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Thread: Do I look fat?

  1. #1
    Homesteader Paul Sabucchi's Avatar
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    Default Do I look fat?

    Hi, my melons are now 14 months old and growing with no issues. I am still feeding them 90% on wild Alaska salmon. They definitely seem to fill the brief on Al's talk that discus should be thick as a steak but with all the photos of pinched skinny fish I see from Italy and Germany I am starting to feel a bit "body conscious". Am I just being exposed to an excess of "size 0" fish?
    P.S. with the wavemaker they are still getting plenty of exercise, they are not fat slobs!
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    Homesteader RogueDiscus's Avatar
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    Default Re: Do I look fat?

    Nice, Paul!

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    Platinum Member fljones3's Avatar
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    Default Re: Do I look fat?

    How often do you feed them? What comprises the other 10%?

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    Homesteader Paul Sabucchi's Avatar
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    Default Re: Do I look fat?

    Hi they still get fed quality discus granules at 6.30, then grated salmon at 10, 12, 2 pm, 4, 6 & 8pm then 2/3 water change.

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    Moderator Team LizStreithorst's Avatar
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    Default Re: Do I look fat?

    Now that is the way it should be. Good job.
    Mama Bear

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    Registered Member Swedgin's Avatar
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    Default Re: Do I look fat?

    Whoa. I gotta try that salmon then. Never did as I was always worried about mess in the tank, but with the tetras in now they should gobble up the little bits.

    Do you get a sort of fatty film on top of the water though?
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    Homesteader Paul Sabucchi's Avatar
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    Default Re: Do I look fat?

    In all fairness it is actually not messy at all. I get these neat vacuum packed fillets of frozen wild Alaska salmon and just grate some with the metal thingy used to shred carrots held over a sieve, then rinse it under the tap (just to get rid of the smaller bits - no tetras in the tank!). Compared to the home-made recepies where ingredients are whizzed it actually holds together very well and it is a doddle to syphon off any leftovers. I use wild salmon because: a) a little concerned about all the residues in farmed salmon -ok most of them are in the skin and subcutaneous tissue but you never know, b) the farmed fish must be fattier as when I tried it I have noticed a greasy slick on the water surface.

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    Homesteader Paul Sabucchi's Avatar
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    Default Re: Do I look fat?

    My "fatties" are much conforted by your appreciation and not being considered obese. Just cleaned up after their last feed and done the daily water change, lights are dimming down for the night.
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    Homesteader RogueDiscus's Avatar
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    Default Re: Do I look fat?

    My neighbor and his wife spend most of their summer on the coast (Oregon) out in the ocean fishing. I trade him my veggies for fish. I get a lot a black rock fish from him (Very tasty white fish). I've got a few vacuum packs left from 2015 I thought I would try feeding to my fish. Any reason not to use this fish for that?

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    Homesteader Paul Sabucchi's Avatar
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    Default Re: Do I look fat?

    My gut feeling is it should be as good or thereabouts. Being a cold water marine fish there should be very little chance of passing any pathogens to a very warm freshwater species, as far as I can verify rockfish (genus Sebastes) contain a safe level of thiaminase while protein conten is almost as high (18% on avarage) compared to salmon (21%)

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    Silver Member Willie's Avatar
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    Default Re: Do I look fat?

    Quote Originally Posted by Paul Sabucchi View Post
    ...I use wild salmon because: a) a little concerned about all the residues in farmed salmon -ok most of them are in the skin and subcutaneous tissue but you never know, b) the farmed fish must be fattier as when I tried it I have noticed a greasy slick on the water surface.
    To be precise, farmed salmon is fattier than wild salmon. However, farmed salmon has far lower residues than wild salmon which live their entire lives in the ocean and accumulate higher levels of cadmium, lead, mercury and PCB's. Yes, this is well documented.

    Still, very nice discus, Willie
    At my age, everything is irritating.

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    Registered Member two utes's Avatar
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    Default Re: Do I look fat?

    They sure do look chunky Paul. Looking great actually.
    We're here for a good time...not a long time

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    Platinum Member fljones3's Avatar
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    Default Re: Do I look fat?

    Quote Originally Posted by Paul Sabucchi View Post
    Hi they still get fed quality discus granules at 6.30, then grated salmon at 10, 12, 2 pm, 4, 6 & 8pm then 2/3 water change.
    As a newbie, I was amazed. I guess I thought that as they went to adult, you fed less. I have been feeding mine 2x a day. Maybe I should feed more but less at each feeding. Any helpful direction here? My discus are 5 inch plus/minus.

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    Registered Member Swedgin's Avatar
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    Default Re: Do I look fat?

    Quote Originally Posted by Paul Sabucchi View Post
    In all fairness it is actually not messy at all. I get these neat vacuum packed fillets of frozen wild Alaska salmon and just grate some with the metal thingy used to shred carrots held over a sieve, then rinse it under the tap (just to get rid of the smaller bits - no tetras in the tank!). Compared to the home-made recepies where ingredients are whizzed it actually holds together very well and it is a doddle to syphon off any leftovers. I use wild salmon because: a) a little concerned about all the residues in farmed salmon -ok most of them are in the skin and subcutaneous tissue but you never know, b) the farmed fish must be fattier as when I tried it I have noticed a greasy slick on the water surface.
    Sounds great. I’ll give it a try this week.
    Regards,
    Tobi

    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

    Wild Blues/Browns/Reds
    Wild Heckels
    Wild Greens

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    Homesteader Paul Sabucchi's Avatar
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    Default Re: Do I look fat?

    Quote Originally Posted by Willie View Post
    To be precise, farmed salmon is fattier than wild salmon. However, farmed salmon has far lower residues than wild salmon which live their entire lives in the ocean and accumulate higher levels of cadmium, lead, mercury and PCB's. Yes, this is well documented.

    Still, very nice discus, Willie
    I think data is still very incomplete and controversial about this topic. Consistent testing is still patchy and there is a lot of variability depending on the location where the salmon is farmed, there appear to be higher levels of residues in fish farmed in Scotland and Norway (where most of the farmed salmon found over here comes from) and although things may have changed since they are being fed higher proportions of soy based feed this has raised levels of pesticides and other contaminants. Antibiotics and anti-parasitic drugs are also an issue. Another consideration is that most (but not all) of these substances are lipophilic and in wild salmon most of the body fat is in the skin and subcutaneous tissue (that is removed) while in farmed salmon there is also a fair share in the muscle.
    This of mine is still an experiment in progress, the results up until now seem satisfactory but I want to see what happens over the years
    Last edited by Paul Sabucchi; 08-27-2018 at 12:45 AM.

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