Discus reluctant with DIY frozen food. any suggestions so that they would eat?

after reading and watching self made frozen food. I made my own, which includes,

400gms of Beef heart
150gms of shrimps
300gms of Tilapia fillet
200gms of spinach
50gms of carrot
200gms of peas (skin removed)
6 cloves of garlic
2tbs of Spirulina
1tbs of paprika powder
60mgs of Astaxanthin
2 egg yolk

Discus reluctantly eat it. some take it in and then spit it out. some of them eat. The frozen food that I buy from local pet store has 82% beef heart and the rest being white mosquito larvae and they love it.

Shall i just thaw all DIY frozen packets and mix some more beef heart in it. will it help? any other suggestions please?

I've seen similar recipes and haven't heard of issues. Are you thoroughly cleaning the BH? My only suggestion would be to reduce or eliminate the garlic, make the shrimp equal to the BH and maybe eliminate the tilapia (only because most tilapia is farm raised).

I would not recommend feeding mosquito larvae as they can easily contain parasites unless professionally sterilized.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Saif

after reading and watching self made frozen food. I made my own, which includes,

400gms of Beef heart
150gms of shrimps
300gms of Tilapia fillet
200gms of spinach
50gms of carrot
200gms of peas (skin removed)
6 cloves of garlic
2tbs of Spirulina
1tbs of paprika powder
60mgs of Astaxanthin
2 egg yolk

Discus reluctantly eat it. some take it in and then spit it out. some of them eat. The frozen food that I buy from local pet store has 82% beef heart and the rest being white mosquito larvae and they love it.

Shall i just thaw all DIY frozen packets and mix some more beef heart in it. will it help? any other suggestions please?

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That sounds similar to what I made myself for dinner last night, LOL

Jeanne

Thanks. Yes I thoroughly cleaned it bought 700gms and after cleaning was left with 400 gms. by thoroughly cleaning i mean all the fat content and also the slimy membrane.

Why eliminating garlic? I have seen this in videos and they say the smell attracts discus and garlic also helps in immunity. one of the post in this forum said if you cant smell garlic discus wouldnt either (what he meant was to increase the garlic content).

Also wanted to mention that my betta and even the gold fishes are loving it. May be i will thaw the mix and add another 400 gms of BH and 150 gms of shrimp. Like this the garlic and tilapia content would reduce.

or shall I just make a new one excluding the garlic and tilapia. and yes I forgot to mention that I added one banana as well.

It may just take awhile for them to take to it. My suggestion about the garlic was only a suggestion or a possibility. The only time I made a batch they refused to eat was when I put too much garlic in it, however I do use smaller amounts of garlic in my mixes now.. Banana is good as well. As far as the tilapia, it's just a preference because I don't eat farm raised fish. Besides, additional shrimp will help bind the mix together.

I basically use equal amounts of BH and shrimp, then add the rest and it usually holds together well, except for my last batch that I got a little crazy experimenting with, lol...

Don't worry. It can take a little while for Discus to accept any new food. Feed them nothing but that for a week and I bet they'll wag their tails when they see you coming with it.

I disagree with Brian on the mosquito larvae, but I don't anyone has proof which one of us is wrong. Al might know.

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Originally Posted by LizStreithorst

I disagree with Brian on the mosquito larvae, but I don't anyone has proof which one of us is wrong. Al might know.

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No first hand experience because I've never had any luck getting my fish to eat them, but I've read many times that mosquito larvae can be dangerous unless processed by a reputable source, mainly Hikari because of the process they use to sterilize. People also say they have no real nutritional value but with that I disagree. Although they are 99% water, the 1% left over is extremely nutritious.

Thank you. Then I will thaw the mix and and add 600gms of BH and 300gms of shrimp (as they are expensive)

Have you tried freeze dried beefheart, that is the only way I will use beefheart never frozen and never raw because of the red blood and today with all the recalls on beef for listeria and samoneli and who knows what else, could you not introduce that into your tank,I feel that the freeze drying process would kill those organisms ,I think it would be interesting to have an analytical lab check out the foods we are feeding our fish.

Jeanne

UPDATE

I thawed the mix and added 600gms of BH (so total of 1Kg of BH) but they still are very reluctant to it. Maybe I wait for a week time and see. Will update here again.

I changed from JBL granules was surprised as when the very first time i gave them frozen food (purchased) they all loved it and it was a competition to get a bite from it. All discuses rushing for it.

but home made so reluctant. Is it because it is too green (cause of spirulina) in color ?

Could be. I like to keep it simple when I make fish food. I use one thing and make up for what it's missing nutritionally with commercially available foods.

Try skipping out the papika, carrots and eggs. I wouldn't even add tilapia. There's enough protein in your BH, shrimp and (spirulina that is high in protein, minerals and other ingedients found in carrots). Some folks also crush in a multi vitamin.

Update -

I thawed the whole mix (original post) and added 900 gms of beef heart, 900gms of prawns, 100 gms of carrot, 1 heaped tbs of spirulina, 36mgs of Astaxanthin and 250 gms of spinach.
Now they love it. Yes, the prawns are an amazing binder.

Thank you everyone. This is a wonderful community.

Best wishes,
Saif