feeding Oscars

[Wyser]

I have an Oscar about 1 year old. All his "adult life" I have been feeding him live worms, frozen june bugs, and frozen crickets. The insects were live when I got them but I froze them. He has also been getting little bits of chickec, turkey, hamburg, and pork from time to time. My question is this... How can I get him to accept prepared foods such as pellets meant for him??? Any ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks

[Bethany]

put less of the other food, but suppliment it with hte pellets.

slowly add more pellets than the other stuff, and hopefully he'll start accepting it.

it's worth a shot. i do it when i switch my fish to new foods

[Cichlaholics Anonymous]

even if you can't get it to accept anything new, at least stop feeding it things like pork and hamburger, which fish have no business eating

[haynchinook334]

starve it.......then feed it.

[Bethany]

^^^ true, don't give him options, you're the master not the bloody fish! lmao

[Cblake007]

hold him down and make him eat it

[Wyser]

Dam you guys make me laugh...... hold him down and make him eat it?????????????? Am just gonna start giving him nothing but pellets and then he should get so hungry, he will start being accepted.

[Wyser]

Why shouldn't he eat things like chicken and pork.... He is a carnivore is he not?????? If a wild animal fell into the Oscar's native waters dead, I am sure a wild Oscar would nibble on it. As for giving him less insects and more pellets, well I've tried that and he just ignores the pellets. I am in a spot here with winter coming. I can get crickets year round but there is no such thing as a bait shop round here. Maybe I should try frozen blood worms. I can't make a preparation for him because there are no health food stores where I can buy spirulina and the local grocery store can't get beef heart. Any other suggestions.????????

[pcfriedrich]

Dam you guys make me laugh...... hold him down and make him eat it?????????????? Am just gonna start giving him nothing but pellets and then he should get so hungry, he will start being accepted.


you got the idea...

[pcfriedrich]

Why shouldn't he eat things like chicken and pork.... He is a carnivore is he not?????? If a wild animal fell into the Oscar's native waters dead, I am sure a wild Oscar would nibble on it. As for giving him less insects and more pellets, well I've tried that and he just ignores the pellets. I am in a spot here with winter coming. I can get crickets year round but there is no such thing as a bait shop round here. Maybe I should try frozen blood worms. I can't make a preparation for him because there are no health food stores where I can buy spirulina and the local grocery store can't get beef heart. Any other suggestions.????????

chicken might be alright, just feed white meat and no skin. these fish really weren't meant to digest fat.

if you want him to eat pellets, feed him only pellets. my O loves freeze dried krill, earthworms and frozen bloodworms. He'll get picky enough that he won't eat his pellets, so I starve him for a day, and then give him one pellet at a time. he eventually accepts them again.

I gotta learn to only feed him treats in small amounts, at the end of the day (kinda like the way I should consume beer).

[Wyser]

Ahhhhhhhh beer.......ya just gotta love it .... now if only I can get my O on beer. I have tried him numerous times on krill and he just spits it out. I think I am going to starve him for a day or two just to let him know that there is nothing else. Is there any particular brand of pellets you feed your O?

[haynchinook334]

hikari pellets:
veggie: green pellets
meaty: red pellets
i feed my oscar both.
and omega one pellets.

[GregRM]

My oscar loves hikari carnivor sticks

[pcfriedrich]

I feed my O Hikari Cichlid Gold.

Soon to be Bio Gold+.

My O will jump out of the water to grab a piece of freeze dried krill from my fingertips. he usually misses, bites my finger, and knocks the piece of krill on the floor, but its still fun.

My O loves the krill.

[Wyser]

I have tried everything, including the red meaty sticks. I have also tried pellets meant for O's. I must have spoiled him cuz he will accept only live or freshly dead food. Winter is coming on and am getting worried what to feed him as there are no bait shops withing 100 miles of here. I live out in the sticks. Thanks for your input though. Much appreciated.

Thanks :confused:

[pcfriedrich]

if you don't give him a choice, he'll come around.

oscars love to eat. he'll eat pellets, if thats all you give him.

[kperkin1]

this is difficult to achieve. i must admit i have a similar problem but it's gradually getting better. one of my oscars was getting much bigger than the other and the cause was one of them liked the pellets and the other didn't. He went quite a few days without eating! they can be stubborn. but i was persistant and finally he had no choice. just be assertive! lol:headbang2

[Wyser]

Thank you for your input. I think I will give your method a try. Winter is coming and I won't be able to get bugs or worms. What type of pellet to you give your O's?

Thanks

[TwistedPenguin]

I like Cichilid Bio-Gold+ by Hikari as far as pellets. I feed more of other stuff than I do pellets though. They've got something called "Can O' Crickets" here at PetsMart, it's canned moist crickets (huge) made for mainly reptiles. They've got all sorts of stuff like that here, you should be able to get it there or go to the Canadia PetsMart websight and order it. There's crickets, grasshoppers, caterpillars, fish eggs, fly larvae, mealworms, river shrimp....I can't even remember them all.

[Wyser]

Thank you very much for you postive input. I will certainly check out Petsmart. I have however heard that in some cases that people who order canned crickets for the beardies actually made them sick because the crickets were rotten. Nevertheless, I am going to try him on the pellets you suggested and also the canned crickets. At the moment I can still get them llive but when that live supply runs out, I will try the canned ones. Its my own fault, I have fed him live food ever since he was a baby so I guess he got spoiled hahaha......... later and thanks again.

[Cichlaholics Anonymous]

there are freeze dried crickets for sale in pet stores as well as mealworms.

[Wyser]

Maybe I should try him on beer hhhaha