Feeding Hans frozen food.

Hey guys just looking for some ideas on the process you use to feed frozen foods. Until now I was feeding shrimp and worms so it was just thaw and feed. I just picked some food up from Hans and it's not as straight forward. I'm ok with the amounts but just want to know how you guys go about your feedings. Do you cut into small pieces or just throw in the chunk. At first they seemed to take turns feeding but last two feedings I see some discus Hording the chunk and pecking others away. Also how do you thaw it? I was putting it in a small salad dressing cup in the fridge but it looks like it's dried out the next day. Any tips would be great thanks!

If I remember correctly Hans himself advised to break off a chunk as you did that you would feed within 2-3 days and let it thaw before feeding. Unused portion goes into fridge. May be put chunk in a sealed container which may prevent mix from drying up.
To prevent hording during feedings break chunk into pieces which should give others a fair chance to eat.

...Ralph

I take a small piece of frozen beef heart right out of the freezer and use a hand grater (like for cheese), grate it right into the aquarium. It melts fast and they eat it.

hth
Ardan

I break a chunk off then cut that into small cubes about 1/4 inch while the beef mix is still frozen. I fill small condiment cups with enough cubes for each feeding and freeze them. I keep a cup or 2 in the fridge ready to feed. Works great for me and the cubes make it easy for others to feed the fish, too.

I used to put about 1 lb of my homemade mix in a quart size zip bag... flatten it out and freeze. Its about 1/2" thick ..feeding time I took a strong blade point down on a cutting board...snap off a piece and pitch it in the tank frozen. ...85F water thaws it pretty darn fast.

For fry and juvies I would take it out .. and let it sit a min or two..then shave or slice off some..its still pretty frzn...pitch it in as is.

Hth,
Al

Can't speak directly for Hans, but I've read that Hans has mentioned that he lets frozen beef heart thaw out so it doesn't cause issues with the Discus's swim bladder.

Remember, discus, even adult discus have very small mouths. If you throw large chunks of beefheart into the tank, they are going to suck it in, then blow it back out until the chunks become small enough to grab and swallow. We make our beefheart the same way as Al, 1# in one quart vacum sealed bags, then freeze. We always feed beefheart frozen as it makes less of a mess. For juveniles (4 weeks and older) we will cut frozen beefheart into 1/2" cubes and stick them to the inside of the glass. The little guys will attack it and will tear pieces off as it thaws (which doesn't take long). For adults, we cut the frozen beefheart into very small pieces maybe 1/8" square and drop them directly into the tank. The adults are able to suck in the smaller pieces and swallow them without spitting them in and out making more of a mess.

I have hans' mix, I laughed because I use the same small salad dressing container. I place it in water, then keep it in the fridge overnight. Should I not be doing this? When Hans said I should keep it in the fridge I assumed he meant in water.

Reviving this old thread. Are folks having success feeding Hans' food exclusively? Seems like a simple, complete diet, no?

I feed hikari frozen discus and San Fran beefheart plus with the vitamins, on top of hans mix because his so messy and they aren't.....I will say that the discus are clearly happier when they see hans food but will eat the other two when givin. I feed it every other day when I do water changes. They are growing great. Very easy to over feed because it's solid meat you don't need much he recommended a frozen cube size for five discus that are 5"-6" and that's what I give twice a day

No water needed I do coat mine in garlic guard as a little bonus and it keeps it nice and moist, if it's drying just give it a few drops and cover don't soak it it can deplete vitamins

Attachment 109796 just remember a while back I was using this little grate container combo and using the larger size to grate the frozen stuff. I think this problem kept it a little cleaner cause the fish weren't spitting it back out... gonna go back to this method and see.

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