Discus diet rant

[Colin_T]

Sorry to the mods but couldn't really work out where to put this. It's fish related but more of a venting thing for me. If you need to move it, do it.

A little while ago GaryE provided us with a link to a research paper about the dietary requirements of wild discus. I have been emailing the link to various importers, shops and cichlid societies asking what they feed their discus and telling them about the research paper. So far only a few have responded and they are of the opinion discus should be eating lots of meat.

I'm a bit disappointed that so many people are dismissing the paper even though the evidence is right there in front of them. I just don't know how to get people to change their ways when their current ways are killing the fish.

The link is below if anyone hasn't read it.

the discus fish Symphysodon - SciELO - M.MOAM.INFO

Dec 22, 2008 - of the lake hosting more than a thousand discus. Only 16 of the 41 ..... ing free-swimming B. cichlae wit...

moam.info

 

[itiwhetu]

I am not dismissing it; it explains why I most probably have been successful in keeping Discus. I do notice now how they love their evening feed of Algae Discs, something I have always done. I have fed them Algae discs as a treat, but it looks like they really need them. This whole thing is super cool.

 

[GaryE]

Why change when no one complains? The aquarium business is extremely conservative - there have been better alternatives to meat for fishfood for 50 years, and yet beef and goat heart are still used. Super protein diets make fish grow, and fish that grow fast sell fast.

Fish health isn't the goal. I have (truly) had the experience of seeing commercial Discus breeders waving hypodermic needles around telling me I'm an idiot because I didn't induce spawning in my Apistos with hormone injections.

We can adjust as hobbyists once we have the fish, but the industry sells "units", not creatures. The quickest route to the cash register is all that matters. It does make sense from a commercial standpoint. Change is expensive, and natural growth rates even more so.

 

[Colin_T]

This wasn't aimed at you @itiwhetu. This is me getting annoyed with the importers and wholesalers in my country who are just dismissing the whole idea that discus are vegetarian and continuing to feed them a meat based diet. At least your fish (itiwhetu) have plants to eat and are getting algae wafers and the like. It's just frustrating. We have a major breakthrough in discus care and the companies supplying the fish don't care.

 

[itiwhetu]

My Discus have more than doubled their size in six months, I have two fish that are continually mouth wrestling. I feel they are the happiest Discus I have ever had. I am now waiting for summer to start and see if they will spawn at the end of the year, because that will throw the theory they need to be two years old to spawn out the window

 

[Colin_T]

They breed when 1 year old in the wild.

The 2 fish that are mouth wrestling might spawn before Christmas.