A Few Oscar Food ?'s

[kimmers318]

Hubby has 2 great oscars and is coming to realize the expense of feeding such monsters! Although it isn't something that will keep us from buying the food....cheaper alternatives would be nice. Anyone have any opinons on good online places to buy in bigger bulk? Safety ordering online with a website is a must obviously, and receiving good products would be next. He pays anywhere from 12-14 dollars for a .87 oz container of freeze dried krill....averaging just over $17 an ounce. Much cheaper to order online at around $2-3 an ounce, and with these guys no worries about it being around too long! So, good websites for food purchases is my first ?. Second ? is would it be a safe and healthy alternative to buy frozen shrimp, like what people eat, and feed those? I can buy large bags at a Sam's club, if people can eat them, I imagine the oscars can too. Since I personally don't eat shrimp, also want to ask if you would have to remove that tail thing that people don't eat? I know my parents used to give those to the dogs (how safe that was I don't know either) so it may be okay for the oscars to eat it. Anyone have any experience with this?
Thanks

 

[KathyM]

When we had our Oscar, he was fed on Tetra Doromin, freeze dried gammarus shrimp (from ebay - very cheap), the odd shelled pea, and every now and then a defrosted shelled prawn. He also had a mad craving for algae wafers/catfish pellets, which I'm sure did him good. I wouldn't recommend feeding solely prawn/shrimp though.

 

[kimmers318]

He eats a variety of flake, frozen, pellet, stick and shrimp. It's just the shrimp is mighty high dollar! He only gets live when I have platy fry that need culled so that we know they are healthy, bad experience with feeder fish.

 

[Morquinn]

Some other good foods that my oscar loves, is frozen bloodworms and frozen beefheart. Mine doesnt pay too much attention to frozen brine shrimp cuz its too small for him (in his eyes anyways) He likes stuff thats a tad bigger.

 

[KathyM]

I wouldn't really recommend bloodworm for an oscar, it can really constipate them - so if you want to feed it I personally would recommend doing so very sparingly.

 

[Suriliel]

What about beef heart? I've heard that's a common food for oscars (and saw it mentioned above as well).. what do you think about that? I've been thinking of getting some for my oscar, is it good for them? I know you can get it at the pet store and it's hella expensive.. could I just get it from a reputable butcher or something? Sorry to ask a question within someone else's question thread but it kinda goes along with the original one anyways Thanks!

 

[KathyM]

As far as I remember, "beefheart" is a recipe a lot of oscar owners prepare in the US mainly - it's not just beef heart in it.

Here is a link to a thread on an oscar forum - might help you get more info. I don't personally feel it's a very "natural" food to be feeding an oscar, but I've never tried it and people there would be able to offer you more advice on that:

http/www.theoscarspot.com/smf/index.php/topic,2062.0.html

 

[kimmers318]

Trust me....we have lotsa of different foods that are fed to the oscars...all of the above mentioned (frozen beefheart, frozen cichlid delight, frozen tropical community menu, flakes, sticks, pellets, and freeze dried krill) plus I feed a variety of frozen foods to my fish, so they occasionally get bits of my leftovers, bloodworms maybe once a week, brine shrimp etc. So, back to my original Q's.....any ideas on safe, cheap places to order it online (the krill mostly) and is it safe to feed human consumption shrimp instead? With or without tails? Someone else suggested using bait prawn....any ideas on that? Will look for it next time I am near a bait shop. I have already seen that it is much cheaper online, but since I am not familiar with the webistes would like to have recommendations.

 

[KathyM]

I already answered you about the prawns - we fed a defrosted prawn every now and then as a treat.

 

[Suriliel]

Someone mentioned above but I think it may have gotten lost in there, I think eBay would be a good place to get cheap frozen stuff. It's also fairly safe as long as you check out your sellers first Might be worth a try anyways.

 

[Morquinn]

Hmm, didnt know that about bloodworms... I guess I do now. He hasnt gotten any for awhile since the lfs has been out for a long time... so I guess just sparingly from now on.

 

[kimmers318]

Okay, no specific websites from anyone huh? Other than ebay? Isn't that were you have to bid, when your bid wins, you get the item? I saw where I could order at 2 places, bigalsonline and aquariumpros, so hopefully both of these will be reputable. Thanks for all of the feedback

 

[AMS]

Frozen foods intended for human consumption are usually a no go for fish. This is entirely dependant on the ingredients label. Any thing hard to read or pronounce is not good for fish. Wha you want is all natural or even better organic. Even if you get organic or all natural foods you must check the ingredients label as some foods may be packed in stuff like olive oil, salt, or mayo to give flavor.

Is there any specific reason as to why you need krill? If you are feeding a varied enough diet krill does not need to be incorporated in your oscar's diet.

Feeding frozen foods over freeze dried is not only better in nutritional value, but is also a huge wallet saver. For example, 16 oz (1 pound) of frozen Hikari Krill (Hikari is the best brand of fish food) is only $8.49 at Dr. Smith and Fosters. For 14.1 oz of freeze dried Tetra Jumbo Krill is a whopping $39.99! Hiari foods are superior to tetra and you get more frozen krill (with its many nutritional benefits) for an impressive $31.50 less. Frozen foods provide a superior moisture content, nutritional value, and tatse over freeze dried. It may be "harder" to feed frozen foods but your wallet thanks you as will your fish.

 

[kimmers318]

Bubba and Gump may disagree with you that krill doesn't need to be a part of their diet
No, it isn't necessary, but they love it and I am just trying to save hubby some money. I will let him know to check out some frozen krill, especially noting the comment about Hikari. I plan on looking for Hikari for my next bloodworm purchase because I wasn't happy with San Francisco Bay brand this last time I bought it....a lot of gunk in my bloodworm....including what looked like a little centipede I am not sure what brand I had bought previously, never really checked, but I will definitely pay more attention.
Thanks so much for your input...Dr.s Foster and Smith will be my next website check out for purchasing. Mainly I am concerned with a safe, secure, customer oriented website.

 

[AMS]

Dr. Smith and Fosters gets an A+ on their report card. They are a huge company dealing not only with aquatics, but reptiles, birds, and all other pets. The company was founded by two veterinarians, so the welfare of the animals comes first, unlike a petco or petsmart.

They are very secure, flexible in payment options, and their customer service is second to none. Any hobbyist that has used them has nothing but praises for Dr. Smith and Fosters (including myself).

It may be worth your while to go to a LFS for frozen foods. When a supplier like Dr. Smith and Fosters receives an order on frozen foods, the shipping methods must be special to keep the foods frozen upon arrival at the customer's home. Because of these special shipping methods, you get high shipping charges. It is $20 to ship frozen foods from Dr. Smith and Fosters's. The good thing though, it doesnt matter whether you purchase 1 pack of frozen food or 78 packs of frozen food, it is always $20. So if you are willing to pay extra for shipping of frozen foods go right ahead, but IMHO just buy frozen foods from a LFS.