Hi chas045, From the size of "Black Jack", I am guessing he's at least a year old now from what his parents used to be like. He must have been there all along, but the liner being black, I just never saw him before. I'll try and see about compressing the photo file, as you suggested. I have a dilemma with my lion fish, Pasqualine. She's 9" long and way too big for her aquarium. One of the local pet shops I go to has an indoor pond. I'll see, if they'll take her for the Winter for a minimal fee as room and board. She loves spending her Summers in my pond with the other regular goldfish. I would hate to give her away. When I first got her, she was the size of my thumb and only 2" long. Thanks for stopping by today, PJ

I truly hope I do not offend you, or upset your sensibilities, but you did ask, so.......... Unlike humans, fish eat only to live and variety isn't important to them, only nutrition. As with any other wild animal that swims, flies, runs or crawls, what "tastes" best to them, and what they consider the best "treat", is what they evolved to eat and once an Oscar is large enough to prey on other other fish, it will do so, because that is what it evolved to eat. We evolved to eat virtually anything animal and unless downright poisonous; vegetable. Then, we learned to cook, and add other ingredients to basic foods, to make what we ate even tastier to our senses and the more sophisticted our societies and tastebuds became, the more variety we desired in our meals, but our pets don't, and never have. Brine shrimp are great for baby Oscars, because they replace the tiny inverts and insects it would eat in the wild, but at 7", yours wants grown-up food. Therefore, the ultimate "home made" food for it or most any large cichlid, is another well nourished, healthy fish it can swallow whole, and why so many cichlid breeders also keep Swordtails and/or Guppies, because breeding their own is safer than buying live feeders. While adult Oscars primarially eat other fish, as predators, they are also opportunists and given a newborn mouse, (AKA: "Pinkie") will glop it down with relish. Beef heart, while high in protein, is also deficient in most of the other nutrients your fish would get in the wild by swallowing other fish whole; scales, fins, bones, meat, organs, stomach and gut contents: all produce what the predator fish needs to grow and maintain it's own health, to allow it to sucessfully reproduce, fight off diseases, and escape other, even larger fish. If you aren't comfortable giving your Oscar it's best natural, live food and it's happy eating cichlid pellets, buy the highest quality brands, keep it sealed between feedings to maintain freshness, and you will keep your Oscar healthier than by offering "variety" in the form of treats that are not it's best, natural food. It needs TOTAL nutrition, and what is produced by the latest, computer controlled quality production facilities would be difficult if not impossible to reproduce in a home kitchen.

Yak, even though this thread is old, I felt that I had to comment. My cocker absolutely loves cat food too! But I feed her homemade soup, at least three times a week. Very easy, boil up any chicken bones leftovers or whatever meat leftovers you've got. Add some rice and potatoes until cooked, and then at the very end - a whole bunch of finely chopped carrots, tomatoes, zuccini - whatever is at hand. She likes that stuff the best! I do stay away from raw meat for the dog because of salmonella threats.

The biggest difference between a steer and a heifer is size. Heifers are smaller. Steers become steers because they get bigger in the hind quarters and good cuts, bulls get big in the neck and shoulders. Even a bull can be eaten if he's young, but he'll still be smaller in the hind quarters. Half a beef is a lot of beef, even my smallest animal last year yielded 210 lbs for half after everything was cut and packaged. Here I'm lucky to have Carl, who has done my meat cutting and packing for decades. He does all the special requests, like trimming the ribs for burger and cutting leg bones into dog sized pieces and he always makes sure I get the oxtail. I think the ribs are too fatty, I don't care for them, so they always get trimmed for burger. I don't know about buying in on raising a calf, no one here does that. I sell by hanging weight, which is after slaughter but before the side is trimmed. I usually get Porterhouse, sirloin, T-bone, rib steaks, round steaks, chuck roasts, the brisket. Everything else gets ground to burger and I always take the soup bones for stock, which I make in large batches and then freeze. Here burger is about $2 a pound, T-bones were on sale for $5.99 a pound, chuck roast is $2.79 a pound this week. The man I sold a half to last year told me it ended up costing him about $3 a pound after he paid to get it packaged. As mentioned, that's $3 for burger, but also $3 for brisket, porterhouse, T-bones, everything. Like Terri, I like grass fed, which is a good thing because that's what I raise, LOL. It's leaner and healthier, and I don't hesitate to feed it to my girls and my grandkids. Annie