Need Oscar Advice Please

[Leongy]

Good evening,
I need a whole lot of advice from more experienced cichlid owners here. I have recently aquired a 12'' tiger oscar from someone's community tank that he didnt want anymore. The tank housed an arowana, and another albino oscar. I was told that their diet was market prawns. Its orangey oscar coloration is also washed out. Its become sort of a yellowish goldenish copper color.

I have since had it for around 4 weeks now(since early july) and have some problems with it.

Firstly,through reading MFK forums, abd worried about HITH issues, i decided to convert it to hikari cichlid gold with no success so far. But just 5 days ago, it started to take notice of the pellets and would just chew it and spit it out of the gills. Not really sure if its eating because what comes out of its gills is as much as what it takes in. He is also not very keen on eating as i observed it swims slowly and around the pellets for a minute or two before taking a bite.

Anothet question i have is that are 12'' oscars really slow swimmers? I see juveniles racing all over the tanks but this guy is one lazy bum. Its always cruising around tge tank and ocasionally resting on the substrate. It doesnt seem keen on food, doesnt beg and all the usual oscar behaviour.

Today, i added in 3 3'' silver dolars as dithers/target fish which i was certain it would eat or will be able to keep up in speed. It ate all 3 of them. I am devastated now that my 4 weeks of "pellet conversion program" has gone to waste.

Also, he is alone in a 60 gallon with 2 synos. I swear that he is now smaller than on the day i got him. Any advice on what i should do? I keep my water pristine with 30% water changes every 2 days.

 

[oscarcrazy]

Sounds like things are actually going well. O's are very messy eaters so the pieces coming out of its gills are normal. Good thing you have those cats to pick up the mess.

Big o's do just really mill around the tank. They have kinda a big old dog persona. I have 4 around a foot long and the only time they move fast is feeding time.

Those dithers being eaten is not a suprise. Most fish eat anything that can fit in their mouth and o's have monster sized mouths. Best to leave your stock list as it is in that size tank.

Sounds like things are actually going well. Post a pic and good luck.

 

[danny2875]

I agree. O's are very messy eaters. They will chew then swallow and alot will come out through the gills. LAying on the bottom is normal. Oscars like to sulk. The only thing I reccommend is a bigger tank. 60g is to small for a 12in O. It also sounds like the previous owner gave him live food hence why your dithers were eaten so quickly. My O's attack the pellets I throw in there.

 

[Leongy]

Not the best of pics but these were taken off the phone camera. 1 megapixel.

As u can see, it doesnt have the usual orange, just copper colored scales.

60 Gal is all i have now as its the only available spare Big tank i can spare for the guy. Oh and the rocks are where the resident synos hide/live

 

[ymolina]

i didnt see anyone mention that oscars can "bond" with ther owners. if the previous owner had him since he was a couple inches he got used to him feeding the oscar. now someone new is feeding him that he doesnt know an thats prolly why the oscar is cautious to you feeding him.

 

[TwistedPenguin]

Adult Oscars are pretty laid back. I used to have 130 lb Great Pyrenees dogs and that's what Oscars remind me of
As far as his color, it looks washed out from stress although he should be used to your tank by now. Maybe the lighting, too. I've got 1 on light colored pool sand and he looks way washed out compared to mine on dark sand. He's probably not used to the pellets yet. They are messy eaters & it sounds like he's eating according to your description. My 2 Oscars that don't have Oscar tankmates will circle around underneath their pellets and grab at em' real slow, too. They're just big lazy fish
Not sure if he'll take greens as an adult but they need that also. Peas, chunks of zucchini, algae flakes, spirulina tablets, stuff like that. Also, it's perfectly acceptable to occasionally feed them human grade shrimp. june bugs, crickets, moths, earthworms, mealworms, mussels, bloodworms, etc etc. It's best to give them a real varied diet but use the pellets as the main part. They're awesome fish. I hope you'll give him a chance and learn to appreciate him. They're very pet-like just like the furred kinds of pets.
Edit: oops I see you've got him on black sand so his color might just be his own color. Or from too many years of not getting a varied enough diet. Might put some tall fake plants or something in there so he feels more hidden instead of so out in the open.

 

[johncl]

Keep trying with the pellets he won't starve himself and they are much better for him than feeders. You might also try some peas if you can get him to eat them. He's a nice lookin O tho the tank is a little on the small side just keep it clean and you should be fine. If you can get him to eat frozen krill that will help bring out the orange in him. Good luck.

 

[JohnM]

How do you prepare the peas before fed to an Oscar? Frozen,thawed,cooked. I know you take the skin off but how do you prepare them?

 

[Leongy]

Yea. Thanks for the advice guys, FYI, i was told its just 2 years old and its diet market shrimps 100% of the time. Will try the fake plants, though he tore up a beautiful amazon sword plant anchored to those rocks previously.

I'm also keeping him for life, so a bigger tank is in the works the first moment i can afford it

 

[TwistedPenguin]

Nothing but shrimp? The poor guy. I took in a 3 yr old Tiger Oscar last Dec who was only 6" long, he'd only ever been fed Koi pellets once a week all his life. (His before & after pics are here if you want to see). His color was gone and he looked awful. Now 8 months later he's over 10" and has nice red coloring. It takes a few months but you're on the right track. Giving him lots of fresh clean water & feeding him a good diet will make a heck of a difference.