fishorama
Fish Fanatic
I agree that beef heart isn't the best, high protein but too much fat. I think I made it 1 time but it made a lot for the freezer. It was gross to "trim" & whiz up in a food processor with other stuff. I offered it to my clown loaches a couple times. They tried it but were not crazy about.
I was in a discus club with some "hardcore" breeders with many ideas. I had to skim off the fat/protein on the water surface. Yes, fast growth & no stunting was the main objective. It was an eye-opening experience to hang with those folks. But it did help me raise what I thought were pretty good size discus in a year. Some of the "treatments" their fish went through were scary to me. Salt or potassium permaganate until the fish "rolled" (passed out?) was not likely something I could do even if needed.
My seafood mix was much better. Shrimp heavy (it works as a kind of binder), clams, whitefish, scallops, a bit of salmon or whatever looked good at the market. Some spinach or romaine & vitamins whizzed in a food processor. My clowns liked it sometimes too as a treat. I had to clean the kitchen with lemon before my husband got home but I often had a scallop lunch too.
I raised white worms & red wigglers in my basement for them too. White worms were more "edible" earlier than the bigger wigglers even at small sizes. I tried a start of white worms here in CA but it's just too hot...no basement cool temps. I would strongly suggest trying white worms for any medium/biggish fish, they're not hard to keep if you can keep them cool.
Back to TwoTankAmin's comments: yes, some fish like wood grazing plecos have longer digestive systems to get all the scant nutrition from it. That's why some "grazers" don't do well, they need a high fiber/low nutrient constantly available foods. They've often gone too long without proper food to recover. Some, like discus, have small stomachs & shorter digestive tracts. They need to feed almost all the time despite their large size & need mostly higher protein foods with some veg too.
I was in a discus club with some "hardcore" breeders with many ideas. I had to skim off the fat/protein on the water surface. Yes, fast growth & no stunting was the main objective. It was an eye-opening experience to hang with those folks. But it did help me raise what I thought were pretty good size discus in a year. Some of the "treatments" their fish went through were scary to me. Salt or potassium permaganate until the fish "rolled" (passed out?) was not likely something I could do even if needed.
My seafood mix was much better. Shrimp heavy (it works as a kind of binder), clams, whitefish, scallops, a bit of salmon or whatever looked good at the market. Some spinach or romaine & vitamins whizzed in a food processor. My clowns liked it sometimes too as a treat. I had to clean the kitchen with lemon before my husband got home but I often had a scallop lunch too.
I raised white worms & red wigglers in my basement for them too. White worms were more "edible" earlier than the bigger wigglers even at small sizes. I tried a start of white worms here in CA but it's just too hot...no basement cool temps. I would strongly suggest trying white worms for any medium/biggish fish, they're not hard to keep if you can keep them cool.
Back to TwoTankAmin's comments: yes, some fish like wood grazing plecos have longer digestive systems to get all the scant nutrition from it. That's why some "grazers" don't do well, they need a high fiber/low nutrient constantly available foods. They've often gone too long without proper food to recover. Some, like discus, have small stomachs & shorter digestive tracts. They need to feed almost all the time despite their large size & need mostly higher protein foods with some veg too.
