Hi everyone, Does anybody know a good place to buy high quality oscars? Most shops these days have nothing but drab looking oscars. Years ago I remember seeing oscars with deep rich shades of orange and black with very little olive/brown on the face and body.
high quality Tiger Oscars
- Thread starter ccperales
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:rofl: :lol:ccperales said:
I would just keep on looking at lfs till you get the one that has that characteristic.
Theres a new strain out there thats almost all red. and there are the wild ones ; including orbiculatus.. those are the high quality o's that i know of.
Well I have two Oscars, and I m not exactly sure if you would called them high quality but I love them I take good care of them. However They are growing and I need to find a nice home for them so if you interested plz let me know.
I'm actually more fond of the wild type or the "zebra" coloration. A long time ago a pet store here use to have tons of juveniles that were the black & white zebras and I thought those were cooler than the tigers and reds. Alas, they went out of business. Oh well.
2 of my Oscar's look just as you have described i also have an Albino Oscar . But unfortunatly i bought mine from a private breeder.
Sometimes you just have to be patient. I suggest you talk to your LFS, and see if he brings in Oscars from a regular supplier or from a few different ones. I usually try to make it around to most of the petshops in town (the good ones anyways) about once every few weeks, seeing what they got in and seeing if anyone traded something in I have been looking for. Oscars are pretty hit and miss on shipments, with really nice tigers ordered more and more infrequently, but definitely not rare by any standards. Just keep looking, and you will surely find what you are looking for.
It's all good advice above. I've worked at a LFS that specializes in cichlids for over 3.5 yrs now (only once a week these days-couldn't pass up a summer internship) and there are some nice looking oscars and lots of trashy lookin ones out there. It's all about when and where you get them. The same distributor could have beauties one week and ones you just wish you had something big enough to gobble em down the next. There are some really nice strains out there-i think they're calling the all red one "cherry red" or something like that, but I'm sure there are 20 names for it. There are also many vibrant ones as well as cool looking wild types that are pretty common. I don't know how often oscars are "juiced," but as with all fish watch out for it. That brings up the nature and nurture thing. A lot of the vibrant color may be enhanced by high shrimp/krill diets, but it's also genetic. Just take your time, be picky, and you'll find the right one.
I agree with robby, take your time and shop around for an O w/ brilliant colors and personality. I made a huge mistake a few months ago and ordered some lemon O's from aquascape and it was ALL bad. O's ended up with black spots on the stomach and unhealthy looking. My buddy at the time also bought some gold O's from aquascape and came in retarded, or shall I say with abnormalities. They were a nice gold but had only ONE single pelvic fin. Just keep checking with your lfs and in due time they'll have a nice batch. Good luck on your search!