oscars

[BigFish]

i want to know all the info on oscars there is so help me out please

[tigerfish]

feed them a little food at a time or they will waste it, pellets are best

[tigerfish]

if u buy small ones make sure they are not skinny,look at them good.just dont take any,some will morethan likely be sick :cry:

[trout guy]

theyre a really easy fish to take care of like tigerfish said feed them pellets. have a 50gallon tank minimum and keep the water temp in the 72-80 degree range and youll be fine.

[Ocellanatus]

u will need real good filtration cuz dem oscar are messy, i have owned a few over the years so thats my exp.

[Koji]

Oscars are greedy and messy eaters. Thus a good filtration is a MUST. Food wise, feeding pellets is good enough.:)

[WckedMidas]

55 gal will be out grown in aprox a year. Multiple feedings a day small quantitys will make them grow fast and i mean very fast. in a year they should be pushing 12 inchs give or take. Pellets are in my opp best food for oscars. feeders are worse food. feeders will make them sick and cause health problems for them. When i traded my pair of oscars in they were the best looking big pair the lfs has ever seen . and i never gave feeders. They were woprried about hole in the head . trust me pellets are best for em

[Koji]

55 gal will be out grown in aprox a year. Multiple feedings a day small quantitys will make them grow fast and i mean very fast. in a year they should be pushing 12 inchs give or take. Pellets are in my opp best food for oscars. feeders are worse food. feeders will make them sick and cause health problems for them. When i traded my pair of oscars in they were the best looking big pair the lfs has ever seen . and i never gave feeders. They were woprried about hole in the head . trust me pellets are best for em
I 2nd to that. Feeding small quantity every few hours will make a fish grows much faster compared to 2 or 1 big hearty meal per day.

As for feeders. It got to depend on where's the source are these feeders from. If they're from a stream where pollution is not been found, I guess they're still pretty safe to feed. But still the thumb of the rule is still to quarantine them for about at least 2 weeks. If you're to tok about serious quarantine, at least it's gonna take a month of 2. :22_yikes:

[Neo Baron]

look buy a 90g tank and put very large canister filters on i use ehiem than leave the bottom w/ no gravel that makes it eaiser to siphon off debris because oscars chew there food. u can put some gravel in if u want but only put a 1/2 inch, because it is a pain cleaning gravel. as for the feeders i guess these guys have never seen a beutiful fish waste away from feederfish. by the way the water has to be very clean i clean my oscars tank which is a 90g every other day doing like 80% of the water. and he loves it. :hearts:

[troy]

So do you guys relly think feeding my oscers feeder fish is bad for them :uhoh:

[piranha45]

if you're talking about goldfish when you say feederfish, then yes, absolutely

[troy]

then what kind of fish should i feed them

[piranha45]

guppies, and anything else that's small and you're willing to pay the money for.

use big fish pellets as the main diet if you can't afford the fish all the time.

[froggyman]

ive been told that feeder fish arnt the best nitrionalyi found a beefheart recipe that works well Ingredients:

*500 grams (1 pound) beefheart
*350-500 grams (3/4-1 pound) chicken livers
*1 can of shelled green peas
*1 small packet of frozen spinach(150-200g)
*200 grams (1/2 pound) of prawns (I like to peel and head them otherwise they pass the shells and they end up sitting on the bottom of your tank)
*1 cup of fish food pellets crushed (soak this in some warm water to soften, they blends smoother if soft)
*1 packet of unflavored gelatine to bind


Method:

.....Its really quite simple, everything except the gelatine needs to be either minced or put in the food processors and made into a mince-like consistency. I recommend that you do each of the meaty ingredient in the food processor seperately and then combine all in a large mixing bowl. Its okay to blend all the veggies together. Once everything is blended up, combine it all in a bowl. Add the crushed fish food. Disolve the gelatine in a little water(as little as possible) then also add. Mix thoroughly. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Spread the mix evenly on the trays at around 1/4" (5mm) thickness. Place two layers of baking paper over the mix and keep repeating until the tray is full. Allow to set up in the refrigerator, when firm score with the back of a knife into equal serving size portions. Freeze. Once frozen break portions up and store in a container in the freezer.

You can add or not add whatever you like but avoid corn; it is indigestable to fish and causes problems.

Any other ideas on this recipe would be good.

Recipe by Tony Snell


Conversions by Adam Dagna


Important Notes:

This recipe makes an incredibly large amount of food. If you only have 1-3 large cichlids, very young, or small fish; I would recommend making the above recipe at 1/4 portions. This will make sure that it doesn't sit around in the freezer for ever while you try and go through it. I say this out of experience.

Also several people including the creator have burned out their wives blenders making this recipe. I recommend only using a good food processor, if you use a blender be very careful and add all ingredients slowly to insure the blade does not freeze up. Wives and girlfriends tend to be very unhappy when this happens.


Disclaimer
.....I am not a scientist, ichthiologist, or veterinarian. This article is meant solely as an educational tool and not necessarily as a guaranteed cure. This is based on my own research and experiences as well as accounts of others experiences and has helped many people to cure their cases of HITH. I hope it helps you but I can not be held accountable if your fish dies after following the advice contained herein. Please feel free to email me with questions, concerns, and especially success stories at: Adam@cichlidfish.com.

Written by Adam Dagna (©2001-02)

[xTHExHOUZx]

Make sure theres not much it can hurt itself on. Throw some pillows in if you can. They like to swim before they think.

[troy]

guppies, and anything else that's small and you're willing to pay the money for.

use big fish pellets as the main diet if you can't afford the fish all the time.

ok thanks. :cheers:

[titan]

55 gal will be out grown in aprox a year. Multiple feedings a day small quantitys will make them grow fast and i mean very fast. in a year they should be pushing 12 inchs give or take. Pellets are in my opp best food for oscars. feeders are worse food. feeders will make them sick and cause health problems for them. When i traded my pair of oscars in they were the best looking big pair the lfs has ever seen . and i never gave feeders. They were woprried about hole in the head . trust me pellets are best for em

Hi.

What kind of palets have you used?
Is it any difference in quality betwen the palets you can find on the market?

[piranha45]

damn good pellets can be found here:
http://www.kensfish.com
the large floating cichlid pellets, either his own brand or HBH are both good

[afammojoe]

today i fed my oscar an arowana, im not really all that happy about it.

[nvcdl]

When I kept oscars it seemed to be that the debris from pellets polluted the tank more then "real food". I used to fed mine nightcrawlers and trained him to eat pieces of frozen shrimp (thawed out first).

[DanDanUK]

These fish are native to the basins of the amazon and paraguay rivers, and are also found in the river systems of the guinas. They are a good source of food for larger predators and therefore spend their time skulking among the roots, overhanging vegetation and fallen branches or trees along the quiet edges of rivers, lakes and streams rather than in open waters, where they would be easy prey for passing birds, other fish and reptiles.

They are seasonal breeders. Bearing this in mind it maybe necessary to use triggers to stimulateyour fish into breeding. The usual triggers are large water changes ( the water can some times be sprayed rather than poured ) or a raise in water temp, or increase the amount of food you feed them.

During the dry season the fish will gather in shoals. just beaware that if you want to keep mixed cichlids some respond well to each others company and some dont.

The fish are large, active and liable to undermine any rock or wood structures in the tank just make sure that if you do put any items in your tank their firmly seated on the base of ther glass.
Plants are not really a good idea.
If you have anymore questions please feel free to ask i keep Oscars myself.