Please help me sort out a feeding regiment for my new oscar from 1 inch to adult!

[wormtail]

Hey guys, so i have a 1 inch oscar comeing on wednesday and i am beyond excited. I love getting technical and sorting out the most optimal routine for feeding with my pets. I would love someone with some experience to help me create a chart of how much and what to feed at each size. He is the only fish in the tank, so i can get really exact with the ammount of food fed.

So basically, id like to know inch by inch how many times per day to feed, how much, and of what for maximum growth in his first year.

Foods i have, i have: hikari cichlid gold baby pellets 2mm, northfin cichlid formula 3mm, hikari cichlid gold medium 5mm pellets, frozen krill blister packs, freeze dried krill, prawns i can order, mussles i can order. I can also order more food types and sizes if u recommend but THEY MUST BE AVAILABLE ON UK AMAZON. I have also ordered some liquid vitamins to soak freeze dried krill occasionally.

Id really like as much detail as you can give me, if u have the time. As i have a friend who said he had an oscar while he was younger, and he said he doesent think he gave it enough food, despite feeding it like twice a day for the firsy year. Because it only ended up around 9 inches.


oh and also, is this enough cover for a 1 inch oscar? Its going to be just him on his own, but im still worried he will be stressed out from all the open space? Or do u think it will be fine with this ammount of plants?

 

[tlindsey]

Hey guys, so i have a 1 inch oscar comeing on wednesday and i am beyond excited. I love getting technical and sorting out the most optimal routine for feeding with my pets. I would love someone with some experience to help me create a chart of how much and what to feed at each size. He is the only fish in the tank, so i can get really exact with the ammount of food fed.

So basically, id like to know inch by inch how many times per day to feed, how much, and of what for maximum growth in his first year.

Foods i have, i have: hikari cichlid gold baby pellets 2mm, northfin cichlid formula 3mm, hikari cichlid gold medium 5mm pellets, frozen krill blister packs, freeze dried krill, prawns i can order, mussles i can order. I can also order more food types and sizes if u recommend but THEY MUST BE AVAILABLE ON UK AMAZON. I have also ordered some liquid vitamins to soak freeze dried krill occasionally.

Id really like as much detail as you can give me, if u have the time. As i have a friend who said he had an oscar while he was younger, and he said he doesent think he gave it enough food, despite feeding it like twice a day for the firsy year. Because it only ended up around 9 inches.


oh and also, is this enough cover for a 1 inch oscar? Its going to be just him on his own, but im still worried he will be stressed out from all the open space? Or do u think it will be fine with this ammount of plants?

View attachment 1564102

Welcome aboard!
I like your list of food but wouldn't include the mussels. The plants and Oscar’s won't go well especially when the oscar starts to dig them up.

 

[wormtail]

Welcome aboard!
I like your list of food but wouldn't include the mussels. The plants and Oscar’s won't go well especially when the oscar starts to dig them up.

Thanks, the plants are plastic and i think they are hideous lol. I would rather not have them at all, but im worried that the 4cm/1 inch oscar baby will feel super exposed. Im basically asking is there enough cover/hideing spots to not stress him out? and cool cool no mussles it is, one less thing to buy lol.

 

[tlindsey]

Welcome aboard!
I like your list of food but wouldn't include the mussels. The plants and Oscar’s won't go well especially when the oscar starts to dig them up.

Going to tag members who have experience with the Oscar. FINWIN
Jexnell
DawnMichele

 

[tlindsey]

oscar baby will feel super exposed. Im basically asking is there enough cover/hideing spots to not stress him out?

You have done your research yes young cichlids need to feel secure but it won't be long before he sees your shadow and begs for food lol.

 

[wormtail]

You have done your research yes young cichlids need to feel secure but it won't be long before he sees your shadow and begs for food lol.

loool fingers crossed, looking forward to getting the little bugger. I just really wana make sure i am feeding him the perfect ammount.

 

[jjohnwm]

I'm not going to address what to feed him...only partially because I'm not about to log onto and check with Amazon UK for each suggestion...but just a general comment here: There is a big difference IMHO between ideal feeding levels for maximum growth as opposed to optimum health. Unless you are planning a fish fry as soon as possible, I don't think you should shoot for maximum growth rate. It often results in minimum life expectancy; it's true with many reptiles and other animals, it seems to be true with many fish, and I'd be surprised if it weren't true for Oscars. It's also pretty hard to obtain maximum growth rate without overstepping into the realm of overfeeding, obesity, fatty deposits, etc.

Granted, I have no charts to back up my claim, and certainly can't remember any references to bolster it...but then I'm not really looking for them.

I haven't kept Oscars for years, and avoid them now only because of my local water chemistry, but back when I did my fish all obtained good sizes of 12-15 inches, taking a couple years to get there and then slowing down considerably. You can probably do it in half the time, but...again, IMHO...I don't think you would be doing your fish any favours by doing so.

I agree on another point: those plants suck! But there's more than enough cover in there for a 1-inch Oscar, and within a very few weeks you could remove them all if you wanted to and he wouldn't blink. They are not shy fish.

Your friend's Oscar may have had other reasons for it's slower growth. Feeding twice a day doesn't say anything without telling how much food was offered. I have young fish that I will feed 6 or 7 times daily if I can, but they are still ravenous because each feeding is tiny. We don't know how often or how large your friend's water changes were, but nitrates will accumulate extremely quickly with Oscars and high levels will definitely slow growth. Plenty of folks brag about their weekly 25% water changes, which might be plenty when the fish is an inch long...but laughably inadequate only a few months later.

I await the input of other more experienced Oscar keepers; curious to see what the range of responses will be. Good luck, Oscars may be common as dirt but they are still one of
the coolest, most interesting fish in the hobby.

:

 

[wormtail]

I'm not going to address what to feed him...only partially because I'm not about to log onto and check with Amazon UK for each suggestion...but just a general comment here: There is a big difference IMHO between ideal feeding levels for maximum growth as opposed to optimum health. Unless you are planning a fish fry as soon as possible, I don't think you should shoot for maximum growth rate. It often results in minimum life expectancy; it's true with many reptiles and other animals, it seems to be true with many fish, and I'd be surprised if it weren't true for Oscars. It's also pretty hard to obtain maximum growth rate without overstepping into the realm of overfeeding, obesity, fatty deposits, etc.

Granted, I have no charts to back up my claim, and certainly can't remember any references to bolster it...but then I'm not really looking for them.

I haven't kept Oscars for years, and avoid them now only because of my local water chemistry, but back when I did my fish all obtained good sizes of 12-15 inches, taking a couple years to get there and then slowing down considerably. You can probably do it in half the time, but...again, IMHO...I don't think you would be doing your fish any favours by doing so.

I agree on another point: those plants suck! But there's more than enough cover in there for a 1-inch Oscar, and within a very few weeks you could remove them all if you wanted to and he wouldn't blink. They are not shy fish.

Your friend's Oscar may have had other reasons for it's slower growth. Feeding twice a day doesn't say anything without telling how much food was offered. I have young fish that I will feed 6 or 7 times daily if I can, but they are still ravenous because each feeding is tiny. We don't know how often or how large your friend's water changes were, but nitrates will accumulate extremely quickly with Oscars and high levels will definitely slow growth. Plenty of folks brag about their weekly 25% water changes, which might be plenty when the fish is an inch long...but laughably inadequate only a few months later.

I await the input of other more experienced Oscar keepers; curious to see what the range of responses will be. Good luck, Oscars may be common as dirt but they are still one of
the coolest, most interesting fish in the hobby.

:

this is a good point, i didnt think about, i guess what i am looking for is the best feeding ammount/frequency at each stage of his life for maximum end size and health of the fish. Rather than, as you say maxium growth speed. I am basically just really hopeing to end up with an atleast 12 inch oscar. I see all over this forum people saying like 12 inches by the end of a year etc etc. but when i ask chatgpt or read online in other places it kind of sounds like 10 inches is the size most oscars reach in captivity, not 12-15 inches. Chat gpt said only 20-25% of oscars will get to 12 inches or more. I really wana maximise my chance of getting a nice 12 inch fish.

 

[jjohnwm]

Chat gpt?!?!? (hork and spit...)

Not a fan myself, but they may be correct in this case. A huge percentage of Oscars don't exceed 10 inches in captivity, largely because they get inadequate care and substandard housing and likely die within a year or two.

Oscars should live much longer than that, and the biggest can get much larger than 10, 12 or even 14 inches. I'd think that any Oscar should easily exceed 10 or 12 inches if given halfway decent care.

Brick (belonging to FINWIN ) and Big Boy ( DawnMichele ) are two that leap to mind; those fish were practically members of the forum. Jexnell had a beauty as well, can't recall its moniker.

Listen to those folks...rather than Chat gpt (hork and spit...)

 

[wormtail]

Chat gpt?!?!? (hork and spit...)

Not a fan myself, but they may be correct in this case. A huge percentage of Oscars don't exceed 10 inches in captivity, largely because they get inadequate care and substandard housing and likely die within a year or two.

Oscars should live much longer than that, and the biggest can get much larger than 10, 12 or even 14 inches. I'd think that any Oscar should easily exceed 10 or 12 inches if given halfway decent care.

Brick (belonging to FINWIN ) and Big Boy ( DawnMichele ) are two that leap to mind; those fish were practically members of the forum. Jexnell had a beauty as well, can't recall its moniker.

Listen to those folks...rather than Chat gpt (hork and spit...)

im sure ahah, im hopeing those lads will see the post and chime in with some indepth feeding advice for me. I really give the lil lad the best start possible. Get feeding ratio perfectly right.