need some advice on if this is normal. its a little descriptive but I need to picture the rate of growth. my sister had an Oscar when I was young, for like 2 years, it got to 6-7" and she got fed up with it and traded in because of it digging up her substrate. so years later I being into fish too, I thought about building out a monsters tank. saw an 1.5"( about a 50 cent piece) baby tiger Oscar at petsmart for like 4.99. bought it, put it into tank with some 2-2.5 inch cichla mono and a 4" spotted gar. the little guy ate everything, including poop, well he spit it out but shift thru it, yeah kinda nasty. anyway about a week later he is at 2.5". I read that in a big tank you can maintain more than one Oscar, so I got an albino red Oscar at LFS. I was hesitant with the purchase because the albino that I liked was 5". I figure he eat the other Oscar or mangle it. LFS guy said it be fine if your tank is big enough. so I got it. now 3 weeks into buying the tiger Oscar, he has grown to 6" while the same albino Oscar which eats a lot more than any other fish in the tank, is about 5.5" after 2 weeks. btw I think my sister was starving her Oscar. its long and winded, but I just wanted to paint a clear picture of how fast this thing is growing. my cichla that used to picked on him are now terrify of him, he move into an area they clear out. btw my cichla which I thought was growing really fast is at 3-4 after 3 weeks, basically they grew 1". should I move him to a different tank and slow down his feeding, I mean I never had to punish a fish for eating, but perhaps he growing too fast for his own good. any other Oscar owner seen this kind of growth? I am thinking he is going to hit full adult size giving another 2 mths if he doesn't slow. oh and he sleeps really weird, I thought he was dead, he sleeps on his side, like a 30 degree from bottom, not complete but almost laying down, and instead of fighting and using different part of aquarium the 2 Oscars are always next to each other, male-female? also my tank setup is grow out tank, 120g, bare bottom, simple 4 sponge filters, and heater. I vacuum the bottom daily and 25 water change daily, don't know much about Oscar, but I came from discus school of fish keeping, so far the fish are all happy, eating, good color, and water tested good, no spikes. thx
oscar crazy growth rate, unusual or normal?
- Thread starter dcv92111
- Start date
What kind of diet are you feeding?They can and most do grow crazy fast and that's fine as long as the are doing so on a balanced diet. A premium staple pellet is best ( I prefer NLS) and with a good balanced pellet such as that there is no need to supplement any thing else. Tank and maintenance sound good at least for a little longer, as does your husbandry.
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Sounds normal. Oscars are notorious for being quick growers. Cichla will grow super fast too. Oscars are also known to lay on their sides like that. Don't stop whatever you're doing.
I had to accredit their growth rate to anything I would say it's the water changes. Like I said, keep it up!
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I had to accredit their growth rate to anything I would say it's the water changes. Like I said, keep it up!
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It's not quite as simple as just keep it up. What he is doing husbandry wise is great, but incredible growth if coming from the wrong sources will affect future health and longevity. Example: one fed red Rosie's and hot dogs can grow really fast on a diet like that, but long term they will suffer. They need a balanced diet to thrive long term. Maybe that's being provided and I hope it is, but if it's not than now is the time to change that.
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I like to assume that he isn't feeding them exclusively feeders or beef heart. I think they're growing so fast because of how often he is changing the water. But you're right, it's not that simple. I'm assuming their staple is a pellet.
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err I am actually not try to show how good I keep my fish. I am just asking some cichlids owners if this is normal. I stated how I take care of them to give a point to why my fish do grow well, because I do take care of my juveniles fishes. I grow them different than if they are adults. bare bottom, more water changes, less power feed filter, more feedings per day, etc. I just do this because it was common practice to do for discus. i don't normally have ciclid, yes i know discus is a cichlids, but they different in my books. anyway i normally stay away from cichlids in general because there are too many variables, mainly their temperament. so up to this point the fastest growing fish i have had the chance of raising was silver dollars. they grew amazingly fast, but this Oscar puts everything i ever seen away. its not the diet in general or even water changes, because as i stated i got another Oscar and he/she is growing at a rate i have seen in other fish. 2 weeks after getting the albino Oscar it about .5 inches bigger. while this Tiger Oscar in 2 weeks grew 3 inches. now if this is normal then i am ok with that. or perhaps its a genetics disorder of some short like gigantism is human. me, i think petco use steroid on their fishes ), i normally don't buy fish from petco, they r clueless when it comes to fishes, but i was in there for their $1 per gallon sale. btw still going on 55 gallons 55bucks, cant beat it, great med tank or grow out tank. anyway i saw the guy and remember how much my sister hated how it would bring substrates from one end of the tank to the other every time she fixes it, it fixed back. tenacity, cool in my book. but if anyone is still curious on my diet for them, which i think is irrelevant as my other Oscar and every other fish in that tank is growing fine. mainly i just wanted to know if i should separate him and feed him less, like a well known Oscar problem. for diet, 3-4 times daily, small portions which the fishes can all eat and finish.i start with dry food, tetra color bits, massivore, harkari cichlid sinking, harkari floating stick, 2nd meal usually chopped talipia, brine shrimps, frozen bloodworms, 3rd meal, meal worms, earthworms, crickets. problems is i have to do different food for different species, but the Oscar is not a picky eater by long shot, as i stated i seen him eat poop, many times still on other fishes. the massivore for my bichir are thick and hardy looking, even the bichir lets it sit and soften up. the Oscar just gulps them down like 6 in a roll. i am not sure where it all goes, until one time i saw him swallow something and at the same time poop out some room. i think the consensus is they are fast grower. so lets wait a couple of week and see if he still on turbo mode or he slows down.
Since you're feeding him normally, and no different than your other fish, I wouldn't worry about his growth rate. I don't think it'd be good to try to slow him down by limiting food, even if he is growing real fast, unless he gets too fat. you could cut back on some of the richer food, like massivore, but it might not make a difference.
Impossible to guess the reason for him growing that fast. it could be that he is genetically designed to either mature quickly or end up at the larger end of the size spectrum for oscars.
Hormones? who knows. People get fish from Petco every day that don't grow any faster than normal.
Impossible to guess the reason for him growing that fast. it could be that he is genetically designed to either mature quickly or end up at the larger end of the size spectrum for oscars.
Hormones? who knows. People get fish from Petco every day that don't grow any faster than normal.
Must be genetics, and your good husbandry. Oscars are one of the fastest growing fish you could ever had. It's normal, well if you're worried about obesity you could fast them, like every Tuesdays and Saturdays you could half their meals. Actually it's really recommended to fast our fish, don't let them have the feast everyday.
"Walls of Text" are so hard to read!