# Beefheart for fish



## byron

Hey can anyone give me any opinions on feeding beef heart to your fish. Is it a good food for colour enhancing? I would want to give it a try for my cichlids and was wondering how do you process it when bought from the store refrigerated. Thanks!


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## zhasan

hey, I fed beef heart mixture to my cichlids and other fish. It is definitely good for them! I did see a minor change in their color but not as much as I was expecting. I bought it from MagicBug, I believe he had recently made a post about making a new batch of the mix. Check with him, he might be able to sell you some!


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## RD.

Beefheart originates from warm blooded animals, and contains fats with high melting points, which typically equates to a portion of the fat being stored in the liver. Even though overall beefheart has a rather low fat content (compared to the rest of the beef) cold blooded animals tend to have slow melting, harder to digest for fish, fats. The problem lies in the quantity of beef being fed, and the duration. For long lived species, feeding something such as beefheart will generally equate to fatty deposition of the fishes liver, which generally equates to premature death.

The same logic can be applied to feeding trout or salmon chow (which generally have a rather high crude fat and/or high carb content) to warm water tropical species of fish.

Lee Newman, Curator of Tropical Waters at the Vancouver Public Aquarium has spoken out against feeding beefheart many times, for the same reason that I do, over time it tends to lead to fatty degeneration of the liver. According to one of the DVM's that specialise in aquatic animal medicine at the University of Florida, fatty liver disease is considered as being one of the main causes of death in aquarium fish.

Dr. Peter Burgess MSc, Ph.D.,of the Aquarium Advisory Service in England, is not only an experienced aquarium hobbyist, but also a scientist that specializes in the health & disease in fish. He has written over 300 articles and five books on fish health and is a visiting lecturer in Aquarium Sciences and Conservation at Plymouth University, where he works with the University of Plymouth training students in scientific research. Among his other positions, Dr. Burgess is a senior consultant to the Mars FishCare business and regularly runs fish health & husbandry courses for aquarists, fish scientists and vets. He's also a regular contributor & Fish Health consultant for the Practical Fishkeeping Magazine, as well as other magazines devoted to the fish keeping hobby.

Below is an excerpt from the Practical Fishkeeping Magazine titled;

*Liver Damage and Red Meats,*



> "The routine of feeding beef heart and other red meats to Cichlids can ultimately give rise to health problems. Poultry meat is also suspect. Red meats, including lean meats such as beef heart, contain the wrong sorts of fats - these harden within the cold-blooded fish, leading to blockages and fatty deposits around the liver.
> 
> Also, the relative proportions of amino acids within the mammalian proteins are different to those required by fish. Hence, feeding red meats will cause the cichlid to excrete more nitrogenous (ammonia) wastes, thereby placing an extra burden on the biological filter.


HTH


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## hgi

I feed my piranhas "hikari cichlid bio gold+" for pellets, this made their colour pop. There's huge talk about beef heart on the piranha forums and it's always the same thing. If your going to feed beef heart make it a once in a blue moon thing, or a rare treat for the fish.

One of the p's I have was a rescue from a guy who only fed blood worms and beef heart, and the fish was 5-6" and was basically dead. Now in the tank with the other's you can spot him out as he's the special/handy cap looking one.


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## cowis

hey specaly for the fh i wuoldnt. iv been told to stay away from this kinda stuff for those fish. for flowerhorns and large cichlids id feed a mix of cichlid pellets (flowerhorn pellets for flowerhorns) the odd blood worms, blackworms, crickets (odd treat). for my cichlids i just use 3 or so diffrent pellets and mix them up so the fish gets diffrent foods. in the wild they always eat diffrent things so best thing iv been told is to mimic that.


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## taureandragon76

Why feed something that is not in any fishes regular diet. I have heard the only time guys want to feed beefheart is when the fish is sick and needs some extra protein to get back some strength. IMO too many risks involved to even bother trying it.


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## MadgicBug

I agree that feeding only beefheart can result in health issues...no different from humans eating a steak only diet. However, most beefheart recipes on the internet contain many other ingredients therefore it's important to consider not only what else is in the mix but also how it is prepared, how much is fed, types of fish it's fed to, etc. Perhaps what is more dangerous is the level of hormones and antibiotics that is trapped in the cells of non-organic beef heart which can heavily stress the liver and lead to liver failure.

On that note, I have personally had great success feeding it to my discus.


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## Mferko

RD. said:


> Beefheart originates from warm blooded animals, and contains fats with high melting points, which typically equates to a portion of the fat being stored in the liver. Even though overall beefheart has a rather low fat content (compared to the rest of the beef) cold blooded animals tend to have slow melting, harder to digest for fish, fats. The problem lies in the quantity of beef being fed, and the duration. For long lived species, feeding something such as beefheart will generally equate to fatty deposition of the fishes liver, which generally equates to premature death.
> 
> The same logic can be applied to feeding trout or salmon chow (which generally have a rather high crude fat and/or high carb content) to warm water tropical species of fish.
> 
> Lee Newman, Curator of Tropical Waters at the Vancouver Public Aquarium has spoken out against feeding beefheart many times, for the same reason that I do, over time it tends to lead to fatty degeneration of the liver. According to one of the DVM's that specialise in aquatic animal medicine at the University of Florida, fatty liver disease is considered as being one of the main causes of death in aquarium fish.
> 
> Dr. Peter Burgess MSc, Ph.D.,of the Aquarium Advisory Service in England, is not only an experienced aquarium hobbyist, but also a scientist that specializes in the health & disease in fish. He has written over 300 articles and five books on fish health and is a visiting lecturer in Aquarium Sciences and Conservation at Plymouth University, where he works with the University of Plymouth training students in scientific research. Among his other positions, Dr. Burgess is a senior consultant to the Mars FishCare business and regularly runs fish health & husbandry courses for aquarists, fish scientists and vets. He's also a regular contributor & Fish Health consultant for the Practical Fishkeeping Magazine, as well as other magazines devoted to the fish keeping hobby.
> 
> Below is an excerpt from the Practical Fishkeeping Magazine titled;
> 
> *Liver Damage and Red Meats,*
> 
> HTH


+1, fish don't eat cows
there could also be pathogens in the beef that fish don't evolve alongside

its just asking for health problems imho, there are lots of high quality fish foods out there


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## byron

Ok thanks guys, I wont feed them that then since there's so many risks involved. I would have never known since I thought beef heart was good for them. Ill guess ill just stick to pellets and worms.


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## Mferko

something like krill would be a more easily digestible source of protein as a treat for your cichlids (this is why NLS uses krill is top ingredient for protein)
they also like PE frozen mysis shrimp


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## RD.

Discus don't require beefheart, any more than any other cichlid. Sure it brings on quick growth, but there are far more suitable & healthy ways to provide amino acids & lipids to your fish.

As an example, the discus shown in the pics below have been raised on an almost exclusive diet of pellet food. (no beefheart)

All are healthy, colorful, and breeding like rabbits.


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## Mferko

the notion of any fish requiring beefheart is laughable 
i wonder how many cows there are swimming in the amazon atm


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