Food- Equal to water quality in importance, is the food we give our Discus. All creatures require food that targets their specific needs. Younger animals require many feeding's per day ( minimum 3 if you are looking for good size and shape). Discus require a good quality balanced diet in order to flourish. Live foods, such as white worms, fed on occasion do a lot for their well being.
I avoid frozen bloodworm altogether for two reasons one, although it’s very convenient to use with very little cleanup, it's not all that nutritious as a main diet and the fish will not grow properly usually the growth is stunted. (This can be seen when the eye size is large for the body size) Secondly, I have had infestations of intestinal and gill worms and bacterial issues, which I believe originated from the bloodworm packs. This is supported by other breeders and experts as pointed out by Andrew Soh and in his books. If you are going to feed bloodworm make sure you have a good stock of medication, a microscope and the knowledge to use both.
A varied balanced diet is key for proper growth and choosing the right nutritious diet for your fish and is key to minimizing disease and ensuring good and proper growth. There are some very key vitamins and minerals that should be present but not overdosed in the foods they eat (see the nutrition section).
There is a lot of recent discussion on the forums whether Discus are vegetarian or not. It is my experience having raised thousands of Discus over the years, both artificially and parent raised, to get proper development of young discus, feed them a diet rich in protein, minerals and vitamins, 3 or 4 times a day (don't overfeed frequent small feedings is desirable). Keep in mind that discus are one of, if not the only freshwater fish born with teeth (Wattley's Handbook of Discus page 103). For the first few weeks they live eating the epidermis layer of the skin of their parents. If they were vegetarian why would evolution have them feeding and eating their parent's skin. I don't doubt they eat, depending on the season, fruit and other vegetable matter that's why I include banana, lettuce and spirulina in my mix. As the discus gets older and stops growing, year and a half to two years of age, a reduction in protein would make sense as we do this with dogs, cats, turtles and even humans.
I use a spreadsheet with nutritional targets based on Science adding the ingredients into the spreadsheet until I meet the targets set out by my research.. I researched articles and information from books such as "Fish Health" by Post, articles in TFH and from interviewing and discussions with various breeders around the world. Some of this information you will find on the Nutrition page. I then formulated my mix and through years of experimentation dervived the food mix we have today. We use fresh raw beef-heart (deveined and fat removed), fresh Atlantic Salmon fish, hardboiled egg yolk, red lettuce, banana, garlic, Spirulina, iodine, vitamins and minerals and more recently fresh steamed farmed PEI mussels to our frozen mix. These items are ground separately and then added to a food processor. The beef-heart can be substituted for turkey-hearts if you can find a supply. If you don't mind the cost $$ increasing the amount of fresh Atlantic Salmon and reducing the beefheart content is also an option. It is generally believed the salmon fish, which has aproximately the same protein content as beefheart, may be easier on the digestive tract of the discus. I have substituted the beef-heart with the fresh Salmon without a reduction of the nutritional value of the mix and the Discus will eat it as well. I start feeding my baby discus with a very fine mixture at 4 weeks, 4 feeding per day (every 4 hours) and at 10 to 12 weeks I reduce to 3 feeding's a day. Over the years much has been written on various beef-heart or turkey-heart mixes and there are many formula's out there. I have tried to find a suitable beef-heart mix in the local Toronto area, but unfortunately, I was only able to purchase one mix, which I found to be mostly water and just beef-heart, no additional ingredients to meet the nutritional needs of the discus. It had a lot of fat and vein in the package which could kill a young fish. It is for this reason, we are now making our frozen beef-heart/fresh salmon mix "Beef-heart Plus", in convenient 4 oz plastic containers, available to our regular customers for sale. We give a sample 4 oz pack with the first time purchase of Discus from our hatchery. This will ensure the Discus purchased continue with the same diet during the adjustment period in their new home.
Water - The quality of water is probably one of the most important factors in keeping Discus or any fish successfully. Discus like the warmer water 84 to 86 degrees is optimum. They can tolerate lower temperatures 80 to 82 but over time they weaken and become suceptable to disease and may stop eating altogether. Young fish may not grow and develop properly at lower temperatures and this is easily detected when the fish appears stunted the eye size is large when compared to the body. Increasing the temperature over a few days to 88 to 90 degrees will increase the metabolism and act as a general tonic and this can be done a couple times a year and should be done especially if the fish has a reduced appetite or stops eating.
Caution playing with temperature should be monitored closely Heaters can stick and stay on. I have to sadly admit that I have accidently killed some very nice fish when a heater stuck on. Two smaller wattage heaters compared to one large wattage heater can prevent this from happening. If one of the smaller heaters sticks on it doesn't have enough power to raise the temperature to a high enough level to be fatal. Discus can tolerate very brief increases in temperature into the high 90's. I do not recommend these high temperatures because the Discus metabolism is racing and the fish could have a heart attack or stroke.
I keep and raise my fish in tap water which has a pH of 7.4 and a general hardness of 320 microsemens. I may alter the pH to around 6.2 for my breeding pairs to instill spawning. I do not recomend playing with pH as large swings in pH can stress and even kill fish. The advantage of the lower pH is it keeps bacteria and ammonia counts down. This also can be achieved by doubling up on the filtration and frequent water changes. I use sponge filters primarily. I clean the bottom of my tanks with a siphon hose and top up the water daily. I realize this may not be practical for everyone, however frequent small water changes are better than one large water change per week especially if you are utilizing a lower pH. A sudden increase in pH can change the less toxic ammonium into ammonia and ammonia, which as we all know, can be be very hazardous if not fatal to the Discus.
Tank - I keep my tanks bare bottom because its easier to cleanup. I use 65 gallon tanks to grow out the Discus young once they have reached 7 to 8 weeks of age. I keep my breeders in custom 32 gallon tanks (16 X18 X 24).
Over the years I have set up display tanks with different filter configurations and makes, they all have their advantages and disadvantages. I had the most success with two outboard mechanical filters that clipped on the outside of a 120 gallon tank, one at each end. I modified them slightly with a plastic tray with holes drilled in it so the water going back into the tank was evenly dispersed and the current minimized. Discus don't particularly like the strong currents. I also went with some very nice clay pots and planted Amazon and Brazilian Sword plants. I used no gravel just some very nice display rocks that could be moved around when siphon cleaning the tank. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find any pictures to post but I am still looking. I kept 8 adult wild Discus at a temperature of 84 to 86 degrees F. Once the plants were established they seemed to tolerate the higher temperature of 86. Discus are very territorial and when they start to pair off they drive the other fish away. I recommend, in a 120 gallon display tank, 8 to 10 adult Discus so that no one fish is getting beat up, remember they are Cichlids and they will fight during the pairing process. Another important note, Discus tanks should not be put in high traffic areas and they like to be up high at eye level, although this may not be always practical. One Final Note: I highly recomend a time out/hospital tank (20 to 30 gal). Discus bullies usually the alpha male will pick on the weaker males and sometimes a time out is required. A fish which is stressed from constantly being picked on will eventually fall to disease and may need to be given a time out. I have found some of the new strains such as the blue Diamond is very aggressive and don't mix well with other strains of Discus.
