Here's a simple routine that works well, feed BH about a few hours of that night befor eht enext day's water change.

You can feed lots of BH each day, but you also need to do large water changes, just like many breeders do in their bare bottom tanks!!!
Many do daily water changes.

Plant tanks do very well with daily water changes BTW and adding ferts back maintains very stable conditions.

Lots of work though.

Some folks do 2x a week water changes with Discus and plants.
This workls very well also with heavy feeding routines.

Point is, you can do heavy feeding in planted tanks, but you also need to do the heavy water changes in conjunction.

I suggest live brine, good flake/prepared foods, BH, Blood worms, Glass worms, Mysis shrimp, live earthworms etc etc.

Regards,
Tom Barr

How do you feed the BH? I haven't found a good way to do it. They can't seem to get it out of a worm feeder, and if I crumble it up, it ends up sitting on the bottom of the tank. Is there a feeder out there that works for BH?

Also...

As Tom suggested in the past, make water changes as easy as possible and you won't put off doing them. I just set up an automatic water changing system involving sprinkler solenoids and an x-10 controller. I can sit on my couch and do water changes with a remote control. If anyone is interested, let me know and I'll post the details.

TRather than putting up barriers to things such as water changes, feeding etc, try figuring out a simpler way to avoid work and laborious issues.

Then focus on the parts of the hobby you really enjoy.

Regards,
Tom Barr

JoeBanks, I'm very interested in the automatic water changing system. Hope you don't mind sharing the details when you have a moment. Thanks.

I like feeding my discus Hikari Bloodworms through a worm feeder. Very few of the worms make it to the bottom. The worms that do make it to the bottom go to the Cory's I have. I have noticed that tetra's also love blood worms.

I have fed beefheart as well but in a bare bottom tank. I think I would stay away from beefheart in a planted tank. It gets too messy.

BH can be fed with a white sand foreground or a cup like rock formation that should be ntural and part of the scape.

Worm feeders are bad for BH.
You also do not need to feed them a lot of BH, just mix it in every so often, fed them a little BH first, then later, feed them more.

Also, I think more current is better than less, exercise seems to help all fish eat better and humans too for that matter.



Regards,
Tom Barr

I don't have the link references right here now, but it is my understanding that young Discus put on weight/size quickly until they are sexually mature, and then slow way down and redirect their biology toward reproduction. Hence the strategy to feed them high protein diets like beefheart to grow them up big, fast. Sexual maturity for a Discus is about nine months from birth. After that date they grow very slowly.

So, keeping Discus in a planted tank involves two strategies: 1) Grow them big elsewhere, or 2) Don't worry about it and enjoy smaller fish.

Like growing kids, if they are not fed good nutrition as they develop, they will not gain the same size, height etc.

When they are adults, and then get all the nuitrition, then it no longer matters. You can fed them whatever, they will grow taller.

Take a kid from a 3rd world country that grew up very poor and not well fed.
They tend to be much shorter than the their 1st generation kids in the USA, nearly 10-12" shorter.
Same genes, just poorer development.

Same with plants, same with fish, same with the development of most things.

They have critical peroids when they need good nutrients and lots of it. After, it's less of an issue.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Maybe a little off topic but in the wild what size are Discus schools?

Smaller than the giants I've seen in the breeder's tanks.
Just like one would predict........

Are agricultural plants larger and domesticated farm animals larger and grow faster than wild types for the trait we desire?

Of course.

Otherwise we'd use the wild type

I hope folks make this distinction, horticulture and aquaculture are not "natural", nor is agriculture. We alter things dramatically and have enormous control to optimize conditions.

Same deal with Reefs and other systems, I'm not sure why so many assume that the natural parameters and sizes etc are the best or optimal. They just are whatever critters/plants are able to survive at this point in time under those conditions.

Natural does not imply optimal.
Many miss that concept.


Regards,
Tom Barr