blood worms and beef heart a no no

[giorid]

Hi folks,
I was reading a reknown aquarium magazine recently when I came across a short article by a famous discus breeder and was quite surprised by what he had to say about blood worms, ie, that blood worms aren't good for the discus digestion and that he only feeds his discus granules and flakes, infact he even says that beef heart is also bad for them and should be avoided, does anybody agree with his opinion, I always thought blood worms and beef heart were great for fish like discus, cheers, thanks.

[Merrilyn]

Bloodworms are the laval stage of a type of midge, and are naturally found in most areas of the world. As such, they would form a part of the natural diet of most freshwater fish. I never feed frozen bloodworms to juvenile fish. They have a hard exoskeleton which can compact in the gut an cause digestive problems. Once the fish are adult, they seem to handle bloodworms easily. The problem seems to be that fish would never come into contact with the quantities we tend to feed our fish. In the wild, fish would pick at a little of everything, not gobble down a whole block of frozen bloodworms.

This warning from Dr Jim Greenwood:-

"A note of caution here on feeding the larger imported frozen bloodworm. These worms have a chitinous exoskeleton and numerous bristles that are indigestible for fishes with small intestinal apertures. The meaty portion of the worm is readily processed, but the hard bits remain and clog up the stomach in an immovable mass. Be careful not to feed your discus, rainbows and some tetras on the larger bloodworms." ~ Dr Jim Greenwood B.V.Sc. Canterbury Veterinary Clinic Canterbury, Victoria.

The beefheart theory is one that has been kicked around for a long time. Some say it's totally unnatural and fish in the wild would never eat a cow. Others say that it's a cheap, easily obtained form of high quality protein that once all fat and sinew is removed, is quite safe to feed to your fish from a very young age.

I tend to follow the "safe" school, that beefheart is quite suitable as PART of a discus diet, as do a lot of the major breeders in the world, but the choice is up to you.

Let's hear some more opinions from our members.

[Angelman]

I will start by saying I no very little about Discus but what I have read. I would as with all my fish to give them a variety of foods and not just feed the same thing over and over..I always mix and switch what my fish get to eat..Even my so called herbivores like the taste of some meaty foods. I feel its just like us If we just eat beef we would die..if we just eat carrots we would die. But eating carrot and beef are good for us!!! If you drink to much water you can die too.. I don't try to give my fish a natural diet cause keeping them in a fish tank is not natural either. So I give a mix of every thing I can. All high quality foods and a variety is the way I go..

[giorid]

Thanks merrilyn, and angelman, you're right, but I wish the manufactures of these foods would label their products properly so that aquarists wouldn't endup killing their fish because of the lack of reliable information. Not everybody is a veterinarian or has access to one.