My first Oscar - Joe

[phillips321]

Hi guys,

I have just purchased my first oscar. He is only about 1inch long at this time but i know fully well that he is going to grow much bigger (im not even sure if he is a he or if she is a she), anyway the name is Joe)

What would be the best food to feed my new fish at this time (bearing in mind that joe is only 1 inch in size). What are their natural diets? Would baby brine shrimp be good for him, i want him to grow fast and be healthy. how much do i need to feed him at this stage? How many 1 week old brine shrimp would he need per day? What about blood worm? Which would be better? What about vegetables? Cucumber?

Currently joe is in a 30 litre tanks which is far too big for him (i know he will need a bigger tank in the future, this will do for now). how fast will joe grow? I understand that in about 6 months i will need to move him to a larger tank, i am fine with this. How big is a 1 year old oscar? I have been told that in 1 year they can grow up to 9 inches long, is this true?

Is have also been told that there was a forum dedicated to Oscars but i failed to locate it, googled, yahooed, msned, but still no luck. Can anyone point me in the right direction, cheers

I will say thanks in advance for any any help or information i recieve

 

[Synirr]

Congrats on the purchase! I know you're going to adore him!

When I first got my oscar I fed him frozen bloodworms, mostly. Hikari cichlid pellets are also a really good choice if you can find the ones small enough for your oscar to take; my oscar likes those better than he does his frozen silversides! Oscars will eat just about anything they can get in their mouths, though. I haven't tried cucumber or brine shrimp, but given the appetites of oscars, I'm sure they'd take both. I generally feed until I see a little bit of a bulge in their belly, so I'm sure they're full.

As for rate of growth, my oscar was about 2" when I got him 7 months ago and now he's pushing 7"

 

[vantgE]

I would avoid pellets untill it is five inches, use cichlids flakes you can crushem in your fingers for best size and crush less as the oscar gets bigger, bloodworms brineshrimps daphnia should all be healthy and edible for a young oscar. Vegetables are a great supplement for an oscar if they'l eat em, try peas or boiled zucchini when big enough

Cichlids reach full size within two years and usually make it 3/4s there in the first

A good place to learn about oscars is the newworld section below in the main index of this board

 

[JDC]

flake food is okay at 1" I used to have 4 full size (8 to 10 inch easy) i fed them seafood table scraps ( i know some of you disagree with this) and frozen smelt filets. they were 3 to 4 inch long, almost an inch diameter and the Oscars gobled them whole frozen. Thats the kind of fish that cute little 1" baby will grow up to be.
besides the feeding costs, be very careful what kind of fish you put with Joe, these guys don't play at dinner time. They are great pets though, probably the most personality of any fish, they will get to know there owner almost seem to like you.

 

[moneywastedonfish]

oscars will eat anything that fits in there mouth, i fed my oscar small pelets when it was small and increased the size of the pellets as it got bigger. They also love THAWED frozen food and live food. I wouldn't give my fish frozen food as it can cause digestive tract upsets and other nasties.

 

[phillips321]

ummm, i have a problem here then, i currently have him in the tank with a small plec (also about 1.5 inch).

I was hoping that they would stay together and keep out of each others way, you think i shudn't have the plec in there?

im going to the shop to get some baby brine shrimp, hopefully he will like them.

Is there anyway to sex joe?

 

[Macracantha]

Is there anyway to sex joe?

Oscars are difficult to sex until nearly full grown when the female gets thick with roe!

 

[Candyco]

Ok...... I've got an Albino Tiger Oscar When i got him he had a fettish for wafer thin ham (which he still loves) prawns and even normal tropical flakes.... he had frozen bloodworm every 3rd day (defrosted in tank water) I read that they should not have pellets until they are at least 4 1/2 inches.... He is now 6 inches and still wont touch them.

I'm not bragging or anything but i really think he's the healthiest oscar i've ever seen so the above food must be good for him. Although he's a spoilt fish now, as i said he won't touch the pellets!

Kaz x-x-x-x-x

 

[freddyk]

In the wild Oscars eat insects, insect larvae, crustaceans, small fish, worms... pretty much anything they can find. Flakes, small pellets, small shrimp, small insects, small insect larvae, and bloodworms are all good foods to start them on. Small pellets are available for small fish, and starting them on it younger helps get them used to it for later. The digestive problems from pellets occurs when people overfeed this condensed nutrition.

i want him to grow fast and be healthy.

Just remember that having an aquarium large enough for them to grow into is part of this equation. It's also good to keep in mind that fast growth is not necessarily healthy. We can force our fish to grow much faster then natural by overfeeding and keeping the temperature of the tank warm, but faster growth equals worse health long term and a shorter lifespan. It's tough not to overfeed these beggers, but it's best not to.

 

[DMan99]

How big a tank would you need for a fully grown oscar??? providin it was the only inhabitant.

 

[glolite]

ummm, i have a problem here then, i currently have him in the tank with a small plec (also about 1.5 inch).

I was hoping that they would stay together and keep out of each others way, you think i shudn't have the plec in there?

im going to the shop to get some baby brine shrimp, hopefully he will like them.

Is there anyway to sex joe?

I wouldn't worry about the plec, they can take care of themselves, especially if it's a common plec or other large catfish. They are armoured and eat different food anyway and are good companions for cichlids, even aggressive ones.

 

[Synirr]

I agree that the plec shouldn't be a problem. They grow fast as well, so he should be able to keep up with the oscar, and even if not, oscars tend to bond with tankmates they are raised with, so he'll probably leave the plec well enough alone
The absolute minimum tank size for an adult oscar is 55 gallons.