Discus Fish Food Recipe

Those who want to witness the glorious sight of lovely, healthy growing discus fish in the tank need to stop depending on tropical fish foods or flake food as the main diet for the fish. Beef, veal, turkey heart, fish fillets, shrimps and liver of beef/ turkey should constitute the main ingredients of discus fish food. The tropical fish food should only be used as a supplement, so as to vary the discus fish diet. However, flake food added to the rest of the ingredients helps to hold them really well. Let us move ahead to some discus fish food recipes, which are well balanced and provide the right amount of nutrition. Moreover, these recipes also prevent constipation in fish. Read more on discus fish care.

Recipe 1: Veal Heart

Ingredients

• Veal heart - It is smaller and more tenders than Beef heart; should be rinsed well in cold water and cleaned of blood vessels and fat.
• Spinach - Take one 10 ounce packet of frozen spinach; thaw and squeeze out the water.
• Garlic - 6 cloves.
• Flake food - 3 large handfuls of any type of dry flake food. Flakes hold the mixture really well.
• Oats - 1 cup quaker oats.
• Gelatin or Gel Food - 1 small box of unflavored gelatin.
• Multi-vitamins - Wash off the protective coating of 6 multi-vitamins and dunk them in a small cup of water. They will break into a soup consistency.

Preparation Procedure

Blend all these ingredients into a food processor and store the paste in freezer bags. The mixture should be around ¼ inch thick in the bags when placed it in the freezer. At the time of feeding, just break off a piece, place it on a paper towel and allow it to thaw. Then feed the fish!

Recipe 2: Beef Heart and Shrimp

Ingredients

• Beef Heart - 3 cups of ground beef heart. (Remove the blood vessels and fat)
• Cornmeal - 4 tablespoons of yellow cornmeal or cooked wheatgerm.
• Shrimp - 1 cup ground raw shrimp (without the shell).
• Garlic powder - 3 tablespoons of ground garlic.
• Spinach Puree - ½ cup cooked spinach puree.
• Eggs - Yolk of 3 eggs.
• Paprika - 2 tablespoons.
• Supplements - 6 crushed calcium citrate and Vitamin D supplements.
• Multi-vitamins - 4 multi-vitamins which are washed and soaked in water to form a soup.
• Flakes - 2 cups of meat lover's flakes and 1 cup discus and angel flake.
• Formula One Marine - 2 ounces of Formula One Marine, a food suitable for all marine fishes
• Gelatin - 7 small boxes of unflavored gelatin.

Preparation Procedure

Mix all the above ingredients together and heat them together. Do not boil the mixture. Stir in the gelatin and mix again. Pour the mixture out and allow it to cool. Once it cools, cut it into small pieces and freeze it in zip-lock bags. One can even add 3 tablespoons of spirulina powder, krill or plankton.

Recipe 3: Beef Heart, Shrimp, Beef Liver and White Fish

Ingredients

• Beef heart - 3 pounds.
• Beef liver - 1 pound, trimmed, rinsed well and soaked for 3 minutes in hot water.
• Shrimp - 2 pounds raw shrimp, peeled.
• White fish - 1 pound.
• Plankton - 2 pounds frozen plankton.
• Spinach - 2 packets of lightly steamed spinach.
• Peas - 1 box of lightly steamed peas.
• Eggs - 6 egg yolk.
• Seaweed Powder - ⅓ cup Kelp seaweed powder.
• Yeast - ¼ cup brewers yeast.
• Wheat germ - ½ cup cooked wheat germ.
• Spirulina powder - 1 tablespoon.
• Vitamin C powder - 1 tablespoon.

Preparation Procedure

Blend the beef heart, liver, shrimp, white fish, plankton, peas and spinach in a food processor. Dollop out the paste in a large bowl and add to it the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Place the mixture into freezing bags and freeze them until needed. At feeding time, take a piece and allow it to thaw. Feed it to the discus in the fish tank.

Recipe 4: Turkey Heart, Turkey Liver, Shrimp, and Fish Fillets
The quantities used in this recipe are suited for fisheries, where the number of discus mouths are many. However, one can use this discus fish food recipe as a guideline, and have the quantity proportioned to one's needs.

Ingredients

• Turkey heart - 350 pounds, washed and trimmed of all blood vessels and fat.
• Turkey liver - 150 pounds.
• Fish fillets - 50 pounds non-oily fish.
• Shrimp - 100 pounds peeled shrimp.
• Green beans - 32 pounds. Even peas or spinach can be used.
• Fish flake - 20 pounds
• Oatmeal - 10 pounds

Preparation Procedure

After allowing the hearts, livers, fish fillets and shrimp to thaw, cook them separately. Grind each of them and then mix them together. Grind this mixture once again and dollop the final mixture into plastic bags. Flatten the mixture in the plastic bag, so as to remove the air. Store in the freezer and thaw before feeding this discus fish food to the fish. Read more on

• Aquarium Fish
  
• Tips on Aquarium Maintenance

Besides the above mentioned discus fish food recipes, these fishes also feed on frozen blood worms, mosquito larvae, white worms, Mysis shrimp, glass worms, red worms (chopped up) and dried or frozen adult brine shrimps. One can make some modification to the recipe as one desires. Agar agar, which is available in powder form at health food stores can be used to bind the mixture. The above mentioned discus fish food recipes are suitable for discus fishes of all ages. A cheese grater can be used to grate the piece of fish food into shavings for young discus fishes.