New food

[kirkp]

Up to now, been feeding the SF Bay beefheart along with other foods. After seeing how things are going with other challenge members, thought I'd make my own mix. Sort of modeled it after Bill's mix considering how well his fish are doing. The mix consists of 3/4# beefheart, 1/3# raw shrimp, 2 oz wild salmon, 2 sentrum vitamins, and a little bit of naturose. First feeding, they tore into it. Hopefully it will kick some butt.

Kirk

[Eddie]

Up to now, been feeding the SF Bay beefheart along with other foods. After seeing how things are going with other challenge members, thought I'd make my own mix. Sort of modeled it after Bill's mix considering how well his fish are doing. The mix consists of 3/4# beefheart, 1/3# raw shrimp, 2 oz wild salmon, 2 sentrum vitamins, and a little bit of naturose. First feeding, they tore into it. Hopefully it will kick some butt.

Kirk

Oh no! Not raw shrimp Kirk......what about the thiaminase! LOL Just Kidding buddy, bet it puts good growth on the fish! Can't wait to see how they bulk up in just a few weeks!

All the best my friend and congrats on making a nice mix!

Eddie

[wgtaylor]

Hey Kirk,
Good move, they should like that fresh mix much better. :) Sounds like a good mix. Your discus have already been doing awesome so can't wait to see how this works out for you.
Bill

[kirkp]

Oh yeah, thanks a lot Eddie. I had to wonder what the heck you were talking about so a quick search filled me in. However, looking at the number of foods using raw shrimp I figured what the heck.

Hey Bill, fed it all my discus and they all really went for it. Angels (in their own tank :)) weren't too impressed. I think mainly because it's more dense and sank right away. Leopard frog plecs really liked it.

Kirk

[Eddie]

Oh yeah, thanks a lot Eddie. I had to wonder what the heck you were talking about so a quick search filled me in. However, looking at the number of foods using raw shrimp I figured what the heck.

Hey Bill, fed it all my discus and they all really went for it. Angels (in their own tank :)) weren't too impressed. I think mainly because it's more dense and sank right away. Leopard frog plecs really liked it.

Kirk

Nah man...I was kidding. Probably about 90% of the mixes out there have raw shrimp, including my own. Trust me, its nothing to fret about unless you really don't have anything else to fret about. :D

All the best,

Eddie

[wgtaylor]

Oh yeah, thanks a lot Eddie. I had to wonder what the heck you were talking about so a quick search filled me in. However, looking at the number of foods using raw shrimp I figured what the heck.

Hey Bill, fed it all my discus and they all really went for it. Angels (in their own tank :)) weren't too impressed. I think mainly because it's more dense and sank right away. Leopard frog plecs really liked it.

Kirk

Hi Kirk
I have altum angels that devour, with one bite, thawed bite size pieces. I thaw the mix for all my fish. My altums got pretty big on that stuff. You have to decide for yourself about the raw shrimp but I know it's been fed for decades without problems, good information to concider though. Geeez, anxious to see all your new updates now on your discus. :)
Take care buddy
Bill

[kirkp]

Hey Bill,

It was interesting making that stuff. Wife just shook her head but the cat was really interested. I used a food processor and the beef heart and salmon went really well. The shrimp was interesting and was harder to process fully. Talk about a sticky mess when I added it to the heart. I toyed with the idea of adding a little water to the shrimp so that it would chop up better and not leave some larger chunks.but wasn't sure I wanted to add water to the heart mixture.

Kirk

[wgtaylor]

Hi Kirk
What I found workes best for me is to use an electric meat grinder, more expensive but worth the money. Run the shrimp through first, then fish and finally heart. I run it through once for them at this age and twice through when they are smaller, below 3 inch. Anyway you do it, it's good to have that fresh mix for them. Ya, we have a cat that likes to help with everything, especially the shrimp. :)
Bill

[kirkp]

Hey Bill, thanks for the info. Curious if you've ever tried a food processor? If so, did you notice anything detrimental about using it? Also wondering why you prefer the meat grinder. I suppose being finer there might be smaller particles that don't get eaten? It seems to hold together pretty well.

Kirk

[MSD]

HFB, a good flake and color pellets and your fish will grow every bit as good. The benefit, clean water and a lot less hassle. Observations of a middle aged madman.....

[wgtaylor]

Hey Bill, thanks for the info. Curious if you've ever tried a food processor? If so, did you notice anything detrimental about using it? Also wondering why you prefer the meat grinder. I suppose being finer there might be smaller particles that don't get eaten? It seems to hold together pretty well.

Kirk

The grinder is consistant every time, once through or twice. The processor just seemed had to be finer to get all the pieces choped. I guess I just found the grinder quicker and more consistant each time. It probably is a personal preference, I'm sure the discus don't mind which one is used. :D
Bill

[acroken]

Hey Kirk,
You may want to try and process the shrimp while still frozen. Once the shrimp is processed add the cooked spinach to the processor and mix. This should help loosen/dice the shrimp up better. I do use a meat grinder now, but for years made all my mixes with a processor with fairly good success. Good luck.

Kenny

[kirkp]

middle aged madman (good one :)) Going out on a limb here HFB=hikari frozen bloodworm? I also feed bloodworms, flake (3 kinds), color bits, some brine shrimp. They attack the beef heart with a lot more gusto than the others.

Kirk

[kirkp]

Bill, I will have to believe you on the consistency issue. Now I usually have some chunks of shrimp that I have to siphon out because it's too big to get eaten. I'm trying to round up a grinder (electric or otherwise).

Kenny, appreciate the response. I may have to give it a try frozen, that's what I did with the salmon. Unless I get a grinder first.

Kirk

[acroken]

hey Kirk,
I have an old school hand grinder if you want it. It is about 20+ years old but always worked well for B/H. If you are not mixing too much up at a time i think it would be fine for you. I have no need for it so if you want it, it yours n/c

Kenny

http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss50/acroken/500x400_OMC-12H.jpg

[tcyiu]

Wow What a grinder! That's kickin' it old school. LOL.

:thumbsup:

Tim

[Eddie]

Kenny, how do you clean those grinders out? :confused:

Sorry for the inject Kirk, just wondering.

Eddie

[acroken]

Kirk and Eddie,
This is very easy to clean. The whole assemble comes apart. The front retainer, handle,cutter plate,blade and screw are disassembled and soaked in a bucket. After washing i dip all parts in veg oil and store away. If you are looking for a good shoulder exercise try mixing 10 lbs of b/h through this, lol. It does work well. I run the mix through it 3 to 4 x.

Kenny

[kirkp]

Hey Kenny, Just saw your reply. Appreciate the offer. Curious how we'd handle the shipping? I'm in Council Bluffs, IA 51503

Kirk