Oscar Diet

[Uriel]

Is this an acceptable diet for an oscar

Monday : Hikari Cichlid Gold
Tuesday : Hikari Cichlid Gold
Wednesday : Peas
Thursday : Prawns or Hikari Cichlid Gold
Friday : Prawns
Saturday : Cod fillet
Sunday : Blood Words + water change.

 

[markandhisfish]

sounds pretty good to me . you can also give them things like live mealworms , crickets etc . altho i would swap the cod fillet to the waterchange day as it is pretty messy and will also leave an oily film on the waters surface

are they adults or juveniles? if they are small juveniles 3 smaller feedings a day is a good way to go .

 

[Uriel]

Not sure of there age as they came with a tank i bought(and i decided to adopt them). They are about 7" although the tank there in is a little overstocked (4 oscars, 2 kissing gourami, 1 golden gourami, 2 plecs and 1 catfish in 450l) I don't currently have any substrate down as i have been doing 10% daily water changes in case moving the tank had caused any problems with good bacteria and i find it's easier to get all the waste with no substrate. 2 of the oscars and the gouramis are going once i can find them suitable homes. Just leaving 2 oscars and 1 cat / 1 plec. 1 plec I'm moving out as he's to small to be with the oscars and will become food soon in my opinion.

http/img522.imageshack.us/img522/9977/img1147cf.jpg (picture of ozzy, his brother tigger is similar size) So if you can figure out how old he is that would be helpful.

As you said i was trying to put the messier foods closer to water change to keep water quality as high as possible.

 

[markandhisfish]

young oscars will grow on average around an inch a month , at 12 months of age an oscar is easily capable of hitting 10 or even 11 inches , so at 7 inches best gues would be something like 7 or 8 months , altho with the overcrowding it could be a bit older . im not going to preach at you about the stocking levels in your tank as you are clearly aware of this and are taking steps to sort it . all i would say is perhaps do more than 1 waterchange a week as that is an awully big bio-load there .

 

[Uriel]

young oscars will grow on average around an inch a month , at 12 months of age an oscar is easily capable of hitting 10 or even 11 inches , so at 7 inches best gues would be something like 7 or 8 months , altho with the overcrowding it could be a bit older . im not going to preach at you about the stocking levels in your tank as you are clearly aware of this and are taking steps to sort it . all i would say is perhaps do more than 1 waterchange a week as that is an awully big bio-load there .

I bought the tank and the fish came with it. I knew the second i looked at it that it was overstocked but unfortunately oscars aren't the easiest of fish to rehome. The tank was in a poor state also as the person i bought it from said he had unstoppable string algea. To me all this said was that he wasn't changing the water often enough. Since it has been with me i do a 10% water change every day and as i said i don't have substrate at the moment to allow me to get every single piece of waste out. I know it's not an ideal situation for the fish but i'm trying to do the best i can by them.

 

[markandhisfish]

they will be a lot better off with you than where they were as they are getting a better level of maintainence . bare bottom tanks are indeed a lot easier to clean . as you say large oscars arent the easiest of fish to re-home . maybe an lfs could take them for you? if not try putting them on aquarist classiifieds .

 

[star4]

Agree with mark, big wc day when you feed fish, its messy. You dont have to stick to the same foods on the same days, I only feed peas every 2 weeks, but mine do love brocolli, you can also use frozen foods, brine shrimp, muscles are also quite popular.

Looking at your pic, Ozzy (love the name) I would guess is probably around 5-8 months, not much bigger than my smallest oscar Rusty (5") and I have had him 5 months. The general condition of him looks good, no sign of HITH and his eyes are nicely proportioned to the rest of him, so I wouldnt say he is stunted.

Good for you for taking them on, sounds like you are doing a good job .

 

[Uriel]

At this sort of age how often should they be fed. I know when they're young it's 3 times a day and when there old it's once a day but where does 5-8 months fall ?

 

[star4]

I still do mine twice a day. I would have no tank lid left at all if I tried to feed Chops only once a day.

 

[Uriel]

My oscars seem quite sedate at the moment. I even managed to sneak a few plants into the tank when they weren't looking.