bife heart for food

[wuicho]

How about beef heart for cichlids such like oscars, severum, jack dempsay and any other carnivorous cihclid?
Is it good to give them regular or just some ohter day?
also does anybody knows the nutrion info about it?

[H8Parrotfish 13]

I use beefheart every other day like monday then thursday to saturday etc.

I get it cheaper from the meat market i just have them trim off the fat, veins and stuff. I was told that fish can't digest them properly.

[VoodooChild]

They have a harder time digesting it, so I'd only use it every now and then. I've heard they can't digest it too, but I also know too many discus breeders who swear by it in a mix with other things, so I'd say use sparingly.

[scott]

Just a note I do believe that all of the fish you mentioned are omnivorous not carnivorous. This means that some vegetable matter should be in their diet. I feed them frozen peas (it's neat they chew 'em up and spit out the hull, or you can de hull it) spinach, spirulina pellets and algae flakes mixed with their diet. (Make sure the veg is cooked first but if you buy the frozen stuff the freezing process explodes the cell walls and allows easier digestion). It also really helps bring out their colors.

[scott]

To add on their is no nutrition in beef heart it is pure protein. They'll grow real fast but be malnourished. That's why they need their vegetables;)

[predatorcichlid]

Two thing worth knowing. One, no fish not even piranha are carnivors. They can not jump out the water and take a bite out of a passing cow or what have you. Carnivorous mean feeding on animal tissues. A fish can be piscivorous. meaning it's primary diet consist of fish meat. These fish are almost always predators who pray upon other fish as their primary food source (jags, dovii, most guapotes).
Now knowing this why would you feed your fish something not even close to their natrual diet. Beefheat is fatting to fish, hard or even indiestable by some fish. Not to mention some enzymes found in meats are actually harmfull to fish. I do not know why they sell it.
In the amazon they have found dead animals lying in the river rotting. This is because piranha and other preadtory fish typically do not consume them even when already dead. During the dry season some may snack on small dead animals as a last resort but not by choice.

[scott]

That's an excelent point. I always feed mine raw shrimp and cut up tilapia but just because that was reccomended to me by the LFS I didn't actually play out the corelation. Thanks

[wuicho]

Thanks guys, I know that most ominvorous fish including the ones I mention need some vegetables in their diet, thats why I also give them some spirulina flakes and some lettuce. I have to mantion that their primery diet are wardley cichlid pelets and dry shrims. I was yust curios about this kind of food bcs I gave them once to my fish and they loveit :p

[Mr.Jingles]

I was actually watching a documentary on discover and it showed a small taper swimming accross a portion of the river and being attacked and eaten by a pack of paranah. I dont know if they would do that regularly, but seems like taper aren't fish...

[GEV83]

Ive saw a nature program about anacondas during the rainy season and the pirahnas attacked and ate some of the 6' long babies. I have not heard of them placing snake in the same species of fish so snakes are no longer snakes there fish interesting.:) Pirahnas will hunt other animals other than fish. Heres a good one what about Great White Sharks they eat seals, sea otters, whales, fish, Elephant Seals, and even turtles. Yeah there main diet is fish but they dont just eat fish.

[Harry Tolen]

I agree with the points made by Predatorcichlid. Beef heart, while OK for occasional use, is not particularly good for fish and they don't particularly crave it in any case, so why use it at all? Shrimp and fish would be the best protein components of a diet for omnivorous or piscivorous cichlids.

[thalassic park]

hi,
I have read that mammal products just aren't good for fish.
Most piscivores have a short intestine & pyloric saecea (spelt right?).
Conversley An 18 cm Petrochromis can have an intestine 1.8 metres in length. Be carful when feeding algal grazers. Blockages can occur, leaving the fish susceptible to sytemic bacterial infections.
I have also heard of an arrowana type fish from the Amazon that grows to 6 metres long and snatches monkeys off the shoreline and consumes them.
anyone who knows of this fish and has some info please offer your thoughts.

[H8Parrotfish 13]

That arowana type fish is called a Pirarucu.

I think it "Arapaima Gigas"?

[VoodooChild]

Yeah that's right. It'll take macaws off of branches too. Apparently to fish for them they just harpoon them with a barrel attached and let them tire themselves out and then natives find the barrel and literally have a team of many men go at the thing with machetes. Anyways, I said it earlier, but I'd just like to re-affirm this and agree with the last few opinions. If you do choose to use beefheart do so carefully and sparingly.