Spoiled Oscar Fish

[Raveston]

So, I'm thinking my Oscar fish is a spoiled brat

He is a picky eater. I put a nightcrawler in the tank and he will play with it. Semi amusing. Won't eat it unless its chopped up into bite sized bits.

The other funny thing about him is he refuses to eat as long as anyone is in view of his tank. I found this rather odd and for a while I totally thought he wasn't eating at all until I started monitoring very closely his eating habits.

Does anyone else have an Oscar fish that acts like this?

On a side note, because of his seeming endless joy playing with a nightcrawler, I was thinking about getting him some ping pong balls or something. Any suggestions as to toys?

I'll post a picture after his tank clears up a bit, currently it's in the just got cleaned look

 

[Knox213]

So, I'm thinking my Oscar fish is a spoiled brat

He is a picky eater. I put a nightcrawler in the tank and he will play with it. Semi amusing. Won't eat it unless its chopped up into bite sized bits.

The other funny thing about him is he refuses to eat as long as anyone is in view of his tank. I found this rather odd and for a while I totally thought he wasn't eating at all until I started monitoring very closely his eating habits.

Does anyone else have an Oscar fish that acts like this?

On a side note, because of his seeming endless joy playing with a nightcrawler, I was thinking about getting him some ping pong balls or something. Any suggestions as to toys?

I'll post a picture after his tank clears up a bit, currently it's in the just got cleaned look

Ping pong balls are good

 

[always4lora]

Mine just grumpy full stop. apart from that he eats ok, he had some earthworms today he liked them. he doesnt play think he likes being grumpy.

 

[Raveston]

Ok tank is crystal clear and here is a brand new picture of Frank (the Oscar Fish )

 

[SBL]

Is Frank an Oscar? My aunt had an oscar, looked very similiar to Frank. Good pic of Frank though.

 

[Faythee]

Frank is adorable !

 

[shelaghfishface]

contray to popular belief.. oscars dont "play" with ping pong balls... or any other toys.. they simply try to get them out of the tank.. when they realise they are there to stay they lose interest
when i feed my oscar ( 12inch of bad!) i tend to stand back as he jumps and splashes.. big git he is he actually lived with 6 barbs for a while ( about 6 wks) and didnt even attempt to eat one of them - well it would probably involve effort to catch them... and he knows that any minuite now someone will look at him and say " aww Bo are you hungry"

ping pongs wont hurt him by any means.. if he seems bored then maybe theyre a good idea,, just wanted you to know that he wont be playing with them he`ll be trying to kill them ( have you tried FW river shrimp? i used to chuck in about 20 at a time .. never saw him eat any but they soon went

frank is a lovely looking oscar
shelagh xxx

 

[Raveston]

So I was wondering, since I never actually looked into this before, but how does one tell the sex of an Oscar fish?
I mean for all I know "Frank" could actually be "Frankcisca" or something

Anyone able to determine the sex from that picture or is there a way I could tell?

 

[Knox213]

So I was wondering, since I never actually looked into this before, but how does one tell the sex of an Oscar fish?
I mean for all I know "Frank" could actually be "Frankcisca" or something

Anyone able to determine the sex from that picture or is there a way I could tell?

Im Not sure myself.

but for a guess.

Female?

 

[indigoj]

You can't tell with oscars just by looking really, if it lays eggs it's female LOL, that is the only 100% way to tell.

 

[Knox213]

You can't tell with oscars just by looking really, if it lays eggs it's female LOL, that is the only 100% way to tell.

i thought you can tell if there male / female when there young??

I Still thinks it a female.

 

[shelaghfishface]

no, like indigoj said you can`t tell just by looking at them.. there are ways one of which is witnessing them laying eggs obviously.. the other is to vent them ( open up there gills and have a look at the shape) but its not recommened that "just anyone" tries that as it can be dangerous to the fish.. i have referred to all my oscars as boys.. no girl would behave so badly

 

[Raveston]

Oh well. He, she, whatever. If Frank turns out to be a girl well, SHE will just have to put up with a boy name! Not like it bothers Frank anyway =P

Why Frank? That, I have absolutly no idea.