Liver as a treat for community fish?

Hi All,

would a chicken or beef liver treat instead of bloodworm work for my community tank?
mainly tetra, mollies and platties, i also have a baby rainbow shark in there.


thanx

 

I would have thought liver was a bad idea? It's one of the bodies filters to detox so surely it would be full of unwanteds?

 

makes sense, i was told the carnivores are fed liver so i thought maybe small quantities would not be too bad. also not sure what left over will do to the water, i would assume fresh liver will rot quicker then other in there..

 

Rather use chicken heart. I do think some members fed their fish livers but stick with the hearts.

 

cool, can i just mince it and freeze?

 

Pretty much.

 

my brother in law fed his polypterus frozen chicken liver, i know its frowned apon in the forum, but i have to say, i've never seen a polypterus grow faster..

i tried it for my 2 polypterus for a while but the reason i stopped was because it made the very water murky, its very fatty.

 

@mydummyname thats what im worried about, not too keen on that. i've been able to keep my tank nice and clear so far

@Reedfish ill take your advice and stick with the tried and tested

 

ya its a real mission to clear once you muddy it up

 

I do it but I mix it with vegetables and others. They love it

 

For a community tank liver or heart is not recomended. But Oscars or similar species (carnivores), well mixed minced hearts/ livers and blanched spinach frozen and cut into small cubes can be given and then it must be a BB tank and all left-overs taken out after feeding.

 

For the amateur and the non-professional this is very difficult but let me add a few perspectives.

Firstly on the feeding of liver. Yes the liver is the organ that does detoxify many substances, but it also does so by means of vitamins that it uses from the food. It is also very rich in proteins, so in principle it is a good food and that explains why for example the polypterus grew so well on it. However, there are a number of things to consider here that are not good as well. Particularly in South Africa, the use of antibiotics, growth stimulants and antiparasitic medication is not regulated as well as it is in say the Uk or Europe. As a result of this, I would be careful of feeding liver in South Africa unless it came from some butcher that you know that slaughters his own cattle in some rural abbatoir and knows from where the cattle come that have been slaughtered. Most beef is fattened in feedlots in South Africa and because of the additives used there, I DO NOT EAT BEEF IN SA ANY MORE. I eat ostrich meat because it is strictly regulated because it is exported to Europe and that is absolutely fine as far as I am concerned and it has the advantage that it is just about fat free.

With regard to the feeding of beefheart to discus, I would like to state that in South Africa, feeding of SA beefheart is the biggest reason for male sterility in discus and flopped spawnings. In Europe and UK, the use of anabolic steroids is banned but in SA it is permitted. As a result, I only feed beefheart mixes imported from Germany, I won't touch SA beef. I am just following up a case here in SA again in which the sterility of a male discus may be the result of feeding SA beefheart.

I hope this will help you to decide what you may want to do.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Maybe you can use fish as an alternative for your community tank, if you are looking for some added protein. Fish is far easily absorbed that mammalian tissue. I feed baby hake to most of my predatory fish and have also seen the little guys feed on it. As always make sure that you don't over do it, as it can mess your water up very quickly, remove all uneaten bits after feeding. For the smaller fish make sure that the fish you are using for food is thawed properly and minced up small. Maybe try some mussels, shrimp/ prawns minced as well.

I do sometimes sneak a piece of beef heart to my oscars, but that is only when feeding my monitor lizards and have some pieces left over.

Regards Shaun

 

What about pilchards for us fishing folk @Dirk?

 

Hi Shaun P,

although it may sound sensible, there is no scientific reason to think that fish protein is more easily absorbed than mammalian protein. Proteins are broken down in the gut by enzymes to amino acids which are absorbed, and it does not matter whether it is fish protein or mammalian protein, both are broken down and absorbed, I know of no scientific evidence that proves that fish protein is absorbed more easily than mammalian protein. Shrimp protein is produced by invertebrates which we say is good for fishes, but invertebrates are far more distantly related to fishes than mammals, and bloodworm and mosquito larvae are insects which are also invertebrates which are far more distantly related to fishes than mammals so this argument that mammal protein is more different than normal fish nutrition is just not correct. So all these arguments about how different proteins are are just not valid as far as I am concerned.

What is far more important than the origin of the protein is that you cannot just feed a high protein ration to most fishes, you need a balanced ration which contains enough roughage as well, if you only feed proteins which are largely absorbed then the movement through the gut is slowed down and this is when you then get bacterial problems causing bloat. So feeding a high protein ration is on a knife edge and you must be careful not to overdo it or else you will have losses because of internal bacteria that will multiply rapidly in the gut if you have no movement through it.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Thanks Dirk, noted. I have a question about my fish that I feed the hake to as this is the only food source that they get. Will there be enough roughage in this diet as I feed baby hake with the skin and bone in.

 

Hi Shaun P,

No, the skin of fishes is composed of keratin, another protein which is not roughage. Bone is also digestable so this does also not qualify as roughage. Bloodworm, mossie larvae and shrimps have an exoskeleton which is not digestible and which therefor qualifies as roughage so you need to feed some of these to supply roughage.

Very critical for all of this though is what the relative amounts of protein to roughage are and if you are not careful you could loose all your fishes to bloat if you feed an exclusively high protein diet.

Kind regards,

Dirk

 

Going to get these guys some shrimp with the shells on then.
Thanks Again

PS: Sorry for hijacking the post.