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Sounds like a nice fish. Feeding lower prtoein foods will actually lower the Oscar's aggression when at adulthood.

Ive tried dry krill and he doesnt like it, i'll see if he takes to some frozen krill, my LFS is nice and let me take a block to my oscar and see what food he likes before i buy the whole pack !
Live mealworms? are they those browny coloured worms that are fed to geckos and water dragons? and do they live for long in the water and will they try and bury in the gravel?
Does beef heart bring out his colour i know it does excelently in piranha.

Malawi Freak: he is about 3-4 inches and he's BEATIFUL tiger oscar a real bargain at 10.

have you tried beef heart.

Hikari Cihclid Gold is good. Try live mealworms.

Hey
You should try kril thats what my next door neighbour feeds his and its .
how big is it ?

Jason you have a good point, and I have to get more on the water changes myself in the 90 gal. So I'll do a large water change.

The Amazon Nut...

although it is not recommended and i only do it if i have a super problem,my oscar withstands about 85-90% water cahnges,and once every six months a 100% water change.

I just wanted to add that Jason RS is right alot of oscars can handle these bigger water changes. Don't want to mislead Dave..

I do bigger water changes (50-70%) with all my fish. that includes all my small and large cichlids, puffers, plecos, catfish etc. There are a lot of people that do 75% changes weekly. A lot of times I'll do closer to 70% just in case the I'm a little extra busy the following week. This way if I need to skip a week I can without feeling guilty but I do my best to do changes every week.

Jason

I just wanted to add that Jason RS is right alot of oscars can handle these bigger water changes. Don't want to mislead Dave..

Most water changes recommended for fish is 25 to 30%.
My oscar will swim right up to me while I'm adding water, so I can dump it on his head, which he enjoys !

The Amazon Nut...

yes dave they DO!isnt it crazy,they have some scientific name for it but i call it "2 pairs" as the have 2 pairs of teeth. the 1st pair is were yours and mine are and the 2nd one is in the throat.
-cichlid kid

DaFish Man, wicked post. I didn't buy my oscar for aggresiveness, at all. If i wanted aggrsive i would have stuck with my Malawi that attacks whenever someone rubs the glass or tries to do a water change. I thought about buying it for ages, and now I have an income ( part time in a super market ), i'll be able to get a bigger tank when she needs it. I bought an oscar because they are clever and is a great pet not just a fish.
I've fed him; 4 guppies, 1 neon, and 2 sucking loach ( the loach was NOT my plan). I'll see if i can whack some live bearers in my brothers 17 gallon because Ive heard HIH happens and i'd rather it NOT happen to me.

I do 30% water changes everyweek and have two filters running, doing 2000 l/h. So im not too worried about pollution at the moment. even though she is a REALLY messy eater.

The thing about them eating the fish whole i reliesed that last night, even though my oscar swollowed a guppy once chewed it up abit spat it out (still alive, but messed up back) then swollowed it again, Oscars dont have teeth do they?
Dave

[span class="edited"][Edited by garbutt_dave 2004-07-15 11:17][/span]

I do 50%-70% water changes weekly or every other week. I've never seen this cause a problem, though I wouldn't recommend changing much more. I'd never change 100% of the water unless the water became contaminated or I was moving the tank.

Jason

Large water changes can stress a fish, although an oscar can be very hardy when it comes to water, don't recommend larger than 40% volume change at once..

The Amazon Nut...

it is true,though,i neglected this but you will have to siphon out about 75-maybe100% of your tanks water.
that is why i do not do this very often!period.

DAVE: i cna get 100 baby mice for 10 at my pet shop

6x2x2 - Firemouth and Oscar Tank
30+ royal pythons.

Back in the game after 4 years out ..

Yo Dave !

I've raised several oscars so here's the deal.. Simplified..

1. Oscar will try to eat anything that will fit into it's mouth..

2. Oscars, don't KILL their food. They swallow it whole.

3. Diet - Hikari Pellets, Shrimp Pellets, Cichlid Flakes,
occasional feeders, bloodworms.. Worms if they
will eat it.. Shrimp, small slices of raw fish.

Everything else is a waste of time, effort, money, and will really mess up your tank. I'm talking beefheart, mice etc... Waste of time and too much protein waste will pollute your water quality.. And you'll end up with a huge bulky (ugly)oscar that just sits on the tank bottom, lazy, with a shorter lifespan.. If you're bent on a high protein diet, breed your own platies.. Platies grow alot faster than guppies.

4. I used to feed alot more feeders to oscars in the past, never once did they get any disease from the fish.

5. If you're picking a fish just for it's level of aggression, you've picked the wrong fish.. A small mbuna 1/10th of the oscars bodyweight can stress an oscar to death.. Oscars are wussies. If you keep it, realize that.
We keep them because they are interesting and have cool personalities. You'll learn alot from your oscar.

My oscar is always left a little hungry, they are way more active and fast, and alert that way.. (and more aggresive when you DO throw a feeder in) SMACK.







The Amazon Nut...

thannks dave.

hey,
I got an oscar off my brother a few weeks back and i feed him: hakari gold and specialty mix of floating sinking pellets, everyday.
on also feed him: prawns,cockroaches (pet ones), guppies, bloodworm and daphnia, every now and then.
I've tried feeding worms but he doesnt like them.
I was wondering what other food people feed their oscars regulary and what else you feed them occasionly. or anyother food that you may think would be good for them?
Also has anyone made their own frozen food or dry food?

Thanks in Advance

David.

Cichlid Kid, try searching the web, Ive found LOADS of sites that are american, it does my head in. I'll be getting some pinkies for free from my brothers mates, and buying some.

[span class="edited"][Edited by garbutt_dave 2004-07-13 05:32][/span]

yes they will be fine make sure they are unthawed though as that is how i have had the best luck w/them,but then again what do i know im just a 14 yr old kid?
Also how much will thoughs be in the states as i need some and i only have access to 10 pinkie mice every 2 1/2 months.

I'll be buying these, or something like these:

http://easyexotics.co.uk/store/customer/product.php?productid=17382&cat=316&page=2

They're ok arent they?

cool dave i told you he would like ham or roastbeef or other lunch meat.
Also the mice should be furless.they should also be about 1/2 an inch, if they are bigger than that dont give them to him until he get to be about 8-10 inches.
Cichlid Kid

UPDATE: I just fed my oscar some waffer thing ham, he loved it! spinach didnt like! broccoli (sp?) loved! and ive decided im gonna see if i can get a better price in town, if i cant Im getting 25 fluffless mice for 8 off the net.

Dave

ya id say thats a good price about 16$ american noone breaking the bank or anything!

Im waiting till ive got my day off of school on Friday, me and my mate'll be going to all the pet shops and the LFS looking for some stuff to feed our oscars, mine is better that his are,

You know when you fed mice were they the smallest you could get and furless, because there is 25 frozen ones for 8 on the net, is that a good price?

I fed mine a live cricket I found in the house today. It goubled it up. I cought some more in the yard today also. I wonder if this is ok though. I am sort worried about parasites.

Oscars don't come from Central America. Goldfish are native to China. I doubt you'll see a school of Sarasa Comets swimming along in the Rio Paraguay.

not neccasarily true,some pairs of goldfish or fish in the family come from c/a!

Yerah, I agree. If it eats it in the wild, feed it too him. But goldfish are from China and Guppies are from Central America, neither are from where Oscars come from!

Hey
You can buy yhtme from ret smart and other places like a i had to feed my snake them but i only got the frozen ones but you have to wait until they have defrosted

oh, well i took a few weeks for me to even see him eat but after that he was king of the tank and always jumpin

he's still abit nervous, so wont eat from my hand, as ive said a few times i've been moving fish in and out of his tank and him in and out of tanks.

to stimulate my oscar i make him jump for his food it is quite amusing and now i am teaching him how to read] oh yea....this.... will be fun

I also like to give my fish live food because it makes him work for his food, instead of just swimming at the surface until a pellet comes past, I do not feed my fish live food all the time, he is about 5 months old and has only had 4 guppies, so i dont feed him live fish every day.

By larger predatory cichlids they probably mean Peacock Basses

Larger predatory cichlids can refer to, but is not limited to, Midas, Red Devil, any guapote (Parachromis genus), Salvini, Grammodes, Cuban (N. tetracanthus), Oscars, most of the Crenicichla genus (pikes), most of the Cichla genus (Peacock bass) among many, many others .

I'll try to find the book I'm referring to, but it clearly stated that a staple diet should consist of a good, nutritious pellet and/or food stick while frozen and live foods should be fed as treats. The author made point to specify that he felt live fish, while not as nutritionally benefecial as other foods, should still be offered occasionally.

Jason

By larger predatory cichlids they probably mean Peacock Basses. If the fish will eat other foods, feed them other foods. Live foods are cheaper, disease-ridden (IME), and are not nutritionally complete.

My brother fed his piranha's goldfish whilst he had them and the never had hole in the head or ich. I will be feeding my fish goldfish and others when he gets bigger, he has already had guppies. I dont know why people get so angry with talk of live food, is no different to eating cows, or pigs. or fish eating blood worms. You may say thats why they're there, but i see goldfish are there for food.

Jason: My mate has got loads of guppies because he works at my LFS, and if he ever leaves them to breed, instead of feeding them to his oscar, then i'll be taking some off him.
In reply to whoever said about the baby mice, i'm going to town tommorrow to check that out, how big was our oscar when he had his first FROZEN mouse?

DAve




[span class="edited"][Edited by garbutt_dave 2004-07-09 11:54][/span]

[span class="edited"][Edited by Lindy 2004-07-09 21:51][/span]

The oscar doesn't care whether it gets live food or not, it is simply your own personal excuse to satisfy a need for violence a gore.

That's not always true. I've read a few different books by highly respected experts in the field that recommend feeding live foods, including live fish, occasionally to larger, predatory CA/SA cichlids.

If you do choose to do so, I'd recommend feeding livebearers and breeding them yourself to ensure there will be no diseases introduced to your tank.

Jason

Don't feed goldfish! You wouldn't want it to get ich and HITH, would you? Besides, it is not fair for the goldfish. The oscar doesn't care whether it gets live food or not, it is simply your own personal excuse to satisfy a need for violence a gore.

[span class="edited"][Edited by TheGoldenDojo 2004-07-08 20:43][/span]