Discus hans beefheart

[Michigandiscus]

I have purchased fish from Hans along with his beefheart. Hans claims you can feed discus his beefheart and nothing else. I am going to try it with nine three inch discus i got from him. What do you guys think?

[Wes]

If you are doing 2 water changes a day you can. It messes water fast. You can find breeders on youtube just feeding it but doing multiple water changes a day. Mix it up flake, pellets and freeze dried or frozen black worms. Living your life only eating steak sounds great but would be boring.

[Altum Nut]

I would agree with Wes. Offering different foods is best so they don't get used to just one food.
Most important as Wes suggested is water quality.
Hans would never steer you or anyone wrong by any means. If your unsure and need more advise give Hans a call...he's got great customer service.

...Ralph

[Michigandiscus]

I am keeping them in a 125 gallon tank with 50% water change daily. So far so good. I have other discus that I am still feeding flake, beefheart, frozen bloodworms.

[Wes]

So are you doing this as an experiment?

[Michigandiscus]

Yes want to see if I get a better growth rate

[BoiseDiscusGuy]

This recipe is from Hans and is from an old thread but its what I use (with a bit of variation)

This is what we use at the moment.

3 lbs. ground beef (7% fat or leaner)
1/2 lb. cod (skinless)
1/2 lb. shrimp (peeled)
2 table spoons peas (from a can)
Everything raw, I put it through a meat grinder and then in the mixer.

In the bowl add:
25% Angel/Discus flake food (by volume)
1 ounces of Red Paprika powder
+ vitamins (7 tablets)
and 2 table spoons Oatmeal.



Vitamins I use human A to Zinc from Centrum, put them in a coffee grinder and mix in the food.
But you can use anything they sell in the fish shop.

We freeze it in cans of 5 to 6 lbs (1 feeding lol)
You can freeze it in ziplock bags (fish bags work too) freeze it and taw what you need the next day.

This food falls apart in your water if the first Discus start to eat it, parts fly every were and that is what I want. We've all tanks LOADED with Discus. If I would have a food that sticks together 10 or 15 bullies in the tank eat till they explode (lol) and the rest gets nothing. My food is every were, so all Discus get to eat. After feeding my water is a little cloudy, yes, but my filter systems take care of that. After 20 minutes my water is cristal clear and bellies are full, just what you prefer,


I actually use peas, carrots, and spinach from baby food. Its already pureed and easily digestable. Any variation of this would be a much more complete nutrition for the fish resulting in far better health and growth than just beef heart itself, IMHO...

[Wes]

From a paper published by A. Chong, R. Hishim and a couple others this is what you aim for to get the best growth in discus.
protein. 44.9%
crude fat(lipids) 8.3%
ash. 5.0%
fiber 1.6%

[eaglesfan3000]

My discus take to this stuff like crack. I feed it to them once in the morning and once at night, during the day I feed them the beefheart flakes and some bloodworms.

[wadewc]

I would not dispute Hans advice. His fish Quality is his testimony for how he feeds his fish. But I do think you will notice as stated in what Chris shows what is used in Hans Beef Heart mix is more than just one ingredient. I agree beef heart is messy to make and to the water but as stated Quality water and Quality food is what Discuss need. I vary my food that I feed mine, Beef Heart mix, Shrimp mix, Brine shrimp, tetra bits, blood worms and FDBW. [I vary my mixes mostly is due to what is available at the time.] I have not done any test but I had some one buy some of my fry and two months after that he came by to visit and my fry were considerably larger than his.
Just my two cents.
Wade

[Michigandiscus]

I have had the fish for a month and they are growing feeding them minimum of three times a day more if I have time. With daily water changes.

[ShinShin]

If you are using 93% fat free beef, you are setting yourself up for trouble down the road if you plan on keeping your discus for awhile. That is too much tallow (hard fat) that the discus cannot digest and collects in major organs.

If you are raising fry, you will need to have a mix with twice the proper fat content for them than adults. 50% protein for both is adequate, as that is all they assimilate anyway. The rest is excreted. Proper fat can be gotten from cold water sea fish like salmon and cod. Also the cold water crustaceans contain it.

Mat

[BoiseDiscusGuy]

I completely agree Mat. Not that I question Hans methods or recipes but I should have specified that I use the 98% lean ground beef in my mix and suggest the leaner the better. When it comes down to it, the fish seperate the good stuff from the fat and disregard the fat pieces all together. At any rate, the leaner meat does leave less waste behind.

[Callisto]

Not to be be picky, but does the food contain ground beef heart or just ground beef. Big difference.

[lipadj46]

Not to be be picky, but does the food contain ground beef heart or just ground beef. Big difference.

did you read the recipe above?

[DiscusLoverJeff]

So after the comments regarding the "ground beef" mix, would it be better to use like 80% lean vs 93% lean? Or, would you be better off just reducing the ground beef to say 2 lbs and add more cod for the protein?

All in all a very good recipe. Cozykeith and Jason K I believe have a similar recipe and use beefhearts.

[Cowboy]

In the animal husbandry world this is called a "total mixed ration", TMR for short. The idea behind it is that every bite is the same. We get maximum growth and production from our animals doing this. They are not allowed to skip over certain feedstuffs and over-indulge on others. We balance it so that every bite supplies what they need proportionately. It also allows us to use ingredients that aren't as palatable, yet necessary and creates stability for their digestive systems. In short, the best thing when feeding animals is the same feed day after day. Boring, I know, but it is best for them. Discus, not so sure there. But, I have found that my tmr works great for me and them.

[David Rose]

Beef Heart with Andrew Soh's Pro-Growth vitamin formulation is my best recommendation, but I sell it so I may appear biased. That and I know many SD members that take this approach with great results.

[YSS]

I think discus people go way over board with what they feed to their fish, myself included. If you just feed them flakes and/or pellets, I will bet they would be just fine.

[ding9116]

The fish seem to really like the Discus Hans beef heart. We mainly feed them beef heart, frozen bloodworms, and flake. I think it is good to have a variety. Just keep the water clean!

[BoiseDiscusGuy]

So after the comments regarding the "ground beef" mix, would it be better to use like 80% lean vs 93% lean? Or, would you be better off just reducing the ground beef to say 2 lbs and add more cod for the protein?

All in all a very good recipe. Cozykeith and Jason K I believe have a similar recipe and use beefhearts.

If using the ground beef, I feel the leaner the better as less fat is left behind uneaten. I think one could also use beefheart instead with the same result. You could probably adjust the amount of beef if desired.


I think discus people go way over board with what they feed to their fish, myself included. If you just feed them flakes and/or pellets, I will bet they would be just fine.

I'm sure feeding only flake or pellets would be fine as both are very nutritious but my fish dont seem to take to pellets or flake like they do frozen mix. They eat that stuff like a pack of hungry pirahnas!

[DiscusLoverJeff]

I made some of the mix over the weekend exactly from the recipe (almost exact, I added some salmon as well). Introduced it to my fish and they looked at it, smelled it, looked at me and if fish could talk, they would of said, hey, are you seriously giving us some more food to add to the 6 other varieties your giving us now? Needless to say they have shy'ed away from it for now. But I will keep trying to introduce it to them. The cories like it if thats any concellation?

[Michigandiscus]

Update on just feeding BH. After 29 days I finally give inlol. I got good growth out of just feeding BH but when I had to up my wc to keep water quality I decided to go back to just BH in the morning and fdbw, flake, and other miscellaneous foods. The. Three inch fish from Hans is now four inch and doing good.

[Chicago Discus]

Beef Heart with Andrew Soh's Pro-Growth vitamin formulation is my best recommendation, but I sell it so I may appear biased. That and I know many SD members that take this approach with great results.

I use the Andrew Soh's pro-Growth in my beef heart mix and my little guys grow out great........

[BoiseDiscusGuy]

I made some of the mix over the weekend exactly from the recipe (almost exact, I added some salmon as well). Introduced it to my fish and they looked at it, smelled it, looked at me and if fish could talk, they would of said, hey, are you seriously giving us some more food to add to the 6 other varieties your giving us now? Needless to say they have shy'ed away from it for now. But I will keep trying to introduce it to them. The cories like it if thats any concellation?

It is a completely normal reaction to new food. Keep offering it to them. They will eventually accept it.

[Callisto]

Yes. It says ground beef, not ground beefheart. So I guess i will ask hans when I see him Sunday what he actually uses.

[ajvdiscus]

Where do you buy Andrew Soh's pro-Growth ?

[TNT77]

Where do you buy Andrew Soh's pro-Growth ?
http://www.igopro-online.com/IGOPRO-ONLINE-COM-GROUP-SPECIAL-ORDERS-s/1.htm

[ajvdiscus]

s and add more cod for the protein?

.

You use Cod fish in your receipe ? how much of it ? i normally use white fish the chepeast i could fine,

[farebox]

I made this recipe mix a week ago, feed to my discus,WOW! They all tore it up....Also I cut recipe in half, just to see how it goes. No problem, feed my fish twice a day on water change day.
farebox