Feeding Oscar Cichlid Problems

[Zak03]

Well when you put in the work you can expect a beautiful monster.View attachment 1350783
This is Toni. Raised by Jexnell to 11.5 inches, now cared for by me. The hubby and I just measured her tonight by netting her against the glass. She is right at 12inches from tip to tip. Jexnell builds em big lol.

Absolutely beautiful

 

[Zak03]

Well when you put in the work you can expect a beautiful monster.View attachment 1350783
This is Toni. Raised by Jexnell to 11.5 inches, now cared for by me. The hubby and I just measured her tonight by netting her against the glass. She is right at 12inches from tip to tip. Jexnell builds em big lol.

Absolutely beautiful

 

[Zak03]

This is the day I brought her home.View attachment 1350786
She was a tiny thing @1.5 inches. She started out in a 55gal. At the 8in mark, she moved up to a 125gal.

For the moment lets worry about getting yours thru this cycle. If you don't have an air pump on your tank I suggest getting one. Oscar's like highly oxygenated water. The more the surface of the water is agitated the more oxygen gets pulled into the water column.
Temperature plays a role in the metabolism rate in fish. Different sites can have vastly different information. I keep my fish tanks at 75deg. To low and they become less active. Higher temps speed them up and ATM we don't want that.
Your fish are still young give them hides where they can get out of site and rest. They then can come out when they are ready to. This will lower their stress and help them. Floating plants real or fake can help them distress as well.

So,
Oxygenated water: I have a hang on the back filter so it pours the water back into the tank and agitating the water. I believe that works

Temp: That is taken care of. I have a heater and a thermometer.

Hides: I have a few hiding spots. Placed some rocks that give a few small hiding sports which are big enough for the Oscars while they're this size. I don't have any floating plants, but I do have this fake plant the has these wide leaves that they can hide under. (my sun cat really liked that plant when he first moved in)

 

[Zak03]

After reading jexnells post, I realized your tank had barely started cycling and will be cycling for perhaps the next 5-7 weeks, a dangerous time for fish.
Until it has cycled, you need to be doing the daily 20% (I would do 50%) water changes jexnell suggested to dilute the toxic effects of ammonia produced by fish urine, other waste, and your tendency to overfeed.
And as suggested, vacuum any uneaten food and feces up with each water change.
Unless you keep this regime up, the chances of your Oscars and cat surviving the process may be quite small.
Sorry if that seems harsh, but I think you need to be prepared for the reality, not coddling.

Thank you for the warning. And I completely agree coddling won't do any good at all. Gotta clean the extra food, do small water changes every day for a few weeks.

 

[Zachk29]

I’ve never had a problem feeding my Oscars they are like little pigs. I’ve been feeding my Oscars hikari gold for ten years and they love it. With the new batch of Oscars I got I’ve noticed that they don’t like to eat in the mornings so I feed them twice at night. Also my Oscars Love brine shrimp you can maybe try some of that it sinks so they should eat it right up.

 

[Zak03]

I’ve never had a problem feeding my Oscars they are like little pigs. I’ve been feeding my Oscars Hikari gold for ten years and they love it. With the new batch of Oscars I got, I’ve noticed that they don’t like to eat in the mornings so I feed them twice at night. Also, my Oscars Love brine shrimp you can maybe try some of that it sinks so they should eat it right up.

I just fed them. And I realized that they prefer food that sinks. They don't like floating food. And I did a water change, and they were much more receptive, engaging, and responsive to food.

 

[Zachk29]

I just fed them. And I realized that they prefer food that sinks. They don't like floating food. And I did a water change, and they were much more receptive, engaging, and responsive to food.

That’s good to hear you just have to find out what they like and you should be good to go.