Juan and Sylvia

He only wants to eat worms and that is getting expensive. I can barely feed myself these days. My husband is unemployed and we're both looking for work. Anyways beefheart is available but I don't wat to do extra water changes. How do I get him to eat flakes. My LFS said "good luck trying to get him to eat pellets or flakes". My husband wants to go digging for earth worms in the yard to feed him. Is that a good idea?

Slug

Earthworms could work, just might want to chop them up in managable pieces.

Another option would be to just starve the discus for a few days (not to the point of sickness), soon enough he'll get hungry and eat the flakes/pellets. Try some Tetra Colorbits, those have always worked for me.

Juan and Sylvia

thank you slug for such a fast reply. The poor thing didn't eat yesterday because I ran out of worms. Do I need to wash the earth worms in any special way? Maybe they have fertilizer or pesticides on them.

I have another question. I haven't seen my discus eliminating wastes yet although he eats a lot.

Hello. Since there was no response between your posts I've merged them for you to save some space. There is an "Edit" key at the bottom of every post that you can use for corrections or additional thoughts.
Thanks!
Ken

MaddieLynn

I can't help you with your discus questions, but if it makes you feel any better, I've had my puffer since March, he eats like a pig, and I've never seen him... ahem... eliminating wastes.

Slug

Do you see it in the tank anywhere? Is the fish bloated? Is its belly real full after eating?

I'd just give the earthworms a rinse with water, get all of the excess dirt and grime off of them.

Juan and Sylvia

No he's not bloating. And his belly doesn't get really full after eating either. The angels get really big after eating though.

aquarist48

Discus Updates
DISCUS CARE SHEET
Hello Juan and Sylvia. The above links may be helpful and interesting for you to read.
Best of luck. I hope your Discus is going to be ok.
Ken

joshua 74

my discus are eating each other is rather bad lol and i feed them everything they need!!!!

TedsTank

I got mine to eat flakes when feeding frozen brineshrimp, I would add a few flakes...as they scrambled to eat they would pick a few. Now flakes are a mid-day snack for them...they love 'em!!!

peacemaker92

You could feed him cut frozen pea dipped in garlic juice every once a week to make sure he releases wastes properly. Even if he is fine, it doesn't hurt to feed it to him. It's like feeding kids vege every week even though they don't want it. Just cut the frozen pea into the size of his eye, make sure you get rid of the shell, dip it in garlic juice and done. Hope that helps! Great info above too! Best of luck!

crazy4fish_123

its like trying to switch a dog to a different kind of food. for the first week put 10% flakes and the rest whatever you feed them. Every week add a little more flakes and less of what you feed them.