Food for Discus fish

[Bhavik]

Hi guys just wanted some help with discus food. I've got 4 blue discus (snakeskin and turqs) and 1 brown discus and wanted to ask out of the pictures i have listed which ones would be the best to feed them to improve colour and in general?
im planning on adding 2 pigeon bloods in a couple of weeks
thanks for your help!

 

[sciencefiction]

None of these foods look particularly good.
Have a look at New Life Spectrum and Northfin food.

 

[Bhavik]

But in terms of colour would they not be good enough?
Either that or thinking of getting 100% spirulina tabs

 

[sciencefiction]

Although there certainly are some colour enhancement additives in fish food, they don't come without a risk so I personally avoid them. Good colour in fish comes from quality food that provides all nutrients and minerals to the fish, plus great water quality...

But in terms of colour would they not be good enough?

No.

Either that or thinking of getting 100% spirulina tabs

What is the staple for the fish? Discus are not herbivore...why feed with spirulina?

Have a look at the ingredients of New Life Spectrum Algae max..It has spirulina and a ton more.....

 

[alto]

For discus diet, it's well worth reading Sverting's comment as to natural foods for these fish

Many breeders will extoll the virtues of "beef heart" (it certainly increases speed of growth from fry to saleable fish size) but it also impacts physiological development - think, the first ever fish with fatty deposits not just through body & around organs but also inside blood vessels 😱

A far healthier option
- meant as example only

 

[sciencefiction]

For discus diet, it's well worth reading Sverting's comment as to natural foods for these fish

They don't eat fish and they don't eat cows but they're not herbivore...

As per: http://www.scielo.br/pdf/ni/v6n4/v6n4a08.pdf for example, their diet comprises of mainly periphyton, plus decapoda, ostracoda, certain larvae etc.

Does eating periphyton make discus herbivore?...A quick "google" definition below:

Periphyton is an entire community of organisms, including blue-green algae, fungi, microbes, bacteria, plant detritus, and animals that together compose the foundation of an entire ecosystem.

If a human eats just insects, worms and salad, does that make them herbivore?

 

[alto]

Some articles have reported considerable vegetable matter in discus stomach analysis - authors suggested significant seasonal variations might occur

 

[Bhavik]

Well the only reason I’m looking at those foods is because of the colouration content in them
As a staple diet I feed them tropical d50 gran
I was looking at these to feed on the side

 

[sciencefiction]

As a staple diet I feed them tropical d50 gran

Ingredients: fish and fish derivatives, vegetable protein extracts, derivatives of vegetable origin, molluscs and crustaceans, cereals, meat and animal derivatives, algae (Spirulina platensis min. 1.5%), yeasts (including Beta-1,3/1,6-Glucan 1 000 mg/kg), oils and fats, minerals.

Change that food to quality food and you'll see their colour improve....The above is quite poor, despite that the food seems to have a lot of other additives...

 

[Edvet]

I think beefheart originated from large breeders needing a cheap protein source.
I personally had discus for ten years, mostly wildcaught ones. I fed them all variaties of mosquito larvae, red. white and black, artemia, dahpnia, mysis. All frozen but alive if i could get it.I believe giving them"whole"food with exoskeletons will aid their gut functions. I'd vary as much as possible.
Ever few days i gave them some discus granulate too, just to keep them used to eating it. I expected it to add some nutrients the frozen food might lack.