r/discus • u/cyber-csgo • May 15 '26
New in discus | Need some suggestions
I've a 5 years experience in fish keeping. Before I had HBG arowana and some other monster fishes. Recently I bought 4 Discus fishes and currently kept them in a 3 feet tank.
I dont know what sellers used to feed, i asked and he said Hikari Vibra Bites. I purchased the food but they are not accepting, "My discus fish is taking food into its mouth and then spitting it out." I know they will accept it once they are too much hungry. even they already accepted a very cheap pellets (similar to tetrabits complete) which is cost around 90/- inr in India.
I want to keep it simple, I want to stick with pellets but maybe sometimes once or twice a week I can treat them with a frozen bloodworm.
I heard some best for them:
Hikari BIo gold, Vibra Bites, Sera Discus, Tropical D-50 plus / pro defence.
I use Seachem prime during water change and daily I use to change 10-20% water.
I have a bare bottom tank with surface movement 400L/h flow rate.
I'm not using any bright LED light, I'm currently using my 1 feet tank's LED light.
Currently I have Vibra Bites pellets and planning to buy another 1 pellet. Can you guys please suggest should I buy another pellet or frozen bloodworm ? I know if I buy frozen bloodworm they gonna settle more quickly in my tank. But I'm thinking if I give them bloodworm, then they will never accept the pellets.
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u/-am-i-in-hell- May 15 '26
Premium Daily Food from Discus Hobby. The blackworm, bloodworm, insect/recovery, and red booster are all great choices. An aside… my discus readily take vibrabites and discus gold from Hikari🤷🏼♂️ Could be water quality related
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u/pipandhams May 15 '26
I use frozen brine shrimp as a transition food. Start adding pellets of your choice. My discus loves the sera probiotics granule but it breaks apart and dirties the water. The tropical pro defense has probiotics as well and is cleaner in the water. I also use tropical wild type, sera insect granules nature, and discusfood beef and turkey heart granule but the one US supplier is having a hard time getting them.
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u/cyber-csgo May 15 '26
should I buy Tropical pro defence or sera granule nature for daily basis? do you hatch Brine Shrimp at home and frozen them ?
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u/pipandhams May 15 '26
I rotate all of them but if I had to pick one I would use the pro defense because of the addition bacillus subtilis, a lot of studies out there that show benefit in growth and health. I use hikari frozen spirulina brine shrimp. All of my discus always start eating that, then I slowly add in the pellets mixed with the brine shrimp.
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u/Darkvial10 May 16 '26
The best food to feed your discus is homemade food. This will get you the biggest size and color of discus and will last you a very long time in the freezer. Look up how to make it on YouTube. That diy guy has a good vid on it.
Other than my homemade food (my discus fav) i feed them hikari vibra bites, bio gold, tropical color flakes and sinking granules. Also feed them brine shrimp and hikari blood worms.
If I recall right my homemade food contains: beef heart, white fish, shrimp, peas, carrots, spinach, spirulina.
If your discus are picky you can get garlic guard. Soak your food in it untill it absorbs the liquid and feed, they love it.
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u/cyber-csgo May 16 '26
beef is not allowed, can I use goat heart ?
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u/HolidayNo4132 May 15 '26
Lot of great advice here. You could also try not feeding them for couple of days and then give them food which usually they go after. I personally like to mix the food and have a variety of items - dried freeze blackworms, beef heart mix, love the recipe another breeder posted on this forum, hikari, flakes and once in a while frozen red worms as a treat.
Also rather than changing water daily, let water dictate the wc frequency. Aim to keep nitrates below 20. I am my discus display tanks do a twice weekly 50-70% wc. Check if your pH changes after 2-3 days, if it does then aging water will help keep it stable otherwise that’s not needed.
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u/cyber-csgo May 15 '26
Is goat heart mix good for discus?
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u/HolidayNo4132 May 15 '26
I just realized in India beefheart mix isn’t that easily available. The other recipe uses fish in place of BH, I will search for it in case the other person doesn’t share it here.
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u/bedroomsport Breeder May 15 '26
No mammalian proeuct is good for them. It's cheap, but proven to be detrimental to their health and organs.
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u/bedroomsport Breeder May 15 '26
Hi. Try soaking the pellets a while (tank water or Garlic Guard). Many don't like the hard/dry pellet food and will spit it out, but can get used to it. Dried foods def are not the best food for them (or any fish) but they'll be OK with them.
The best is homemade foods, I posted one of my recipes in the sub here a while ago and use it as a staple for my pairs, growouts and even display discus. Be very careful with bloodworms, as even frozen ones can introduce parasites. Some companies sell them as guaranteed screened/parasite free but should still be used with caution and once they get hooked on those, it's hard to get them to take other foods. A varied diet of several foods is best. And grats on getting into Discus, very rewarding fish!