Feed

[Lokemer]

So i know what to feed oscars but i just want to make sure im doing this correct. Tell me if you guys have anything you like to feed your oscars.



They get a varied diet of, Hikari Cichlid Staple, and HBH Oscar Grow medium pellet mix for growing oscars, and a treat of Top Fin sinking shrimp pellets. Anything you guys feed yours that i can feed mine?

 

[Lokemer]

also btw one of my tiger oscars keep shivering his/her tail and like digging and attacking gravel.......

 

[bitteraspects]

oscars are garbage disposals. theyll eat just about anything. just get yourself a few different pellets, and maybe some frozen or freeze dried stuff as treats, and youre good to go.

 

[Lokemer]

ok i figured thank you

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

Yeah I would get him some frozen foods too. Krill and Prawns are good. Try some beef heart as a treat. He will probably take blood worms too. Live bearers that have been gut loaded can also be given on occasion.

 

[bitteraspects]

stay away from live foods. they are prone to disease and provide little to no nutritional value.
oscars are already very prone to diseases, and this will only increase that risk.

 

[Lokemer]

ok...i was told that buying feeder fish was a poor descision but breeding them for treats as ok? i know that oscars need stuff to chase to keep them healthy and any answers on why my tiger keeps shaking his tail extremely fasT?

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

stay away from live foods. they are prone to disease and provide little to no nutritional value.
oscars are already very prone to diseases, and this will only increase that risk.

That is not true. Live Bearers that have been gut loaded can serve as a very nutritional source of food. If you are breeding them yourself, and taking care of them properly, they should have no disease.

ok...i was told that buying feeder fish was a poor descision but breeding them for treats as ok? i know that oscars need stuff to chase to keep them healthy and any answers on why my tiger keeps shaking his tail extremely fasT?

As treats it is completely fine, as long as you are breeding them like you say.


Not too sure about why he is flicking his tail. In some fish it can be signs of breeding. Not sure if it would be that or dominance in an Oscar. Lots of Cichlids like to dig around and re arrange the tank.

 

[Lokemer]

yes i can see the re arraging of the tank they have uprooted most plants and are piling a bunch of gravel in a corner

 

[bitteraspects]

again, its best to get them away from live foods all together. besides the disease aspect, there are many other reasons not to use them. and contrary to your belief, they do not need "stuff to chase to keep them healthy". they need a large tank, clean water and a healthy diet.

feeders provide no nutritional value. feeder guppies are basically skin and bones. the only way to aid this at all is to "gut load" the feeders before you give them to the oscar, which essentially means, to feed the guppies fish food until they are stuffed full, then feed them to the oscar. BUT WHY BOTHER? thats just adding an extra step. why would you feed fish foof to a fish youre feeding to another fish, when you can just give your fish, FISH FOOD from the beginning. it doesnt make any sense to create another step between your fish and its dinner.
also, fish food is specifically formulated with your fish's health in mind. they have all the essential vitamins and nutrients your fish needs, and more. and on top of all the added vitamins and nutrients in the food, some also have specific ingredients for growth, color, ect.

get yourself a couple of different pellets, and use those as a staple. i personally suggest a base of hikari gold and dainichi ultima. i use these along with about 15 other types of dry food for my fish.
then, if you want to give it a snack once every few days, go with some MP, freeze dried krill or shrimp, or something frozen such as bloodworms, beef heart (if it will accept beef heart), or silversides

stay away from live foods. they are prone to disease and provide little to no nutritional value.
oscars are already very prone to diseases, and this will only increase that risk.

That is not true. Live Bearers that have been gut loaded can serve as a very nutritional source of food. If you are breeding them yourself, and taking care of them properly, they should have no disease.

ok...i was told that buying feeder fish was a poor descision but breeding them for treats as ok? i know that oscars need stuff to chase to keep them healthy and any answers on why my tiger keeps shaking his tail extremely fasT?

As treats it is completely fine, as long as you are breeding them like you say.

please see the post above.

feeders provide no nutritional value, and gut loading is a waste of time.

also, once fish get hooked on live feeders, its hard to get them to accept dry food.

 

[Lokemer]

ok whaty are silversides?

 

[bitteraspects]

ok whaty are silversides?

silversides are a type of oceanfish specifically used in fish food, and also sold vitamin enriched and frozen. usually its in small chunks, as they would probably be too big to eat whole.

you can also go to the market and get some fresh tilapia and cut that up into chunks, or use MP, which i personally use.

 

[Lokemer]

ok thanks

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

again, its best to get them away from live foods all together. besides the disease aspect, there are many other reasons not to use them. and contrary to your belief, they do not need "stuff to chase to keep them healthy". they need a large tank, clean water and a healthy diet.

feeders provide no nutritional value. feeder guppies are basically skin and bones. the only way to aid this at all is to "gut load" the feeders before you give them to the oscar, which essentially means, to feed the guppies fish food until they are stuffed full, then feed them to the oscar. BUT WHY BOTHER? thats just adding an extra step. why would you feed fish foof to a fish youre feeding to another fish, when you can just give your fish, FISH FOOD from the beginning. it doesnt make any sense to create another step between your fish and its dinner.
also, fish food is specifically formulated with your fish's health in mind. they have all the essential vitamins and nutrients your fish needs, and more. and on top of all the added vitamins and nutrients in the food, some also have specific ingredients for growth, color, ect.

get yourself a couple of different pellets, and use those as a staple. i personally suggest a base of hikari gold and dainichi ultima. i use these along with about 15 other types of dry food for my fish.
then, if you want to give it a snack once every few days, go with some MP, freeze dried krill or shrimp, or something frozen such as bloodworms, beef heart (if it will accept beef heart), or silversides

stay away from live foods. they are prone to disease and provide little to no nutritional value.
oscars are already very prone to diseases, and this will only increase that risk.

That is not true. Live Bearers that have been gut loaded can serve as a very nutritional source of food. If you are breeding them yourself, and taking care of them properly, they should have no disease.

ok...i was told that buying feeder fish was a poor descision but breeding them for treats as ok? i know that oscars need stuff to chase to keep them healthy and any answers on why my tiger keeps shaking his tail extremely fasT?

As treats it is completely fine, as long as you are breeding them like you say.

please see the post above.

feeders provide no nutritional value, and gut loading is a waste of time.

also, once fish get hooked on live feeders, its hard to get them to accept dry food.

Yes but you can gut load Live Bearers with all sorts of vegetation, that your Oscar probably won't eat by itself, which is why gut loading live bearers can be beneficial and not a waste of time.

There was an article I read in a fish keeping magazine about the benefits of feeding live bearers, had something to do with the nutrients in them or something (not including the nutrients from gut loading) but I can't remember what it was saying.

 

[bitteraspects]

Pellet food is formulated with both plant and protein matter. Along with all sorts of other goodiea.

*see information above

If you choose to make the poor decision of using live food, that's your choice, but as someone who's been in the game for a long time, I highly suggest against it.
Dry food is not only safer, but much better for your fish.