Oscar Pros I Need Your Help

[Militis]

Ok the thing is people say differnt things about how many times and how much i should feed my oscar so oscar pros how many times a day and how much should i give the oscar blood worms two or three times a week should i give the oscar as a once a month treat a type of fish fillet?????.

Please help as i do not want my oscar to end up dieing because of lack of food.

 

[timmo666]

hey man i have a pair of O's myself.

i feed them a large variety of foods.

as juveniles you should feed them 3 times daily
try to shuffle their intake of foods so its not the same thing over and over. this will help their health and color.

what i feed my O's are:

Frozen Beefheart : bought at petstore, great for growth

frozen bloodworms : as above good to bring out red colors

live crickets : from juvenile O's to large you can buy small med and large crickets to suit

slivers of sea caught fish: washed and prepared for cooking

Hikari gold large cichlid pellets : good nutrients but may be hard getting a young O used to them. older ones (larger) seem to eat anything available (love these fish )

some oscars enjoy peas, after popped out of the skin for baby O's. but this can have a laxative effect to fish lol.

avoid fatty foods as it is bad for their digestive system.

some common foods fed to oscars that are not good for them are:
Ham
Bacon
Chicken
left overs from dinner (its true i have seen it, not good fish keeping...)

hope this helps ya out dude!

post a pic of the Little monster!

 

[Chago09]

well your fish may like that but I try to stay away from things that are not natural to your fish. I don't like feeding beefheart because 1.) it will pollute water so fast it isn't funny and 2.) Oscars do not eat cows or mammal protein. Now I know this may be far fetched by studies have been shown that you shouldn't feed mammal protein to fish that are not used to eating it. Like if your someone who only eats well done steak his whole life. Then one day orders the really rare one, you are more than likely gonna $hit your pants, if you know what I mean.

Bloodworms are great, krill is awesome and the main staple should be a high quality pellet. IMO Hikari makes the best pellet. If you want fast growth, amazing colours and a overall healthy fish. Spend the money and get the Hikari Cichlid Bio-Gold+. Some people thinks its a scam although look at my Trimac in my avator. I can post some pics of my Oscar too if you want. Nothing beats that food and I have proof, I have seen the difference with my own eyes. all the proof I will ever need.

 

[Buttercup_21]

I wouldn't say I was a pro but my two youngsters are healthy and growing well (got at about one inch 3 months ago and now about four inches). I feed them twice a day, in the morning Hikari cichild pellets and in the evening a selection of frozen bloodworm (favourite), krill, muscle meat (not so keen), and brineshrimp rotated. I also drop algae wafers and sinking carnivorous pellets in then for the bottom feeders and the O's steal a load of these too!

 

[likestofish]

How about bluegill fillets that have been in the freezer for a while?

 

[tunerX]

I feed young Os about 4-5 times a day until they hit 6 inches. Then I feed 2-3 times a day until they hit 9-10. At about 9-10 inches (9-10 months if you feed and maintain properly), I feed 1 time a day. For adult fish, I skip every Thursday and Sunday.

 

[skiptomyzoo]

you will be able to gauge it accordingly quickly and learn how to as a result, I really didnt pay attention to exactly how I did it as it grew, but heres a basic outline: Much more smaller feedings per day when thier younger, less when thier older. Or you could just do how much it consumes in 2-3 minutes 2-3 times a day, and that would be plenty IMO. I use multiple kinds of hikari pellets, the occasional bloodworms and sometimes pieces of earthworm. Oscars produce alot of waste, so you don't exactly want to overfeed, and extra food will just decay and throw off your water params. Whatever you do stay away from coldwater feeders or other food that is high in fat, very bad for an O, a fat oscar isn't exactly a healthy one.

 

[Militis]

Thanks guys i have gathered info from both threads feel a little less nervous but yer i will post pictures.
when i went to my LFS they were about4-6cm little tiny guys they were all looking at me next week i will have a tough choice.

 

[Militis]

Shopping List For Oscar
BloodWorms
Gold Pellets
Algae Pellets(someone said this is kinda good for a variance)

Am i missing anything??.

 

[Mystix212]

Your oscar will eat anything it see's fit. Feed it a good quality pellet as the staple, and along with that feed bloodworms, market shrimp when larger (de-shelled), earthworms (not required but its great for them), fish fillets, etc.