise pollute the tank.


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## bhavik (25 Mar 2018)

What I was thinking of doing is putting some freeze dried food in some water and then dipping it in some spirulina powder would that’s work?
Or would it just come off and float in the water?


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## alto (26 Mar 2018)

Seachem Focus may help "stick" it to other foods - at least it's very effective with medications - you might email Seachem 

There are many foods with a few % spirulina already incorporated, easier to get discus eating these I suspect
I've fed frozen brine that is gut loaded with spirulina, even that dramatically reduces palatability


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## roadmaster (26 Mar 2018)

New Life spectrum pellets come in various sizes for fishes and these would be something I added to the menu for juvie to adult fishes.
If fish are Adult's,I might also look at Fluval bug bites targeted for various species.
Hikari or SanFrancisco Bay also makes frozen cubes of Spirulina Brine shrimp .


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## bhavik (26 Mar 2018)

I will try that but atm I’ve got about 400g worth of spirunlia tabs that I need to finish off and not sure how to feed them to the fish as of yet
They aren’t really touching them :/


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## Konsa (27 Mar 2018)

Hi
I have only seen/heard of one  brand 100% spirulina tabs.If is the Herons brand U have they hold shape very well and make good shrimp food and my ottos like them too.Try to resell some of them in for sale ,section many shrimp keepers on here
Regards Konsa


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## Edvet (27 Mar 2018)

bhavik said:


> 400g worth of spirunlia tabs that I need to finish off and not sure how to feed them to the fish as of yet


Feed them to a grindal worm culture ( or enchytreae worm culture depending on fish size) and feed those to the fish


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## bhavik (27 Mar 2018)

Yeah they are the heron brand and I bought it for the Shrimps as well as the discus to improve their colour
The shrimps are crazy over them but discus don’t reall touch then -_- 

Yeah but I need a culture to get started and then keep


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## bhavik (29 Mar 2018)

Any help at all please


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## roadmaster (29 Mar 2018)

As mentioned,,keep offering the spirulina tabs ever so often in addition to other food's.
Or keep the spirulina tabs for the shrimp ,and offer other foods to the Discus..
If Discus won't eat the spirulina in tab form, then food such as the spirulina brine shrimp mentioned may be more to their liking.(along with shrimp you have if in same tank)
Color of fishes as mentioned more tied to clean water,varied diet,not too bright of lighting,darker color substrates.
Your getting help, but maybe don't like the answer's.


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## wolfewill (30 Mar 2018)

I grind up the spirulina into a fine powder with a mortar and pestle and add it to a high quality flake food. I also grind up the flake food (a little) into smaller pieces and add it to the spirulina (shake them up a bit to get a good blend). The spirulina seems to stick to the flakes. Then I put the amount I'm going to feed my fish at one time into a tablespoon and add just enough water to give it the consistency of wet mashed potatoes. I then use a teaspoon to distribute the mush to each tank making sure to spread it just under the surface over several inches. I use one tablet of spirulina to about 50 to 75 mls of dry flake food (after reducing the size of the flakes). This lasts me a few weeks with one daily feeding. I also feed frozen or dried foods and seaweed daily.


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## bhavik (31 Mar 2018)

wolfewill said:


> I grind up the spirulina into a fine powder with a mortar and pestle and add it to a high quality flake food. I also grind up the flake food (a little) into smaller pieces and add it to the spirulina (shake them up a bit to get a good blend). The spirulina seems to stick to the flakes. Then I put the amount I'm going to feed my fish at one time into a tablespoon and add just enough water to give it the consistency of wet mashed potatoes. I then use a teaspoon to distribute the mush to each tank making sure to spread it just under the surface over several inches. I use one tablet of spirulina to about 50 to 75 mls of dry flake food (after reducing the size of the flakes). This lasts me a few weeks with one daily feeding. I also feed frozen or dried foods and seaweed daily.



Hi thanks for that I tried that yesterday it sort of work but don’t know how much of it they actually ate 
I crushed the spirulina tab into powder added the flakes and just enough water for it to stick together and he kind of formed a lump which then sunk to the bottom where they were sort of picking at it but you could kind of seem then throwing out the spirulina so dunno how much they actually ate :/


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## wolfewill (31 Mar 2018)

bhavik said:


> I crushed the spirulina tab into powder added the flakes and just enough water for it to stick together and 'it' kind of formed a lump which then sunk to the bottom..... :/



I add enough water so that as I gently run the spoon through the water, the flakes immediately break apart into the separate pieces. It sounds like you didn't add enough water. If it clumps together and drops to the bottom then that's not enough water for sure.



bhavik said:


> ... where they were sort of picking at it but you could kind of seem then throwing out the spirulina so dunno how much they actually ate :/



The spirulina should be small enough that it can't be seen. The fish shouldn't be able to spit it out. Mine almost dissolves in the water column and only darkens the colour of the flakes. And the flakes should be sized to suit the size of fish. For smaller fish I make the flakes smaller but for bigger fish the flakes are larger. And none should reach the substrate. The fish and the water flow should move the flakes around enough that the food should all be eaten.


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## bhavik (1 Apr 2018)

wolfewill said:


> I add enough water so that as I gently run the spoon through the water, the flakes immediately break apart into the separate pieces. It sounds like you didn't add enough water. If it clumps together and drops to the bottom then that's not enough water for sure.
> 
> 
> 
> The spirulina should be small enough that it can't be seen. The fish shouldn't be able to spit it out. Mine almost dissolves in the water column and only darkens the colour of the flakes. And the flakes should be sized to suit the size of fish. For smaller fish I make the flakes smaller but for bigger fish the flakes are larger. And none should reach the substrate. The fish and the water flow should move the flakes around enough that the food should all be eaten.


I see alright I will try to add more water the next time I feed it to then. 
I’m a little bit confused so I was wondering if possible you could send me a picture or a video of you make it
That would help a lot

Thanks


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## wolfewill (1 Apr 2018)

I've done very little of that sort of thing, but I'll give it a try later in the week.


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## bhavik (2 Apr 2018)

wolfewill said:


> I've done very little of that sort of thing, but I'll give it a try later in the week.


Yeah if you could do so that will be great!
I’ll try it in the mean time and see if it works


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