Discus Diet

[steven_askham]

A

[dixiedog]

The popular wisdom is beefheart, and I agree with it.

Live brine shrimp make a great treat food.

[RyanH]

I agree that BH is a fantastic growth food and should be given strong consideration. If you decide to use it as an exclusive food source (which I don't recommend) you'll want to add in other ingredients to make sure that your fish are getting all the nutrients they need for health and growth. I use spirolina powder, shrimp, knox gelatin, and garlic in my mix but everybody seems to have their own recipes.

Getting your fish to take as many different kinds of food as you can is a good way to go. This allows for much more flexibility and can come in really handy if one food source runs out or becomes hard to come by. It also makes some medications easier to administer.

hth
-Ryan

[dixiedog]

I agree that BH is a fantastic growth food and should be given strong consideration. If you decide to use it as an exclusive food source (which I don't recommend) you'll want to add in other ingredients to make sure that your fish are getting all the nutrients they need for health and growth. I use spirolina powder, shrimp, knox gelatin, and garlic in my mix but everybody seems to have their own recipes.

Getting your fish to take as many different kinds of food as you can is a good way to go. This allows for much more flexibility and can come in really handy if one food source runs out or becomes hard to come by. It also makes some medications easier to administer.

hth
-Ryan

I agree 100% ... and I should've said beefheart MIX. :) I'm using a mix of BH, shrimp, smelt, spirulina & earthworm flakes, gelatin and one multivitamin!

Bloodworms and live brine as treats of course ...

Yeah, variety is good!

Hey, Ryan ... what's the deal w/ garlic? I've read several recipes that included it.

[RyanH]

Garlic helps clean out nasties like flagellates from the fish's gut. It's stinky but much easier on the fish than medicating all the time. :)

[dixiedog]

Garlic helps clean out nasties like flagellates from the fish's gut. It's stinky but much easier on the fish than medicating all the time. :)

Ah ha. I'll use some next time. How much do you use, per pound (or cup, or whatever) of BH mix?

What form, raw, I assume?

[RyanH]

It doesn't take much. Maybe a teaspoon for a pound of mix. I like the chopped garlic in the glass jar that you buy at the grocery store.

[AADiscus]

I agree 100%with the BH call (matched with water quality and lots of water changes). As for the garlic, I like to add it so the BH smells better to us, cuz from what I have read and heard, only fresh garlic, less than 1 hour from the clove, has any parasitic removing properties. I have heard from one of the all time experts on this subject (Wattley at the ACA this year) and he recomended adding fresh garlic , mixed with BH mix, freshly chopped within 1 hour of feeding for the eradication of internal parisites. Personally, I just like the way BH smells with a little garlic added! BH mix stinks!! LOL. I have no exact recipe for BH mix but stick to some basics like :75% BH, I like to add cod fish due the oil content, paprika, some calcium, multi-vitamin, flake food for binder and Knox gelatine to really keep it together. The gelatine is worthless as a food sourse but I have found that the BH mix is less messy if used. CBW's and earthworms run a close second for growth foods IMHO. Just my 2 cents worth!!

[RyanH]

As for the garlic, I like to add it so the BH smells better to us, cuz from what I have read and heard, only fresh garlic, less than 1 hour from the clove, has any parasitic removing properties. I have heard from one of the all time experts on this subject (Wattley at the ACA this year) and he recomended adding fresh garlic , mixed with BH mix, freshly chopped within 1 hour of feeding for the eradication of internal parisites. worth!!

I've heard this too. Why is it that some believe that only freshly chopped garlic has these properties I wonder?

[April]

i have no idea if it entices fish..but when i used to work at a kennel..and the dogs wouldnt eat..they sprinkled a bit of garlic on top of their food..and they ate it all up..
but yes..meant to keep parasites at bay.
i use onf1 flake in between meals. if they come up begging..a pinch. beefheart is good in the morning when their appetites are good. and some bloodworms also..variation is the key. what one food lacks another makes up on it usually.
and..they do get tired of the same old food..keeps them eating well.
remember..wc wc wc..thats the first key to great growth. especially if using bh mix. lots of wcs. do at least half a day..and they will get growing fast.

[cobaltblue]

Are there any places that actually make this bh mix to sell, or do you have to
make it yourself? And how do you feed it to the fish as i am guessin you need to keep it frozen? Do you just break off a little bit at a time? How expensive is it once you add all those ingredients...some of us are on quite tight budgets?

[dixiedog]

C'mon down here to Florida, I'll sell ya some! :D

A guy here used to sell homemade BH bix at the LFS, but he's dead now ... :(

Other than that I've never seen it for sale. UPS probably considers it a biohazard! (yes, it's stinky)

Yes, you keep it frozen. I for one flatten it out and keep it in tinfoil & ziploc.

Hack off pieces as needed.

Expensive? No ... I'd say pound for pound it's a small fraction of what you pay for store-bought frozen formulas. The beef heart itself only costs about as much as ground beef, and the shrimp and fish are cheap, especially in the quantities we're talking about.

All just my humble opinions, and subject to correction by the more knowledgeable!

[ed8t]

Cobaltblue,

If the bh mix is for a heavily planted tank, you may want to reconsider it unless you're able to do lots of wc...it'll do quite a number on your water quality otherwise. You could use just bh as per Carol's thread and shread it up and supplement it with flakes, bits and bloodworms.