Ox Heart

[shroob]

Hi,

I havn't been able to find any beef heart at my supermarket or butchers, so I picked up a packet of ox heart (seems close enough to a cow) and was wondering if this is Ok to feed to my fish like beef heart is?

Thanks.

 

[Colin_T]

its virtually the same thing but you are better off feeding your fish on raw prawn, fish and squid.

 

[kewskills]

Just out of interest what type of fish are you feeding, i agree with the above, their natural diet would not consist of Ox Heart so why do you want to feed them that stuff when prawns etc will probably be better for them

 

[shroob]

I was going to feed it to my oscar and polypterus as treats (like once a month), I saw people making their own 'beef heart recepies' and thought I might give it a go. Like I said it would only be treats, the vast bulk of their diet is pellets, with the occasional prawn, muscle or worms, and was thinking about giving them beef heart as an additional treat.

 

[kewskills]

I was going to feed it to my oscar and polypterus as treats (like once a month), I saw people making their own 'beef heart recepies' and thought I might give it a go. Like I said it would only be treats, the vast bulk of their diet is pellets, with the occasional prawn, muscle or worms, and was thinking about giving them beef heart as an additional treat.

Ahh i see, that sounds like a good idea then if its just a treat, i have heard that certain fish go mad for it. Sorry if i sounded like i was offending you, i was just wondering

 

[shroob]

Nah no problem, any advice welcomed

 

[Darkstar]

yeah it's probably fine...like beefheart though, it'll probably ruin the water quality pretty quickly if left overs aren't removed asap. So use it sparingly and clean up any bits left over.

 

[Tobigara]

Just out of interest what type of fish are you feeding, i agree with the above, their natural diet would not consist of Ox Heart so why do you want to feed them that stuff when prawns etc will probably be better for them

their natural diet wouldn't consist of flakes or granules either tho. i've read on this forum that beefheart is a good thing to feed to omniverous or carnivorous fish. i agree that it shouldn't be every day but you can do it more than once a month if you wanted to. once or twice a week in small amounts should be good but not really more than that cause it's heavy on the digestive track and it's kinda fattening. it's really good for the growth rate tho

as for ox heart...i would say it's similar enough to be ok for your fish. especially oscars and polyps.

just my 2 cents. hope you don't mind

 

[CFC]

Feeding beefheart is a method from a bygone age used by Discus and SA Cichlid breeders to speed up the growth of juvinile fish so they could sell them on faster, these days it isn't so popular as there is a huge range of ready prepared high protein foods available which contain fish protein and all the vitamins and minerals fish need .
Personally i wouldnt use any mammalian meat to feed fish, it is more difficult for fish to digest than aquatic foods and when i tried it before i found it makes an awful mess of the water quality, feeding it to an Oscar will be even worse as they are messy eaters anyway. As suggested if you want to give your fish treats offer them things like prawns, mussels and whitebait.

 

[Tobigara]

i stand corrected

 

[Tolak]

Feeding beefheart is a method from a bygone age used by Discus and SA Cichlid breeders to speed up the growth of juvinile fish so they could sell them on faster, these days it isn't so popular as there is a huge range of ready prepared high protein foods available which contain fish protein and all the vitamins and minerals fish need .
Personally i wouldnt use any mammalian meat to feed fish, it is more difficult for fish to digest than aquatic foods and when i tried it before i found it makes an awful mess of the water quality, feeding it to an Oscar will be even worse as they are messy eaters anyway. As suggested if you want to give your fish treats offer them things like prawns, mussels and whitebait.

You would be surprised how many breeders still use this, feeding it to everything from guppys to large cichlids. It's still popular among breeders working on fish for shows.

 

[angelmouse]

my fish love it, beef/ox heart same thing really. only used for part of their diet but i trim all veins from it and mix it with fish,prawns,spirolina, garlic,and lecithin which is recomened to add as it helps break down the fat. But it does foul up the tank so good tank hygene is needed if you feed heart.
regards Angel

 

[Bastables]

[URL="http/forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=10728"]http/forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php?t=10728[/URL]

Look at the link above. Imbeded is a second link pictures showing the innards of a fish that's been fed mammal protein. It will cause a liver/kidney failure, killing the fish through unprocessed animal fat.
Flakes and granules although not found in the wild are generally made of things like fish meal, fillets, krill, squid, incests ect, meat that is not warm blooded.

 

[angelmouse]

if made by yourself you can cut the fat out and just use the red meat and if mixed with other ingredients beef heart will only be a small % of the final mix, it is a good way of feeding fish protein, but it is not suitable for some fish that need a more vegitarian diet . I feed my Discus on it as well as flake and prima and quite often see the tetras nibbling on it, they all seem very healthy and have not even lost a tetra for over a year (fingers crossed they won't suddenly start poping off with too much fat in their gut )
regards Angel

 

[BigC]

I still use beefheart once a week for large killifish.
Cut away all the tubes, gristle etc. So you are left with lean meat. Cut into cubes and individually freeze. To feed take a cube from the freezer box and grate through a hand grater. (resembles worms) rinse in net under tap. Then feed to fish. Remove any uneaten beefheart after 20 minutes.
Regards
BigC