I have a pair of 11 inch oscars who got it into there think heads to spawn. I think its cool they want to pass along there genes, but i don't know how to care for the fry. Any help would be appreciated
breeding oscars
- Thread starter hemiboo
- Start date
Well, for starters you should set up at least one 10gal tank so you can remove the fry after they have been free swimmin for a few days. Keep the tank bare, and if you can, get a sponge filter to put in there..less stress on fry, no worries about them gettin sucked up into the filter either! 
Currently i have a pair of Oscars in my 300gal that are breeding. I'm not too horribly anxious to get any fry so I just leave them in there and let the parents and the other fish have their way with them. Most of the time they just eat the eggs before they hatch, or the pl*cos do....lol...but every now and then they do get fry. Not enough of a demand around here for Oscars though and soon I would have more than i knew what to do with, so I am not trying to keep them. But lets just say that I was plannin on keeping them. There are several things that I would do in order to ensure the largest amount of them survived to adult hood. First, I would get at least one 10gal tank set up with sponge filter and all. Preferably two or more 10gal tankz is best, because then that way as the grow you can move them on to the other tankz so they won't eat or out compete their slower growing brothers and sisters. Next, I would wait till the eggs have hatched and the fry have been wrigglers for about two days. At the end of that second day I would start a culture of Brine Shrimp. By the time the Brine Shrimp have hatched, the fry should be free swimmin and their yolk sacs will be used up, ths starting to want to eat things...lol. Generally, depending on the attitude of the parents towards the fry, I would leave them in there for at least one week, using a turkey baster to squirt some of the baby Brine Shrimp next to the fry. Be warned, ANYTHING that goes near the general area of the fry WILL be attacked...relentlessly by either one or both parents. Which, can be rather painful to say the least. If the parents are acting like they are loosing interest in the fry and act like they want to eat them before the week is up, go ahead and remove the fry by siphoning them into a 5gal bucket...this is the best way that i know of to remove them...lol. Do not remove them though until they are free swimmin and the yolk sacs have been all used up. After that, its your call when they get removed. I generally like to leave them with the parents if all is good because it imprints on them better parenting skills and the like. Just a side note, most cichlids don't get it right the first time, so you may have to wait till they do get it right. A lot of the time they will eat the eggs or the fry. Don't worry though, if they are truly a pair, they will eventually get it right. The reason i say if they are truly a pair is that SA cichlids in particular seem to do same sex pairing for some reason. And with oscars, it can be hard to distinguish male from female...lol. Anyway, once you get them into the 10gal tank, feed them everyday, twice a day. They are gonna be very sensative to water quality and the like till they hit around an 1" or 1.5"...so you will have to keep faithful to your waterchanges, doing a 10% water change every other day. Don't do large water changes as it will stress them out and a lot of the time they can't handle it when that small, too much change. Chances are you will loose some, but your end results should out number those lost! Hope this helped yaz out a bit! Any more questions feel free to ask ask ask! Cheers,
Jer
Currently i have a pair of Oscars in my 300gal that are breeding. I'm not too horribly anxious to get any fry so I just leave them in there and let the parents and the other fish have their way with them. Most of the time they just eat the eggs before they hatch, or the pl*cos do....lol...but every now and then they do get fry. Not enough of a demand around here for Oscars though and soon I would have more than i knew what to do with, so I am not trying to keep them. But lets just say that I was plannin on keeping them. There are several things that I would do in order to ensure the largest amount of them survived to adult hood. First, I would get at least one 10gal tank set up with sponge filter and all. Preferably two or more 10gal tankz is best, because then that way as the grow you can move them on to the other tankz so they won't eat or out compete their slower growing brothers and sisters. Next, I would wait till the eggs have hatched and the fry have been wrigglers for about two days. At the end of that second day I would start a culture of Brine Shrimp. By the time the Brine Shrimp have hatched, the fry should be free swimmin and their yolk sacs will be used up, ths starting to want to eat things...lol. Generally, depending on the attitude of the parents towards the fry, I would leave them in there for at least one week, using a turkey baster to squirt some of the baby Brine Shrimp next to the fry. Be warned, ANYTHING that goes near the general area of the fry WILL be attacked...relentlessly by either one or both parents. Which, can be rather painful to say the least. If the parents are acting like they are loosing interest in the fry and act like they want to eat them before the week is up, go ahead and remove the fry by siphoning them into a 5gal bucket...this is the best way that i know of to remove them...lol. Do not remove them though until they are free swimmin and the yolk sacs have been all used up. After that, its your call when they get removed. I generally like to leave them with the parents if all is good because it imprints on them better parenting skills and the like. Just a side note, most cichlids don't get it right the first time, so you may have to wait till they do get it right. A lot of the time they will eat the eggs or the fry. Don't worry though, if they are truly a pair, they will eventually get it right. The reason i say if they are truly a pair is that SA cichlids in particular seem to do same sex pairing for some reason. And with oscars, it can be hard to distinguish male from female...lol. Anyway, once you get them into the 10gal tank, feed them everyday, twice a day. They are gonna be very sensative to water quality and the like till they hit around an 1" or 1.5"...so you will have to keep faithful to your waterchanges, doing a 10% water change every other day. Don't do large water changes as it will stress them out and a lot of the time they can't handle it when that small, too much change. Chances are you will loose some, but your end results should out number those lost! Hope this helped yaz out a bit! Any more questions feel free to ask ask ask! Cheers,Jer
thanks for all the tips, but they got off to a rocky first try and ate the eggs. They look like they might be trying to go at it again so who knows how this next batch will go. I'm not really tring to breed them but i do at least want one from them.
One is albino and the other is a red tiger oscar, i want to see what one will look like
One is albino and the other is a red tiger oscar, i want to see what one will look like
Fish will often eat their eggs the fist times they spawn, like anyone else they have to practice before they get it right.
I find that if you feed every day the are less likely to spawn and when they do they are more likely to eat their eggs becaus ethey arn't used to skipping a meal.
I know I will get some flack for this but it has been my experiance.
I find that if you feed every day the are less likely to spawn and when they do they are more likely to eat their eggs becaus ethey arn't used to skipping a meal.
I know I will get some flack for this but it has been my experiance.