food question

[Mcmannus]

Hey guys, I have a semi planted tank, sand substrate, with nine discus, most of them are 6" except the runt measuring 4". I do two or three 80% water changes per week, I feed four to five times a day, beef heart flakes twice (first and last meal), beef heart once or twice and frozen blood-worms once or twice. My water is pristine by the way, no spikes even before water changes.
I would like to scale down in WC since my guys are pretty big by now, I also know that beef heart is very good for them but also the dirtiest food (you know, stinking up the water), so my question is this, if I drop the beef heart and replace it with beef heart flakes plus the candy (blood worms), could I go down one big 80%+ (I cant do 100%, seeing the fish flapping on the sand makes me feel bad) WC? maybe feeding less?, if so how many times?

thank you

McMannus

[nabilbb]

Mcmannus,

This is just my openion, you should be fine with 1 90% WC, feed the frozen BH maybe before WC, or everyday but you have to syphon it every night. also stay away from the blood worms since it has no benefit in it. or feed once a week

[Mcmannus]

thank you

[Mcmannus]

bump

[TNT77]

Try freeze dried bloodworms instead of frozen. My fish are thick and fat on them even tanks with larger fish that do not get my frozen mix every day. You could also use freeze dried blackworms instead of frozen bh. jmo As for the water changes even if you take out the frozen you still have all the waste from the fish sitting there and building up. Why not do a couple smaller water changes to remove all the waste and at least one or two larger water changes.

[Mcmannus]

hi, I'm not trying to start any revolutionary post here about minimum WC or anything like that, i know lately there have been some "drama" going on with people posting inflammatory posts. i am not one of them, just need/want so experts point of view.
i really appreciate all the knowledge that this place gives to me.
thank you,

McMannus

[Mcmannus]

thanks TNT, i didnt see your post until after i submitted mine.
i know what you mean about the waste, they poop like crazy, but if i get the siphon out, might as well do a big water change, im trying to cut on that

[TNT77]

thanks TNT, i didnt see your post until after i submitted mine.
i know what you mean about the waste, they poop like crazy, but if i get the siphon out, might as well do a big water change, im trying to cut on that

It really doesn't make it seem like so much work if it is spot cleaned. Its what I do with my large tanks. A couple of 120s and a 210 added to others adds up on time. I ended up moving my larger fish to the big tanks and do mostly small water changes and 1 to 2 large changes per week. It really has made a huge difference. You end up going wow that wasn't so bad when you are done.

[DiscusDrew]

My theory has always been that lowering the amount of water changed is a better way to cut back than to lower the amount of water changes per week. A few years doing this, breeding and selling successfully now and my only point being this is what works for me.

For my adult tanks, which I consider about the size your fish are get the following.
- Two 50% water changes per week, sometimes three depending on what drains and fills i'm doing and the cleanliness of the tank.
- I take them off BH and frozen foods entirely except for occasional mysis shrimp which are fed for their chitinous digestive track health impact. I feed three times per day, FDBW twice per day and either pellets or BH flake once per day, occasionally switching up what's fed based on what's in my hand haha.

My main point being, to cut down water changes, in my opinion, your feeding schedule must be cut back as well which should be fine for your adult fish. I also ensure that the foods fed have less of an effect on water quality in the unlikely scenario that there is uneaten food.

[Mcmannus]

It really doesn't make it seem like so much work if it is spot cleaned. Its what I do with my large tanks. A couple of 120s and a 210 added to others adds up on time. I ended up moving my larger fish to the big tanks and do mostly small water changes and 1 to 2 large changes per week. It really has made a huge difference. You end up going wow that wasn't so bad when you are done.

it only takes me (us, my wife and I )15 minutes to do a 80+% WC in a 90G tank, we get the siphon out, take as much water and crap as possible without spooking the fish too much, then pour some prime and fill the tank back up straight from the tap. i have a canister filter and a HOB, with the wheels, even when i couldn't do a water change for 6 days i didn't get a spike in my readings.

when we where growing them up (from 3" size) we did a any other day big WC.

i have read about this fish not being so demanding once you get them big, so i was thinking on cutting down some feedings, mainly beef heart in exchange for more flakes meals (cleaner food), therefore, maybe getting away with less water changes?

thanks for the replay

McMannus

[Mcmannus]

My theory has always been that lowering the amount of water changed is a better way to cut back than to lower the amount of water changes per week. A few years doing this, breeding and selling successfully now and my only point being this is what works for me.

For my adult tanks, which I consider about the size your fish are get the following.
- Two 50% water changes per week, sometimes three depending on what drains and fills i'm doing and the cleanliness of the tank.
- I take them off BH and frozen foods entirely except for occasional mysis shrimp which are fed for their chitinous digestive track health impact. I feed three times per day, FDBW twice per day and either pellets or BH flake once per day, occasionally switching up what's fed based on what's in my hand haha.

My main point being, to cut down water changes, in my opinion, your feeding schedule must be cut back as well which should be fine for your adult fish. I also ensure that the foods fed have less of an effect on water quality in the unlikely scenario that there is uneaten food.

thanks Drew,

i guess i will have to check on the FDBW (freeze dried BLACK worms right?) and go from there.
i'll make the transition on the feeding schedule keeping the water changes and the re evaluate.

thanks for the responses, i really appreciate it!

McMannus

[bogia99]

have you tried to "wash" the FBW first before feeding it to your fishes ? I can't stand seeing all that stinky blood goes into the water (same as BH stuff).