Feeding Beef Heart Question

[odannyboy]

many articles and people talk about feeding beefheart ( some times turkey heart)
my questions are
1 where do you get it? supermarket or does it need to be a butcher?
2 do you need to cook it and if so how?
3 how do you feed it ? cut it up or put it through a blender etc?
im thinking about feeding discus/cichlid size fish, not tankbusters
cheers!!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

i thought you weren't meant to?

i may well be wrong but I seem to remember something about it being an antiquated practice and one to be avoided. Something to do with teh fat content of the meat. Think there was an article in practical fishkeeping about it

I'm not 100% though, wait and see if anyone else backs me up.

 

[shawn-b]

I think I've read something as well saying that the fat content was bad for fish and their fertility...or something like that. I would of thought a local butcher's shop would be able to provide what you need (assuming there are still Local butcher shops?)

I feed my Discus frozen food from my LFS because I'm lazy and unsure of how to make my own food. I tend to get an assortment of 5 different types at a time usually including Red mosquito larvae, beefheart, schillingmans discus fit, daphnia and discus food all by Dutch Select Foods. They also get some tetra prima granules.

All my fish scoff the stuff down so like everything with fishkeeping I think it is down to what you are comfortable doing.

 

[Gatorbait]

It's ok for a treat but not an everyday food for some fish. If you do buy it, ask the butcher to cut the fat off or at least do it yourself.

 

[dwarfgourami]

An even better use for beefheart is to boil it and eat it yourself with horseradish sauce.

 

[Tolak]

There are many beefheart recipes, You have to trim the heart as lean as possible, double grinding is best, and add spinach, liquid vitamins, shrimp, the variety is endless. It's like everyone's favorite soup recipe, they are all a little different.

Beefheart is a real heavy, solid, protein rich food. Overfeeding has been implicated in problems with internal organs. It is one of the best conditioning foods around, when used properly.

I wouldn't trust lfs beefheart, they are going to give you a product that is not trimmed as well, without many of the things added that are benificial, and it certainly isn't double ground.

Usually a good butcher shop can get it in, each heart is around 4 pounds, you will end up with about 2 1/2 to 3 pounds once you are done trimming the fat & such.

Cooking isn't needed, often people add plain gelatin or agar to make it a little more solid.

You really need a grinder, I imagine it would tear the snot out of a blender. We had to run out & get a part for the grinder, broke a casing last time we made it. We started with 22 pounds of heart, ended up with about 13 pounds once we were done. That poor grinder has seen 100's of pounds of beefheart, it's a wonder it functions at all.

 

[paul-discus]

Gamma Improvit food contains beefheart and turkey heart plus all essential vitamins but you know you can't beat good old earthworms.

 

[odannyboy]

There are many beefheart recipes, You have to trim the heart as lean as possible, double grinding is best, and add spinach, liquid vitamins, shrimp, the variety is endless. It's like everyone's favorite soup recipe, they are all a little different.

Beefheart is a real heavy, solid, protein rich food. Overfeeding has been implicated in problems with internal organs. It is one of the best conditioning foods around, when used properly.

I wouldn't trust lfs beefheart, they are going to give you a product that is not trimmed as well, without many of the things added that are benificial, and it certainly isn't double ground.

Usually a good butcher shop can get it in, each heart is around 4 pounds, you will end up with about 2 1/2 to 3 pounds once you are done trimming the fat & such.

Cooking isn't needed, often people add plain gelatin or agar to make it a little more solid.

You really need a grinder, I imagine it would tear the snot out of a blender. We had to run out & get a part for the grinder, broke a casing last time we made it. We started with 22 pounds of heart, ended up with about 13 pounds once we were done. That poor grinder has seen 100's of pounds of beefheart, it's a wonder it functions at all.

when you say grinder, what exactly do you mean.is like the thing for making mincemeat?is it only really used for conditioning fish to breed?

 

[kev_kb]

I get the beefheart mix I use from a local discus breeder, this may be an option if you don't fancy making it?