Beef Liver

[pnyklr3]

I was thinking about feeding my fish some fresh beef liver (well, as fresh as it is at the meat counter at the grocery store). Do all/most fish like it? Any drawbacks?

Thanks!

 

[kat and james]

when i read about feeding the fish beef it was beef heart, it had to be ground up and mixed with gellatine or something like that..

 

[BigC]

Beef Heart is what I feed to my killifish. Cut managable lean segments and discard all the tubes and fat etc. Freeze the choice cuts then using an ordinary kitchen hand grater run your meat up and down the size of slice you want. (I use the smallest holes) The result is a worm like pieces of beef heart. Do not feed this all the time though but include it in you feeding regime once or twice a week.

 

[pnyklr3]

I already buy the frozen beef heart. My rope fish really likes this, but seems to snub his nose at brine shrimp, blood worms, krill, and the like. I guess I was looking for an additional option....and I've seen the livers at the store. lol

 

[GuppyDude]

i dont feed any of that to my fish but i sure do eat it myself great fried with onions

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Most red meats are bad for tropical fish as they tend to be high in fats which many tropical fish find hard digesting and red meat can turn water quality very bad very quickly so you need to do alot of water changes more often when you feed it to your fish- i don't feed it to my fish since i don't have any predatory ones that require it and it isn't realy a remotely natural food source- i prefer to feed my fish river shrimp, krill and bloodworms for high protein foods instead .

 

[freddyk]

There is absolutely nothing even close to cow meat in any fishes diet (including sharks) and it's a very unnatural food that's excessively high protein. I would suggest sticking to some of the many foods available that are meant for fish to eat.

 

[pnyklr3]

Why does the lfs sell frozen beef heart then? Wouldn't you think they'd stick o only what was good for the fish?

 

[mr.dark-saint]

Why does the lfs sell frozen beef heart then? Wouldn't you think they'd stick o only what was good for the fish?

[snapback]913410[/snapback]​

'Cos people keep buying them. Also, it's convenient.

Instead of a hand grater i just used a blender and chopped it up chunky after doing what BigC did. Now I just buy a tub of chicken liver for the African Lungfish and me to share (don't care for beef heart) . He'll get a large lump cut in to twos, one right now and other the following day (once a month or when I get a taste for them). The rest of the time he'll get Goldfish to eat at his leisure or occasional lot of crayfish (without the large claws).

As for what fish eats in the wild v.s. in captivity I'll look for what my fish likes any ol' day of the week vs. live crab, live squid or live marine fish to feed a shark without going broke the first week (as an example). I did have one customer who came in and bought damsels as feeders but that was out of norm since most people buy goldfish (even though it will be bad for them "thiaminase" and all) for their marine carnivores. Their typical excuse "my fish don't eat anything that's not moving" Throw it in front of a current or get a stick and wiggle it in front of his face "I'll say". But noooooo!!!! Why it has no entertainment value *(damn off the subject)* Convenice is why.

 

[pnyklr3]

The convenience is also why I buy the fozen, but what I meant was, why does the lfs sell beef heart if the stuff isn't any good (or bad for that matter) for the fish? THe previous posters said that beef products (heart and liver) were too fatty and shouldn't be fed.

EDIT: And if that is the case, then chicken livers would be fine, right? Am I still okay feeding the frozen beef heart?

 

[BigC]

Am I still okay feeding the frozen beef heart?

I have fed frozen beef heart for many years. True there is an argument as to the pros and cons of feeding the likes of this. I can honestly say that my fish never suffered from and adverse effects from beef heart feeding. Naturally you would not feed this type of food all the time, once a week would be adequate, coupled with other foodstuffs to give the fish a balanced diet. I am all for beef heart.
Regards
BigC

 

[RandomWiktor]

The argument that an LFS wouldn't sell something that could be bad for fish is kindof silly, isn't it? After all, if they were worried about fish health, I don't suppose they'd be selling goldfish bowls, jagged tank ornaments, or sick fish for that matter. Fish stores are out to make money, and consumers hear familiar words like "beef" and tend to think it'd be good for any carnivore.
My thing with the liver is, it is basically one of the body's waste filters. Its where all of the old, dead blood cells go, and is a key site for the accumulation of antibiotics, heavy metals, and other toxins. Considering the way we over medicate, douse in pesticides, and hormone-inject our cattle (in the US), I'd be afraid of what's in that liver, seeing as fish are very sensitive.
I think it is best to stick as close to what a fish's natural diet would be as possible. One way to do this without risking deficiencies since we can't get EVERYTHING would be to do a mix of pre-made food, frozen food, and live food.
Everyone has a different philosophy on this topic, but if there's one thing I've learned from being a wildlife rehabilitator, it is that mimicing as many of an animal's wild conditions as possible - minus the diseases and parasites seen in the wild - is the best way to ensure a long, healthy life for ANY captive wild animal. (Not everyone agrees with "wild" regarding fish, but since very few fish are truly domesticated - that is, modified from thier wild form, completely depandant on man for survival, and entirely captive bred - I refer to them as captive wild animals instead of domesticated animals).

 

[yvez9]

I guess feeding beef heart as an occasional treat is not bad. Same thing for us. Moderation is the key. If you fed red meat to your fish every day, it would probably cause big digestive problems,

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Many predatory fish can live for over a decade and a bad diet will effect their lifespan the most just like it does with us- unless you did an experiment and fed a fish beefheart all its life for over a decade, you won't know how badly you've effected the fish's health.

Risks are not somthing you want to take in fish keeping especialy if it effects your fish's quality of living, i would much prefer to feed my fish somthing knowing that it was safe and didn't throw havoc with my water quality and there was no debate about its health benefets being bad than feeding my fish some dogdey unnatural food that mess's up my water quality everytime i throw a chunk in.
Beef heart is essentially a waste product after the animal has been slaughtered and is alot cheaper than proper fish foods which is why lfs's stock it.
The vast majority of lfs's run don't have our pets best interests at heart but how much money they can make out of us.
Chicken would be worse than beef heart if you consider its almost 100% battery farmed and you don't want to even know the amount of hormones and chemicals battery chickens are fed to fatten up and produce huge unnatural quantitys of eggs.

River shrimp, krill, various pond snails, bloodworms, tubifex, daphinia, fish and prawns make far better alternative high protein foods and fish are more equipped to digest them in the majority of cases.
Guppys make far better feeder fish than goldfish since due to being tropicals they have less fat and slime for the fish to digest.

Its the difference i suppose between feeding your fish "Joe's bargain multi bulk goldfish flakes, 40% ash" than "Hikari's ultimate multi vitamin high protein chunks"- the health benefits are obvious, which one would you rather feed?

 

[pnyklr3]

The only thing i see my rope fish eat is beef heart. I only offer this about once a week (because I'm a sucker, and he eats it). At "feeding tie," he searches the sand for food, and occasionally will eat something on the bottom....and then spit it out. Not sure if he is looking for the "good stuff" (beef heart) or if he flat out doesn't like it. I'm also not sure if once he realizes that there is no beef heart, he goes back to eat the things offered.

Sugestions? I'm not sure how the "he'll eat it when he's hungry enough" will ring true. I have an apistogramma that will not touch flake or pellet. I honestly think he would starve before he ever considered those "food." This is how he was from the moment I got him from the breeder.

Thanks for the great info so far!