I have always been under the impression oscars grow at an alarming rate. However, my young tiger oscar, who i have had for at least 4 months and he has grown no more than 1/2" - 1" max. He eats like a pig, has pristine water and lives in a 180g. I have a red oscar who i purchased at the same time (both around 1.5") has grown to about 4-5" which i presume is more normal. My question is, does anyone else have any dwarf oscars?
Oscar growth rate?
- Thread starter GrantA94
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I do not, but it depends on the fish on how they are if you ask me but not sure really. I am gonna say give it time and keep up water parameters, keep cleaning it ( water change/bio-load), and keep the pig feed..mine is a pig to and need to feed it about 2 or 3 times daily maybe 4 to keep him/her happy.
Usually slow growth not dependent on diet or environment indicates either (as you suspect) genetic anomaly OR internal parasites. Try deworming him and see if his growth doesn't make a leap.
I've already had him in the treatment tank. Along with the larger red O. When i first got them they both had parasites and i gave them treatments. I have since treated the smaller one as i suspected it still had them, as it hadnt grown in comparison. But still nothing, so i am 100% sure there is no parasites on this guy. I figured it may come down to either: poor genetics? Or lesser dominance? There is no aggression between the two so i doubt it is dominance related. I think i just have a slow bloomer.
1 inch per month. My first oscar was close to 12 inches in a year. I bought him at 3 inches
You have to remember, some people tend to be alarmists, they are paranoid by nature. Even fish that do grow large, it can take several years and it still depends on the individual fish. No two fish are ever alike, regardless if they are from the same species. I got one 8 inch Oscar off of CL that I had to rehome because my other two didn't get along with him. The previous owner had it two years and he was only 8 inches. That's only 4 inches a year lol. If you feed your fish a lot then of course they will get bigger faster, but you are not suppose to fish your fish a lot, only what they need. I would not worry about size, fish will grow at their own pace.
Chances are the dominant oscar is getting larger leaving the other behind. but i would dewrom again. cause ive had similar incidents happen where i buy a group or pair of fish and deworm them but one keep growing and the doesnt and noticed the others parasites werent all gone.