Apistomaster
05-05-2008, 01:48 PM
Hi All,
I'll begin this with what I use in beef heart blends and why, then some isolated experiments with available fruits and terrestrial plant blossoms.
Beef heart: I believe cardiac muscle tissue resembles that of worms. It is very different from skeletal muscle tissue.
I add about a tspn of Spirulina powder and 2 tbsns of FD CylopEeze to each blender full of mix.
These is intended to simulate the phytoplankton and zooplankton discus forage from the detritus they sift at the bottom. I fold in by hand about 5 g of dried seaweed crumbled up first to further increase the vegetable content.
I also fold in quite a lot of FD blood worms and earth worm flakes. The FD blood worms are an excellent source of protein but it is their chitinous skeletons that I really want to add. Earthworm flakes are just plain good food. I fold these ingredients in by hand to prevent their structure from being broken down.
The finished beef heart blend is actually about 60% beef heart by volume and the combined other foods make up the other 40%. All my wild discus and red turquoise eat this mix well.
It has also gone over rather well with my carnivorous Hypancistrus spp, Peckoltia sp L134 and their fry and my Sturisoma. I raise these things both because I like them and they are easy to sell but also because I have to keep fish that ride out the heat of our Summers which often exceed 110*F for a few weeks and my fish are exposed to temps in the high 80's for some time.
Please post your food experiments and reasons for using what you do.
Now that Spring has arrived, I have been experimenting with various blossoms from shrubbery from my yard. So far mainly Lilac blossoms. My Heckel Discus eat them after they have had a few days of floating in their tank. They seem to eat soften blossoms rather than fresh picked.
I haven't tried mangos or other tropical fruits out yet.
I'll begin this with what I use in beef heart blends and why, then some isolated experiments with available fruits and terrestrial plant blossoms.
Beef heart: I believe cardiac muscle tissue resembles that of worms. It is very different from skeletal muscle tissue.
I add about a tspn of Spirulina powder and 2 tbsns of FD CylopEeze to each blender full of mix.
These is intended to simulate the phytoplankton and zooplankton discus forage from the detritus they sift at the bottom. I fold in by hand about 5 g of dried seaweed crumbled up first to further increase the vegetable content.
I also fold in quite a lot of FD blood worms and earth worm flakes. The FD blood worms are an excellent source of protein but it is their chitinous skeletons that I really want to add. Earthworm flakes are just plain good food. I fold these ingredients in by hand to prevent their structure from being broken down.
The finished beef heart blend is actually about 60% beef heart by volume and the combined other foods make up the other 40%. All my wild discus and red turquoise eat this mix well.
It has also gone over rather well with my carnivorous Hypancistrus spp, Peckoltia sp L134 and their fry and my Sturisoma. I raise these things both because I like them and they are easy to sell but also because I have to keep fish that ride out the heat of our Summers which often exceed 110*F for a few weeks and my fish are exposed to temps in the high 80's for some time.
Please post your food experiments and reasons for using what you do.
Now that Spring has arrived, I have been experimenting with various blossoms from shrubbery from my yard. So far mainly Lilac blossoms. My Heckel Discus eat them after they have had a few days of floating in their tank. They seem to eat soften blossoms rather than fresh picked.
I haven't tried mangos or other tropical fruits out yet.