Hi

Has anyone made with good results a beefheart mix for there discus or other fish, I have been tempted to try and make one, but scared to try as not only am a bad cook but also a bit squemish this is one of the best guides I have found so far and the simplist, any advice woul dbe appreciated, or if you know anywhere in Mayo region that sells it:

(the following is from: ukdiscus.co.uk/feeding.htm)

The ingredients are as follows:


* 2 lbs of beef heart trimmed of fat, pericardium, and blood vessels
* 1 lb of fish
* 5 - 7 cloves of minced garlic
* 2 tablespoons of lecithin
* 2 teaspoons of spirulina powder

For full mixing information and reasons why it is a good mix please visit the original article at Discus Page Holland.
Personal comments on buying the ingredients in the UK.

The beef hearts, fish, and garlic I obtain from MAKRO.

A case of beef hearts (about 4 or 5 hearts; which is enough to make a minimum of 2 full batches of the mix) is under £10.

For fish I use cod or anything else they have in.

The lecithin (500g) and spirulina powder (110g) I purchase from Holland and Barratt Health Food stores for about £15.

I make two batches at a time. The first time you do this the outlay is about £30.00 which seems expensive. Fortunately the lecithin and spirulina powder will do many mixes - which brings future mixes down to bout £6.00 per single batch.
Personal suggestions on processing the mix

Having tried several mincers that are generally available in the uk I have found that the old fashioned 'bolt to the table' ones to be the easiest and most efficient to use.

In regards to mincing the ingredients I prefer to mince the ingredients one or twice at the most, as opposed the suggested 3 times. I suspect this may be due to the hole size on the mincing blade being somewhat smaller than the American counterparts. Over mincing the ingredients results in particles that are to fine and that readily pollute the water.

I do not use a binding agent for this mix - however some may prefer to - depending on the final size of the mince - if so, I would suggest gelatine or similar.

thx
Brett

Brett,
I quite regularly made Beefheart based food for both Discus but I also found it to have been good for most other Cichlids - with the most definite exception of African Cichlids and Apistogrammas, the protein level is far too high for what are essentially non-meat eating Cichlids in the case of the former and for some reason that I never really fathomed out it would often 'bloat' the Apistos too, inevitable conclusion being their demise.

I used to loathe the 'trimming' of the Beefhearts, it would seem to take forever to get both all the fat off but then you were faced with the unenviable task of cutting out all the veins and arteries, as well as any sinews too. I eventually moved over to using Turkey hearts, which - if I remember it right were cheaper - and easier to manage too.

Otherwise the article you quote from seems pretty spot-on, although I would often substitute shellfish instead of the fresh fish (I used to use quite a lot of Cockles and Mussels as a friend had a shellfish stall and would give me what he hadn't sold when it came to time to close up on a Sunday afternoon) and I never used either of the Holland and Barratt extras either. I would 'bulk' it up with either flake food or something like Tetra Doromin (this would also absorb much of the moisture too) and I experimented with Gelatine and found the 'mix' less liable to thaw out into a bit of a mushy 'blob' when used than when it wasn't - but I never experimented overly with it - if I had some to hand I would use it, if not I wouldn't. I would add some 'multivitamin' tablets, but think their benefit was lost once the mix got frozen...I also would add whatever vegetables I was able to get - such as Spinach, Frozen Peas and Sweetcorn (both 'skinned' first) and 'blanched' Brussels Sprouts. A hand mixer was definitely superior in my view than using a blender - but I have also used one, just think the food was too fine that way - with the mixer you could better control your particle sizes.

So, if you've a good couple of hours(?) to spare - give it a go, otherwise I think most any frozen fish food suppliers will also have stocks of ready prepared 'mixes' - but couldn't suggest a shop in your area - perhaps someone from there could make a suggestion?

Hope that helps,

John

Beefheart as far as i know is not available to buy in ireland, well at least i havent found any..

a good supplier which will grow your discus fast and strong shop.yorkshirebeefheart.co.uk/

Hi I live in Tuam, and buy a beef heart from local butcher,i make my own mix for my discus,and i mince it myself at home.
Mix receipt:
1 beef heart
1 apple
1 banana
4-5 part of garlic
6 pills of Centrum Vitamine

Heart i cleared off the fat,veins, use only clear meat,
everything minced twice, and packet into small plastic clip bags, and keept in freezer.
My discus eat it like a crazy.
Once for a month i take one tablet of Metronidazole crush it and mix with food.
Once a three months i use Kusuri wormer plus and put it straight into the water.

My discus are happy and i keep them without problems

Regards

Arto, would you fancy making me some the next time you make a batch up, i would be happy to head down to tuam to pick it up its not far from me, i dont have the heart to attempt this myself, let me kow how much you would want for it.

No problem , I let U know when i will make a new portion of food.
let me know how many U need then i can order 2 hearts and make one for U one for me.
one heart like for my stock lasting for 1,5 month depend how often i feed my fishes with b.heart.
if U like i can give U also receipt for some kind of pasta for discus, very simple to do.
and the like it also

If you dont mind doubling up (or half the amount) the next time you do it that would be great, let me know what you want to do about the cost.

Where did you get all those discus from.

i have them from Kristina,
Petshoponline.ie.
Greystones
she allways have good stock, no problems with.

I Totally agree with you, last year I was lucky enough to visited Manaus in Brazil to see natural discus haunts the discus tend to swim a bout 1 metre from the surface in shaded areas around the trees waiting for the warm blooded live food to fall into the water, now i have seen this it all makes sense how the have evolved to digest the fatty acids associated with live foods that have an average blood temp of 37C

This a a photo of the daughter of Jack Wately Jr, been frighted by a shrimp, her Dad says they live in Nepal and discus have not evolved to digest this type of foreign nibble.