Beefheart

Jul 9, 2003
8,866
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37
Columbia, SC
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#1
For all of you discus keepers out there...Just made my own beefheart today (well made it so the fish could eat it.). It was much simpler then i thought, just very tedious. Definently not for the faint of heart though i'd say. I am going to be feeding this to my discus tank only, not sure how it'd work for other fish.

First go get some beefheart. Picked mine up at Walmart. 2-3lb packs, $1.23/lb. Look for one that doesn't have a lot of fat on it already. You are going to end up chopping it off anyway.

Sliced beefheart in the package



Take the beefheart out strip by strip and cut the fat, veins, and "bad" parts out so you have nice clean meat.


Add the strips and other ingredients to a food processor or salad shooter type device and chop it up into either bite size chunks or ground beef type meat. The more you chop it the smaller the pieces get, better for flat packs. In this case i added in some fresh spinach to get the fish their veggies. Some people add in fish flakes, all depends what you want to do. I have some plain ground beefheart, spinach beefheart, and beefheart strips that i will chop at a later date.


Bag them up, smash them flat (Unless you are just doing the little bite size bits) and put them in the freezer. The pack on the right i plan on chopping tomorrow after it freezes to get the good bite size chunks. Its easier to chop when frozen.
 

TLM4x4

Large Fish
Jul 21, 2005
706
0
0
70
southern oregon coast
#2
I used beef heart back in the late 70's to feed arawana, oscars, pacus the bigger cat fish like a marble cat and a shovelnose cat i had. Even the tinfoils loved it as well. The fish grow a LOT faster on this diet because of the protein I'm sure. Just need to make sure it is fresh, cleaned, and frozen properly. Good idea Matt to mix veggies in with it as well, I never thought of that. I know some ppl also put large shrimp in the mix as well when feeding Discus. BTW your fish look awesome! *thumbsups
 

Jul 9, 2003
8,866
14
38
37
Columbia, SC
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#8
It is messy, but with a straight beefheart mix or just a beefheart and spinach mix theres hardly anything to disolve in the tank so it doesn't really make the water go bad as fast as say a recipie with ground shrimp, ground flake food, etc. But yes you want to get the extra out asap afterwards.
 

Jul 9, 2003
8,866
14
38
37
Columbia, SC
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#12
This was my first time. I talked to a few discus breeders before i started and while i was doing it just to make sure. You have a wide range of play with this as far as messing up. I added the bare minimum amount of ingrediants. Other people add shrimp, fish food, bananas, veggies, garlic, etc. I just kept it simple. As far as hearts go, as long as you trim the fat and veins then you are good. Very messy though, in and out of the tank.

My local club has a discussion about making foods going on right now. I'll be sure to post any good recipies and stuff if they come up.
 

Pure

Elite Fish
Nov 1, 2005
3,216
7
0
Jacksonville, FL
#13
Good job Matt. I've yet to do this because my butcher only will get me whole hearts and in bulk 20 lbs packs. When the heck did Wally World start carrying this? Me thinks it's time to go shopping as I know my guys love the stuff.

A few suggestions, adding a quality flake to the mix will help it hold together in the tank as well as helping balance out the fish's diet. I like to use sprulina flake from Kens fish in my home made mixes. I have to wonder how the fish do on fresh spinach? Do they actually eat it?

Garlic extract is never a bad idea.
 

Jul 9, 2003
8,866
14
38
37
Columbia, SC
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#14
Thanks Pure, great to see you back around.

Next time i think i'll put a little garlic in the mix. From what i've seen they do take the spinach, when they get it with a chunk of heart. I throw pieces in there frozen so they pick at the piece. Some spinach floats away and they won't touch that (from what i've seen) but if its with the heart they seem to like it. I have noticed they like the spinach beef heart more then the normal plain beef heart.