Juvenile Oscar

[Kaybear11]

Once my fishless cycle is complete on my 75 gallon, I am going to be looking for a juvenile tiger Oscar to put in there. I am wondering what are some things to look for, positive or negative so I can pick out a good healthy one. I have read on another website saying all juveniles do not have any red/orange coloring until a certain size, is this true? I have done a TON of research on them as far as care and anything else I could find but there wasn't much in the way of juvenile coloring etc. Any other facts/info would be greatly appreciated!

 

[minnnt]

I saw some at a lfs which were about 1.5-2 inch and they had their colour.

 

[Kaybear11]

Thanks, that's what I was worried about. I was looking around my lfs and none of them had color (grayish) but one that looked very washed out. Sadly enough I was at petsmart (refuse to get fish from them) and theirs looked much better. One was absolutely stunning, jet black and a very beautiful red/orange design through him.

 

[Verminator89]

Basically heres my Oscar, which now lives with Hackmaster after i sold him few months ago. I bought him because his "colouration" was different, turns out it was just his juvi colours. So don't be alarmed if they look off, but you can tell a nice juvi oscar from a mottled horrible one.
Looking back, i much prefered his juvi colours, but alas he grew up.

Day or purchase <1"

2 months later at 2"

Then at 4 months, about 3.5/4", shortly before i sold him to hackmaster

 

[Kaybear11]

Thanks! The pics help a lot. The ones at my lfs don't look as good as yours did when he was smaller. I can tell he looks very healthy, that's what I'm concerned about, the others look okay but not like the one you show. I should know if I'm questioning if a fish looks healthy then it's probably not. Sad because I don't have another lfs, it's that or petsmart.

Well there is a petstop but I will buy from petsmart before them.

 

[hackmaster]

And here he is now, he's beautifull I love his colours

http/i154.photobucket.com/albums/s256/cheeky-#19###/3a0aec17.jpg

 

[Kaybear11]

The link says the pic has been moved or deleted

 

[england]

Oscars come in 100s of different looks at fish shop, when juvis oscars go through a big change from fry to adulthood, if you look at verminators when he got his, its the fry form of colouration usually loosing that around 1-2inches, then you can see some with red in and some just a sort of greenish tinge, you will not really know 100% until they hit around 7+inches what sort of colouration they will obtain.
There are a few types, red oscars, usually seen with alot of red over them, mush like you dropped them in a reddish powder, then tigers which look like verminators, theres also what are known as albino usually not true albino, also what are called lemon oscars,
see these were mine when i got them and hitting around the 7-8inch mark

Then hitting around 6-7inches

 

[england]

RED OSCAR JUVI

LEMON OSCAR JUVI

Then forgot to say theres the rarer green wild variety, lutino, white tiger, if you see a blueberry variety steer clear, injected with colour.

lutino, white tiger

 

[hackmaster]

<a href="http/s154.photobucket.com/albums/s256/cheeky-#19###/?action=view&current=3a0aec17.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http/i154.photobucket.com/albums/s256/cheeky-#19###/3a0aec17.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket Pictures, Images and Photos" /></a>

How's that

 

[Kaybear11]

Thanks for more pics! I just wanted to make sure the ones I saw at my lfs were the norm as far as not having any color. I would really like to find a local breeder and get one directly from them but I have a feeling there aren't any in my area.

 

[beechey]

what temp do you general keep oscars at?

 

[Verminator89]

Kept mine between 25-27C. No idea what the recommended temp would be though.