My oscars are crazy.

FishForums.net Pet of the Month
🐶 POTM Poll is Open! 🦎 Click here to Vote! 🐰

Jaywain

New Member
Joined
Apr 25, 2022
Messages
2
Reaction score
0
Location
Michigan
I was out of town for a week and had a friend feed my 3 oscars. I left clear instructions but she was only giving them 1 cube of bloodworms per day. To share.. I left 35 feeder fish with them so i knew they would have food no matter what and they were all gone when i got back in town. My girlfriend bought 40 more feeder fish when we got home and after golfing i snagged 30 more not realizing she already got some. They were given bloodworms each and dry food as well. After that they killed and ate all 70 feeders in 1 day! Absolutely blew my mind. They are still young at about 6-7 inches each. I guess im just a little concerned about how much they ate.. should i hold off on getting these monsters more feeders?
 
I was out of town for a week and had a friend feed my 3 oscars. I left clear instructions but she was only giving them 1 cube of bloodworms per day. To share.. I left 35 feeder fish with them so i knew they would have food no matter what and they were all gone when i got back in town. My girlfriend bought 40 more feeder fish when we got home and after golfing i snagged 30 more not realizing she already got some. They were given bloodworms each and dry food as well. After that they killed and ate all 70 feeders in 1 day! Absolutely blew my mind. They are still young at about 6-7 inches each. I guess im just a little concerned about how much they ate.. should i hold off on getting these monsters more feeders?
Definitely fast them for like three to five days... Then start lightly feeding. That is pretty crazy they ate all that...
 
Definitely fast them for like three to five days... Then start lightly feeding. That is pretty crazy they ate all that...
Okay, will do. I'm slightly concerned about the tiger oscar, hes the alpha and the others always let him eat first. He gets bored and starts to kill. He actually killed my 9" gar last month when there were no feeders for him to toy with. With no feeders in the tank im worried he'll kill the 8" bichir or even the pleco. They're savages lol
 
Okay, will do. I'm slightly concerned about the tiger oscar, hes the alpha and the others always let him eat first. He gets bored and starts to kill. He actually killed my 9" gar last month when there were no feeders for him to toy with. With no feeders in the tank im worried he'll kill the 8" bichir or even the pleco. They're savages lol
Uhhh, that could very well be a problem... Do you have anything to seperate him on one side of the tank? If not then maybe lightly feed the tank for a week or two
 
Fish are opportunistic feeders (as are all animals including people) and will eat whenever food is offered because they don't know when their next meal is going to be. If you put food in the tank, they will eat until they are full and then eat again when they are hungry.

Big predatory fish like Oscar cichlids are usually fine being feed once a day or even once every second day. If you feed them a lot, then make sure you do big regular water changes and gravel clean the substrate. And clean the filter at least once a month.

-------------------
If you feed live fish and shrimp, you can introduce diseases to the tank so either quarantine the live food for a few weeks or use frozen (but defrosted) foods. You can also grow your own food in spare tanks or ponds.

Big Oscars can be fed on dry foods as well as white bait, blue sardines, squid, prawn and most other marine based meats. You can buy these items from the freezer at any fishing shop, or at the seafood section in supermarkets. Keep the items frozen and take a few bits out, defrost them, and feed them to the fish.

-------------------
If you have an Oscar that kills things, you might want to keep him on his own. Do not use aggressive fish for breeding because they pass on their aggressive traits to any young. Oscars are not normally a very aggressive cichlid but they are a large ambush predator and will eat smaller fish. They will become territorial during breeding and can go after fish that enter their territory.

As a general rule you should only have 1 adult Oscar or 1pr (1 male & 1 female) adult Oscar cichlids per tank.
 
I have never liked the idea of feeder fish; it is not necessary and only gives the humans a thrill. There are other ways to feed these fish, without taking a life.
 

Most reactions

trending

Staff online

Back
Top