Feeding My Discus Platy Fry?

[newfishaddict]

Are there any concerns or disadvantages to feeding my discus platy fry?

My 6 small discus are in a 90g, they are from 4â€￾ to 2 3/4â€￾ big (10cm to 6.5cm) including fins. I currently feed flake, bloodworm, brine shrimp, and a few sinking disks…

Thanks for your comments…

 

[LisaLQ]

With the range of foods available nowadays there is no good reason to feed live feeders.

 

[k.o.d]

The laws and sales of feeder fish are different in Canada and the States, it is accepted there that feeder guppies etc will be fed.

As you say, there are different types of balanced nutrition available but that does not answer his question

If your fry come from quarantined stock that you keep yourself and you have no known pathogens then they will be fine as feeders

Have you thought about exchanging the fry for prepared food at your local LFS

 

[crazie.eddie]

You can try. Most discus get scared easy and not as a fast agile swimmer to catch fry. I used to raise guppy fry to feed my fish, and the angels were the only ones that really hunted them aggressively. At that time, I didn't have any discus yet.

 

[newfishaddict]

Thanks for the replies, I have platy fry right now, not sure what to do with them. They are 3 days old...

I anticipated that my discus might not be able to catch them. I do have a 55g with 5 young angels, perhaps I should feed the fry to them...

 

[kribensis12]

I would try it. But only put a few and if they are not eaten then feed them to the angels. I they like them, save some and breed them and then you have more babies.

 

[kev_kb]

Totally pointless IMO, there really is no reason to feed them live fish with the prepared foods available.

 

[LisaLQ]

As you say, there are different types of balanced nutrition available but that does not answer his question

The question in the title was "Is it ok?".

My answer being no, because it's pointless. Hardly worth it nutritionally, what's the point when you can get better prepared food? Also with live fish, however healthy you think they are, there is always the risk of disease/parasites, and with discus that's the last thing you need.

 

[paulf]

My answer being no, because it's pointless. Hardly worth it nutritionally, what's the point when you can get better prepared food? Also with live fish, however healthy you think they are, there is always the risk of disease/parasites, and with discus that's the last thing you need.

exactly what I was going to say

 

[k.o.d]

As you say, there are different types of balanced nutrition available but that does not answer his question

The question in the title was "Is it ok?".

My answer being no, because it's pointless. Hardly worth it nutritionally, what's the point when you can get better prepared food? Also with live fish, however healthy you think they are, there is always the risk of disease/parasites, and with discus that's the last thing you need.

The thousands of people in the States proving you wrong every day negates your 'its pointless' reply. Personally i don't feed feeders nor would I wish to, but with the proviso's stated ( which you handily left out ) then there is little risk.
So within those proviso's it is OK, wild fish don't eat frozen prepared foods, they catch and eat invertebrates, small fish and crustaceans, by feeding them ( where legal and accepted ) with something that is closer to their normal diet is that not making it more of a real biotope?
Discus ARE predators and will readily eat smaller fish, typical cichlid behaviour.

 

[LisaLQ]

Which is why most wild caught discus are riddled with parasites.

Even with the fact they've bred them themselves, there is still the risk of disease and parasites - we dont all have x-ray vision y'know, how can any of us be sure what our fish are carrying?

It is pointless. Other than ridding you of a platy fry problem - the easier answer being erm...not getting platies if you didn't want babies? If there is no nutritional need for feeder fish, and they take prepared food readily - why bother? Therefore it is pointless. Dont get which part you dont understand, kod?

Concerns and disadvantages: not nutritionally balanced, ethics of feeding fish when there's plenty of prepared food available that has much better nutritional value and less risk, cruelty, and if nothing else - a waste of beautiful platies.

 

[crazie.eddie]

It's easier keeping a tank clean to raise fry, so no problem of parasites. Unlike worms or other insects that people raise.

Discus are predators in the wild, but lots of us have tank bred fish. Discus are not as aggressive hunters as angels. Even when I fed my angels guppy fry, some of them survived and grew large enough not to be eaten. I believe ALL fish have predatory instinct. It's just some are better than others. I used to have an African Butterfly that would not let an guppy fry survive.

Live foods contain more nutrition that frozen or freeze dried, since you lose some/most of the nutrition during the freezing or drying process. And for some people, live food is easier and maybe cheaper to feed, since they're so easy to raise.

 

[k.o.d]

What I dont get Lisa, is I have said, I don't use feeders myself and would rather use prepared food but you want to put YOUR ideals for others.

Everybody on this board has their own ideas and principles, just because you have yours does not make it right for everyone else.

Live food is more natural to their biotope, it doesnt make it right but it is a fact, whether they take prepared foods or not.

If you bring your feeders up in a tank with no pathogens it is the same as feeding them brine shrimp or krill, or even in my case whitebait and sprats for the larger fish, they were alive once, does that make it wrong? They have had to be killed to make the food, so where does it end??

Every natural living creature has parasites, even you and I, its a fact of life, so that isnt even a starter for ten

 

[LisaLQ]

The guy asked for opinions, I gave mine - since when is that forcing it on someone? And the only reason I singled you out in my post was because you singled me out and made comments, so I replied!

No need to be super defensive, everyone's entitled to their view, and if you dont agree with mine - that's fine, but dont tell me I'm wrong and expect no reply lol!

 

[k.o.d]

fair enough, sorry if I seemed to be having a go. One of the problems with the internet is there is too many opinionated people like me