A Quick Q On Oscars

[trisha76]

I have had oscars before a few years ago and have just gone back to owning them I brought one about 2 months ago and brought another 2 days ago both are getting along well no probs at all any way my question is this is there any type of food you can feed them to help enhance their colouring?

Have attached pics as you can see one has greyish patterns the other red tiger.

 

[simbob]

live food will enchance colouring as will a high quality flake/pellet.

 

[trisha76]

ok thank you I was only wondering as I had never thought of this before with my other oscars mine get live food a few times each week or they are given frozen brine shrimp etc... they don't seem to like the flakes or pellets very much basicaly ignore those think they are a bit fussy.

 

[connorsbala]

How big are they? Try meatier foods like large bloodworm, cockle, mussel etc

 

[trisha76]

their not very big one is about 4inches the other is about 6inches at a rough guess but will try those.

 

[funkyhoney]

I agree with everything said, some well fed and quarantined feeder fish, or frozen foods will definately help. But you can never overlook a good quality dry food, almost anyone you talk to will recommend Hikari Cichlid gold.

I'm not sure what you can get a hold of over there, but HBH make a good selection of Oscar-specific foods. Wardley also make excellent cichlid foods IMO.

 

[severum boy]

Make sure you really vary the foods, Oscars can get hooked on cirtain foods and refuse all else. Usually this comes about when they are fed, say bloodworms, for a couple of times, then they are not fed it the next time they are fed, so they sulk until they get bloodworms again, much like a dog.
So keep it varied, and based around a high quality food, Hikari Cichlid Gold is the best in my opinion.

 

[trisha76]

thank you all for your comments I do vary their food so its not the same all the time will see if any of the fish stores around here sell the flakes and pellets that you guys have spoken about.

 

[shroob]

I wouldnt use flake food if I were you, for bigger fishes it doesnt carry the nutrients they need. Stick to pellets and treats such as worms, mussel, prawn, shrimp etc.

 

[kribensis12]

Try Hikari Bio-Gold Pellet's, they are supposed to perform miracle's!

 

[trisha76]

I went to the aquarium shop today and now my fish have a variety of frozen brine shrimp, blood worm and they have also got pellets I brought Aquarian its meant to help build a healthy immune system, enhance colour etc... its meant to be specialy formulated for oscars and other large cichlids they also got their weekly does of feeder fish.

 

[shroob]

Feeder fish can be bad for fishes health, especially if they are the shop bought goldfish/guppies etc. These are often riddled with diseases and not very good quality, also coldwater fish can be detrimental to a fishes health in the long run (its all explained in the sticky in the oddball section).

If you have to use feeders I suggest raising your own, where you can control their quality.