Feeding Chicken Heart to Fish?

So I've recently started feeding beef heart to my discus after they wouldn't eat anything but blood worms for a while. I try and sneak some flakes in there for them but they rarely take it. Working on it and they are slowly adapting. The guy I got them from cooked up his own beef hears and fed it to them. They were spoiled and are HUGE because of it.

Anyways, I was wondering if any of you have fed chicken heart to fish? I have a giant bag of them in the freezer from a bbq (we Brazilians love bbq'ed chicken hearts). I've been reading and they have double the fat content and slightly higher cholesterol in comparison to the beef heart but I was wondering if it was safe? good idea? bad idea? I've seen a few people feed it in videos but I'm curious of everyone's experience here.

Chicken and beef to fish? hahah they'll grow wings and horns!

I guess the first question is: Are they Brazilian discus?

I've always heard that the extra fat isn't good, which is why the discus folks trim the beef heart really well.....

dunno though.

I general, I'd be concerned about feeding high fat animal protein to fish, simply because it isn't a natural food for them to eat. Lots of folks like high fat, high protein to grow their fish faster, but I subscribe to keeping leaner, slower growing fish. I have absolutely no scientific research to back up my feelings, but lots of anecdotal information from fish keepers I respect that fish are not that different than other animals, especially humans. Growing quickly on a high fat diet isn't healthy in the long run. You may grow a fish to adult size in a short timeframe, but their life spans become drastically reduced.

Just my 2 cents.

While I agree that I'd avoid feeding this, I'm not all that certain. It's not like there is a true scientific consensus about the role of fat in human diets, let alone fish diets. For example, see today's Washington Post:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...p_rhp-more-top-stories_no-name:homepage/story

I certainly agree that chicken hearts aren't naturally in the diet of fish, but the same is true for earthworms and grindal worms, and I feed those, at least occasionally. I asked Les Wilson of Cobalt about using proteins from terrestrial animals in fish and he didn't think it was a problem. I'm not sure I agree, but I just don't know enough to have a strong view either way. I'm not sure anyone does. I'd be tempted to try it on one tank and see how the fish do.

IMO, protein is protein. I'd worry about the fat being digestible in that quantity. Not all oils and fats are the same.

chriscoli said:

IMO, protein is protein. I'd worry about the fat being digestible in that quantity. Not all oils and fats are the same.

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Yea, from what I've been reading, this seems to be the consensus. thanks for all information!

I definitely see what Jon is saying about growing the fish too quickly and having the life span be shortened. I'd rather them grow slowly and live longer, too. I'd wonder if anyone has done extensive research on that.

In a video Dan Barber did about how he fell in love with a fish, he describes how he called this one fish farm only to find out they were feeding mostly chicken remains to their fish.

I think the fats and oils are the problem. The chicken heart itself isn't that lean, in comparison to the beef heart. I think this may warrant feeding one tank chicken hearts once a week or twice a month to experiment. I could try it on a pair of discus to see how it goes.

Here is the Dan Barber video: https://www.ted.com/talks/dan_barber_how_i_fell_in_love_with_a_fish?language=en