I have a question about feeding Red meat to my Piranhas. If they can digest the bones of goldfish or other fish how come they can't digest fat from red meat???? or is it that it just takes them longer to digest red meat fat???
If Red meat is bad for P's
- Thread starter tonymofo
- Start date
the digestive system of most fish isn't set up to digest "red" or "white" meat....it's set up to digest fish. the main problem is digesting animal fat, so if you get venison or something that hardly has any fat, it would be okay to feed some from time to time IMO
Ok, so my redtail catfish swallowed my 8 inch jack dempsey and a 8 inch Midas, along with some 4.5 inch goldfish. So his digestive system will digest the bones but it would be bad for him to eat red meat??
I know a guy who feeds his piranha mice and beef along with goldfish all the time. The fish is happy and fat.
Think of it this way.
You have a big tub of Bacon grease. You take it out of the fridge and set it on the counter, putting half in a skillet on high, leaving the other half in the tub.
Which one will melt first?
Unless your house is 90*+, that bacon grease (which is pig fat liquified, and recoagulated) on the counter will not melt.
The stuff in the frying pan hits 98* and up. So it's pretty much liquid by now.
Even with the grease being at room temperature before staring the expirement, you would have figured out the answer.
A fish's body is only as warm as the water around it. Between 70-85 degrees isn't hot enough to melt it all (if any) Whatever fat is left over, collects around the fish's organs, and in their arteries. If you want to know what it'll look like in there, check your room-temperature tub of bacon grease.
Now, that's not to say "Red meat is bad, NEVER feed it" but I wouldn't feed my P's anything but LEAN meat (chicken, range-fed beef goat or venison) more often than once, maybe twice a month.
When you do that, maybe you could bump the temp of the water up to the upper part of the range, just for a few hours, to help digestion for them.
You have a big tub of Bacon grease. You take it out of the fridge and set it on the counter, putting half in a skillet on high, leaving the other half in the tub.
Which one will melt first?
Unless your house is 90*+, that bacon grease (which is pig fat liquified, and recoagulated) on the counter will not melt.
The stuff in the frying pan hits 98* and up. So it's pretty much liquid by now.
Even with the grease being at room temperature before staring the expirement, you would have figured out the answer.
A fish's body is only as warm as the water around it. Between 70-85 degrees isn't hot enough to melt it all (if any) Whatever fat is left over, collects around the fish's organs, and in their arteries. If you want to know what it'll look like in there, check your room-temperature tub of bacon grease.
Now, that's not to say "Red meat is bad, NEVER feed it" but I wouldn't feed my P's anything but LEAN meat (chicken, range-fed beef goat or venison) more often than once, maybe twice a month.
When you do that, maybe you could bump the temp of the water up to the upper part of the range, just for a few hours, to help digestion for them.
_Sushi_;1473171; said:
How do they digest fish bones......When they eat feeders ( I give 1.5" - 4.5" feeders) I know they have bones, how do those bones get digested.
Thanks Onion.
Bones are just calcium, the easiest way to get it. Since they are made to eat fish (and this pretty much goes for all predatory fish) their stomach acid is strong enough to break the bones down and extract the calcium. The marrow is also VERY good for them, since it helps maintain their own bone marrow, and that's where some of the components for the blood comes from (If I remember correctly)
As a matter of fact, that's why I give my dogs natural bones from pork or beef (range and organically fed) I actually cut the bones out of my dinner and they get them. It's a heck of a lot better for them than anything I can get out of their bag of food.
Before anyone flames me for that, what do you think dogs/wolves ate before they were domesticated?
ANYWAYS,
Think of the bones, scales, and other yummy tidbits of a fish as sugar, fish fats and oils as kool-aid, and red/white meat fats as oil.
As for the stomach acid, it's now water.
The fish products (listed above) are broken down by the stomach acid, like kool-aid and sugar dissolve when mixed with water, even the chunks of sugar, or those powdery balls of kool-aid mix, right? Because they were made to dissolve in water. Well, your stomach acid was made to dissolve the things you eat.
if you mix water and oil, what happens? It seperates, no matter how you stir it. That's animal fat in your fish's stomach, and since it doesn't digest there, it goes on to your fish's body, and has nowhere to go to be used up.
I'm sure these metaphors and examples of this is that are annoying by now, But I want to make sure the point is easily understood by all who are reading this post. I know you got it the first time, but some people may not, so I'm using a different tactic to fully explain the difference.
That way, if they get it, nobody gets annoyed with this question being repeated over and over, and it saves us all a little bit of time and effort. ^^
Bones are just calcium, the easiest way to get it. Since they are made to eat fish (and this pretty much goes for all predatory fish) their stomach acid is strong enough to break the bones down and extract the calcium. The marrow is also VERY good for them, since it helps maintain their own bone marrow, and that's where some of the components for the blood comes from (If I remember correctly)
As a matter of fact, that's why I give my dogs natural bones from pork or beef (range and organically fed) I actually cut the bones out of my dinner and they get them. It's a heck of a lot better for them than anything I can get out of their bag of food.
Before anyone flames me for that, what do you think dogs/wolves ate before they were domesticated?
ANYWAYS,
Think of the bones, scales, and other yummy tidbits of a fish as sugar, fish fats and oils as kool-aid, and red/white meat fats as oil.
As for the stomach acid, it's now water.
The fish products (listed above) are broken down by the stomach acid, like kool-aid and sugar dissolve when mixed with water, even the chunks of sugar, or those powdery balls of kool-aid mix, right? Because they were made to dissolve in water. Well, your stomach acid was made to dissolve the things you eat.
if you mix water and oil, what happens? It seperates, no matter how you stir it. That's animal fat in your fish's stomach, and since it doesn't digest there, it goes on to your fish's body, and has nowhere to go to be used up.
I'm sure these metaphors and examples of this is that are annoying by now, But I want to make sure the point is easily understood by all who are reading this post. I know you got it the first time, but some people may not, so I'm using a different tactic to fully explain the difference.
That way, if they get it, nobody gets annoyed with this question being repeated over and over, and it saves us all a little bit of time and effort. ^^