# Frozen Beef heart in small cube



## Blackdude (Feb 28, 2003)

I have some frozen beef heart in small cube, and I was wondering when I feed, can I give the cube still frozen or I need to defrost it before ?

Thank


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## shutter13 (Jun 23, 2004)

defrost









cold blooded animals+frozen food=very cold piranhas with messed up digestive tracks


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## the grinch (Feb 23, 2004)

i always put them in frozen, never had any problems and it dont make as much of a mess frozen in your tank as it will unthawed


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## Xantarc (May 25, 2004)

i deforst and rinse a little so its not all bloody in the tank


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## Blackdude (Feb 28, 2003)

Thanks for the advise









I will try that:
With a glass, I will take some water from the tank, put the frozen heart in, wait 15 minutes so it defrost and put water and the defrost heart back in the tank.


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## yorkshire (Jul 27, 2004)

I just drop a piece of beefheart into a cup of hot water for 10 minutes, until it defrosts.








Putting frozen beefheart straight into the tank runs the risk of not only damaging the digestive system, but also their teeth.


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## P-Rex (Sep 12, 2004)

what are your opinions about feeding beefhearts to piranhas?
some people said only feed it sparingly and only as a treat. but there are some people on cichlids and Discus forums that use beefheart as a staple diet, They make a "food mix" with 50% beefheart on the recipe. Im thinking of making a "beefheart gelatin cubes" like 94NDTA did

Here will be my recipe but I havent decided how much portion of each I should put

Beefheart(removed most of the viens and white part)
smelt(whole)
salmon fillet(no skin)
shelled shrimp
carrot
garlic extract(the juice)
lecithin

put them in a blender and add unflavored gelatin so it hold all the ingredients

here are my reasons for ingredientsI used to be anal of what I eat before when I was lifting weights, so I know what food is a good source of what, but not anymore







)

*Beefheart* - high in protein, lots of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, lower in fats than other organ meats and is cheap

*smelt and salmon* - High in omega3 fatty acid

*shelled shrimp and carrot* - good source of carotene

*lecithin* - either from a powdered form or natural source. Lecitin helps in digestion of fats

*garlic extract* - saw this on a discus and cichlid board if your fish is a finicky eater the garlic seems to attract the fish and some people swear that it has some other beneficial effect. Heres a link about garlic http://www.geocities.com/horge1218/garlic.html


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## carisma02uk (Aug 1, 2004)

thats a good lil mix u got there p-rex carrotine it the hormone that produces the red colouartion if iam right its the same in plant.

back to the q. tho i feed them frozen as the water temp softens them and also beefheart is realy flakey and gets every where and most is sucked up by the filter before its eaten so its up to you tho i have heard about it messing up the digestive system aswell like yorkshire said but its your choice.


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## Enriqo_Suavez (Mar 31, 2004)

I would highly suggest defrosting first. It's real hard on the fish to feed them frozen food, even if you can't 'see' the damage.


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## SpAzZy (Mar 30, 2004)

they definitly shouldn't be eating food frozen. after you thaw the food in water, don't dump the water back into the tank, just pick up the food with your hand and put it in the tank and dump the water out. you don't have to use tank water to defrost. if you do decide to use tap water, make usre you don't use TOO hot of water because you could end up cooking your food since it is raw. most people won't use beefheart everyday because it is:

1) messy since it breaks apart easily 
2) oily and can cause oily films on the top of the tank (i know from personal experience, but so will salmon and chicken)
3) mammalian meat.. if you read the pinned posts, it says that p's don't really eat mammals all that often and that it would be better to feed them fish meat they say

it's all personal preference. if anyone tells you that beefheart is fatty, it's doesn't hold to much truth to it. a heart is a heart, and what is a heart? probably the leanest toughest muscle in anything's body.. the fatty tissue it has can be easily cut off when you are preparing it. as staple, i use tilapia as of last week, i finally gave it a try and it honestly is probably the best food i've fed thusfar. my p's will eat it instantly, it doesn't break apart in the tank, and it doesn't smell like "fish" very much. i used to use shrimp and once beefheart, as staple but now i only feed them that once each a week.


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