^ yeah i asked around a few places too.. only place i could find were the cubes at petco =\ at least they really liked it when i put it in there
Beef Heart?
- Thread starter NCStateFisher
- Start date
They usually sell beef heart in the grocery store. It'll be set off to the side of the beef offerings with the toungues / livers / etc. Worst case, ask. You might have to try a local meat market and ask when they do their kills. They'll usually have no problem at all holding a heart for you.
I can get it for around $1.50/lb just up the street at Shoppers.
Clean any fat / silverskin from it, and cut to portion. For my young dempseys, I'll thin slice it, then mince it to around 1/8" or so average size. I'll toss a raw shrimp onto the cutting board as well during chopping. It tends to bind together very well when you leave it in the fridge in a small dish uncovered. The rest goes into a ziploc, and before freezing I run it into 3/4" lines pressing with my finger. This way I can break off small frozen portions that thaw very quickly.
The only issues you'll run into are pieces to large to swallow (won't be much of a problem with the birchirs) sitting on the bottom uneaten, and a slight film on the surface of the water / edge of the glass (the fat will sit on top like oil on a puddle - you'll see a slight shimmering prism effect. Easy enough to vac and skim the surface during wc. You also might find your fish reluctant to eat much else depending on how often you feed it to them, and the amount of competition in the tank.
My biggest problem with beefheart so far is one of the longfin danios in the tank attempting to eat it all the moment it hits the water... He's getting large enough in the belly to scare visitors into thinking he's a pinecone. His tankmates get fed 5-10 times a day or better (small feedings), and he's constantly in the middle of it. -_-
I can get it for around $1.50/lb just up the street at Shoppers.
Clean any fat / silverskin from it, and cut to portion. For my young dempseys, I'll thin slice it, then mince it to around 1/8" or so average size. I'll toss a raw shrimp onto the cutting board as well during chopping. It tends to bind together very well when you leave it in the fridge in a small dish uncovered. The rest goes into a ziploc, and before freezing I run it into 3/4" lines pressing with my finger. This way I can break off small frozen portions that thaw very quickly.
The only issues you'll run into are pieces to large to swallow (won't be much of a problem with the birchirs) sitting on the bottom uneaten, and a slight film on the surface of the water / edge of the glass (the fat will sit on top like oil on a puddle - you'll see a slight shimmering prism effect. Easy enough to vac and skim the surface during wc. You also might find your fish reluctant to eat much else depending on how often you feed it to them, and the amount of competition in the tank.
My biggest problem with beefheart so far is one of the longfin danios in the tank attempting to eat it all the moment it hits the water... He's getting large enough in the belly to scare visitors into thinking he's a pinecone. His tankmates get fed 5-10 times a day or better (small feedings), and he's constantly in the middle of it. -_-
wow haha, i feed the bichirs and ABK twice a day usually and the opaline gourami i have in there is always trying to take bites out of their food before it hits the bottom.. When I do waterchanges I typically take most of the water out from down in in the gravel and then take the last bit off the top anyways, so that won't be any change - contemplating throwing a couple giant danios in the tank to make it look good until the bichirs get big enough to nom on them... 
NCStateFisher;4555982; said:contemplating throwing a couple giant danios in the tank to make it look good until the bichirs get big enough to nom on them...
lol. Your mileage may vary. I somehow excel at raising aggressive fish. For comparison's sake, I had a male guppy last a few days in the tank when the convicts initially went in. It was chasing them all over the tank getting after their fins.
Ditto on the longfin danios. I thought I'd be safe to add some black neon tetras to a planted tank. After acclimating, the moment they hit the water, a danio cruise missiles in and takes off half the rear fin.
They're topwater swimmers, and honestly never stop moving. Worst case, they'll make your birchirs dizzy before they finally catch one.
I like them for the fact that they're tough little fish, but extremely active (and tend to gobble up any fine particles of food). Also quick enough to get out of the way of half hearted predations. If your birchirs aren't used to feeders, they might suprise you at how long they last in the tank.
Polys will eat anything they can fit in they mouth given enough time
The only fish I've ever seen who will continue to stalk feeders after a week
In my experience, if a feeder makes it a week, its promoted to resident
Not in the poly tanks
I kinda miss the tetras, silly little bastards
The only fish I've ever seen who will continue to stalk feeders after a week
In my experience, if a feeder makes it a week, its promoted to resident
Not in the poly tanks
I kinda miss the tetras, silly little bastards
^ I certainly hope thats the case...if I end up with a tank full of convicts because my bichirs don't eat fast enough I'm gonna be annoyed
haha, so far the bichirs totally ignore the danios, probably because they're too busy hunting all the ghost shrimp i pour in there xD - i did have one danio (the biggest and the stupidest) swim up the filter intake while i was away and get completely destroyed -_-
NCStateFisher;4579515; said:
lol. I had a feeling they might. I've now got a pair of cons with fry in the corner with the danios literally swimming inches away. They're completely ignored.
Everything else is kept to a 12" boundary.
Since it fits here well. ^_^
I attempted to starve out the dempseys into agreeing with the pellets of 3 different makes... Over the course of the evenings around 3-4am, I'd hear loud snapping noises. Eventually realized they were going after the danios in the dark. Danios got chased for a half hour until all were caught, and set into a planted tank for a week. As soon as I caved and went back to the beef mix, danios went back in. (Largely because they were snapping at some albino convict fry I added) Dempseys/convicts are right back to not caring in the least.
Your birchirs make snacks of the minnows yet?
I attempted to starve out the dempseys into agreeing with the pellets of 3 different makes... Over the course of the evenings around 3-4am, I'd hear loud snapping noises. Eventually realized they were going after the danios in the dark. Danios got chased for a half hour until all were caught, and set into a planted tank for a week. As soon as I caved and went back to the beef mix, danios went back in. (Largely because they were snapping at some albino convict fry I added) Dempseys/convicts are right back to not caring in the least.
Your birchirs make snacks of the minnows yet?
Cybercyde;4684833; said:
Actually 2 of the idiots swam up my filter intake and the other got moved to my 75 when i got it, i got 9 more just to watch and so far my oscar has only eaten one
hahahaMy bichirs are doing great however, they've grown from 3" to about 6" in a month and a half
