What Do You Feed Your Oscars

[Miss Wiggle]

had a few questions about this recently with mixed responses and a few people mentioned when researching they found lots of conflicting information so i thought we could maybe draw together opinions from people who've kept them. so what's your oscars main diet, what treats do you give it and how often, also please say what size your O is as I think this has an effect on what you can/should feed them

 

[paul-discus]

Hikari pellets, earthworms.

 

[cheesy feet]

had a few questions about this recently with mixed responses and a few people mentioned when researching they found lots of conflicting information so i thought we could maybe draw together opinions from people who've kept them. so what's your oscars main diet, what treats do you give it and how often, also please say what size your O is as I think this has an effect on what you can/should feed them

All frozen foods i feed my discus.Flakes, catfish pellets and cichlid pellets.

 

[england]

my two oscars 7-8inchs oscar is 1year old and gandulf is 9months

Hikari cichlid gold large pellets in the morning....

king british cichlid floating sticks in the evening with jmc catfish pellets.......

frozen cichlid food once a week with peas

treats ranging from earthworms/woodlice/spiders/daddylonglegs also every so often i get feeder shrimp from fish shop...

found if you are going to feed different foods to alternate it as when i first got them every day i feed them woodlice and daddy long legs and after a while thats all they would eat n gave up pellets<gits>strave they soon come round

 

[ox5477]

I believe for most cichlids it is good to switch up the diet. I don't have an oscar, but if I did, I would feed it the same I feed my JD:

Mainly cichlid pellets, but switch it up with frozen shrimp (more nutrition) and peas (help his digestive tract). For treats I give him large freeze dried krill (Loves them!). Also, he will try to swallow the algae wafers I put in for my pleco but usually just breaks up and nibbles on a little piece of the wafer

 

[Miss Wiggle]

only form of vegetation i can get into mine is algae wafers, he won't eat peas, jut spits them back out again.

reckon that's enough veggies or should i try something else?

 

[PoPoV]

When I use too have my Oscar I would make a blend of Freeze dried krill, Freeze dried tubifex worms, flake food (tetra min), and Hikari cichlid sticks. I put them in my blender and make a course mix that fits in my autofeeder! My oscar seemed to dig it. As far as veg, try banana

 

[mark7616]

My oscar really loves pickled onions.

 

[Stang]

Mine seems to eat anything that goes in the tank.. not to sure if thats a good thing yet

But I get the best response from earthworms and peas. Most of his food is pellets, I am now feeding him Hikari c.gold

Have also fed him chopped up raw prawn which he seemed to like fairly well..

One thing I will not feed him is beef heart, I've heard so many bad things about this, and really, I just don't think feeding red meat to your fish is a good idea when there are so many better options.

 

[ox5477]

only form of vegetation i can get into mine is algae wafers, he won't eat peas, jut spits them back out again.

reckon that's enough veggies or should i try something else?

Miss wiggle, just a note, if you don't take the skins off after blanching the peas then that my be why. My guy spit them back out the first time i put them in because of the skins. If you do take the skins off then i can't fault the oscar, i hate peas too

 

[Miss Wiggle]

nah i take the skins off

Ian's exactly the same, he can't stand them, i love peas!!

anyway the plec and syno gobbled them up so no harm done.

managed to get some veg in him last night, got some prawns and spinach and chopped them up and mixed them then froze them into little cubves, he gobbled those up happily

 

[GrantyBoy]

did you use an old ice cube tray or something? You've just given me an idea...

 

[Miss Wiggle]

old frozen fish food tray as it happens, but ice cube tray would work the same

 

[weston adam]

old frozen fish food tray as it happens, but ice cube tray would work the same

Sadly i lost my 10in oscar last week very sudden but he loved earth worms, prawns, and i would sometimes give him liver as well as pellets and sticks, I understandd that when an oscar gets to a certain size there is only two real things that are a threat to them whole in the head and constipation and the best cure for the latter is peas so if you can get oscars to take them all the better, but you must vary there diet as to much of the same thing will cause them to only want that food, I am going to get another maybe an albino this time will let you know how it does.