Food For Oscars

[erk628]

I have a tiger oscar and I was just wondering what variety of food I should feed him. Right now he mainly eats frozen brine shrimp, beefheart, and bloodworms. What could I feed him that would help to bring out his color help him grow faster and just overall be healthy. If possible could you please be specific like name brands etc.

Thanks for the help!

 

[blodhi74]

Looks like you are doing a good job.

 

[data276]

freeze dried from hikari

hikari sinking carnivore pellets

try some live crickets and mealworms as well

I heard New Life Spectrum is good but, don't have any personal experience with it.


you may find this article informative..

http/americanaquariumproducts.com/Quality_Fish_Food.html

 

[Colin_T]

Brineshrimp has very little in it nutritionally, (unless it has been fortified or fed with algae before it was packed). Bloodworms and beef heart are often associated with causing hole in the head disease with Oscars. This is due to the high protein levels in these foods, and if the tank isn't cleaned regularly, then the water can go off very quickly and encourage disease organisms to flourish. An Oscar tank should get a partial water change and gravel clean at least once a week, preferably more often if possible.
Beef heart is also a red meat and fish don't digest it properly. They tend to develop fatty deposits in their body when they eat a lot of it.

The best foods for Oscars are fish and prawn, however any marine food will do, ie: squid, octopus, mussels & clam. Various cichlid pellets are also fine and Hikari & Wardleys do pretty good cichlid pellets. You can also use Marine pellets for Oscars, Tetra is a good brand.
A fishing or bait store is a pretty good place to buy whitebait, blue sardines (fish) & prawns.

When the Oscars are mature you should reduce their feeding to once every few days. Oscars are predatory fish that eat whenever they can. In the wild they might only eat once a week, but in an aquarium they are usually fed once or twice a day. They will be happy getting fed this often but usually get really fat on this sort of feeding regime. Also the more food going into the tank, the more water changes & gravel cleans you need to do to keep the tank clean.

 

[shelaghfishface]

When the Oscars are mature you should reduce their feeding to once every few days. Oscars are predatory fish that eat whenever they can. In the wild they might only eat once a week, but in an aquarium they are usually fed once or twice a day. They will be happy getting fed this often but usually get really fat on this sort of feeding regime. Also the more food going into the tank, the more water changes & gravel cleans you need to do to keep the tank clean.

this is excellent advice about the feeding,so many oscars die prematurley in home aquariums due to over feeding,its really hard to resist there attention seeking habits but it has to be done for their own good
i feed mine
tetradoromin cichlid pellets ( once a day) the babies get fed 3 times a day and will do till they reach about 6 inches
boiled squished peas ( once a week)
cooked prawns ( as a treat, too often)
i dont feed bloodworm anymore as i have seen jambo gulping an awful lot of air when swallowing it, and have never fed beef heart,due to the fact that im squeemish,and im not convinced that its good for them,too fatty.
i have fed cooked cod fillet,and diffrent types of veggies which they seem to really enjoy,i never have or will feed live feeder fish to them ( goldfish etc)
i wouldnt worry about trying to get him to grow faster, they grow fast for the first year anyway, make sure you take pics of him as you will miss him growing and changing if you blink!

and when your ready, please come and join the other oscar keepers on the forum here [URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=253192"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=253192[/URL] theres always lots of friendly helpful advice given and needed

shelagh xxxx

 

[england]

plugging the oscar club, go girl

agreed wholely with what everyones said,
prawns should help bring out the pigment, also hilraki is a good food source

you can treat you fish every so often, with things like woodlice,chopped garden worms,feeder shrimp,do not feed feeder fish such as goldfish etc as this is a real waste of time and could introduce some nastys

as shela says- these guys grow quick, make sure your filterations top notch and preform weekly water changes to keep them healthy as possible<this also helps the growth rate, when cleaning always gravel vacum aswell.....

for example i have a 566litre tank, twice a week it gets a 300 litre waterchange including gravel vac

 

[erk628]

Thanks alot for everyones great advice. One question I do have is what are prawn?

 

[Colin_T]

Prawn/ shrimp are the same thing. A crustacean that is often eaten at fancy restaurants, barbeques or as an entree. It is also commonly sold as bait for fishermen. You can buy it frozen of fresh. Frozen is usually best for fish food. You keep it in the freezer until needed. Then take one or two prawns/ shrimp out and defrost them. Remove the head and shell and break (or cut with a pr of scissors) the remaining prawn up into bite size pieces. Offer the fish one or two pieces at a time until they are full. When the fish are full stop feeding and remove any uneaten food.

 

[erk628]

Prawn/ shrimp are the same thing. A crustacean that is often eaten at fancy restaurants, barbeques or as an entree. It is also commonly sold as bait for fishermen. You can buy it frozen of fresh. Frozen is usually best for fish food. You keep it in the freezer until needed. Then take one or two prawns/ shrimp out and defrost them. Remove the head and shell and break (or cut with a pr of scissors) the remaining prawn up into bite size pieces. Offer the fish one or two pieces at a time until they are full. When the fish are full stop feeding and remove any uneaten food.

Ok thanks never heard them called pawn. So would the ones you buy at the store be ok. If so should I get them at the seafood section or would the ones that come on a platter be ok. Don't know if those would have any additives in them.

 

[Colin_T]

Prawns are what they get called in Asutralia and UK, the US tends to call them shrimp. Same thing, different name.

buy the ones from the seafood section. Try to get frozen rather than fresh. Don't buy any that have seasoning or anything like that Just plain old boring raw prawn/ shrimp.