Oscar Feeding

[Maisey]

Hi
I have a oscar fish which I know can be a bit aggresive, I have him in with parrots, The oscar lieks to chase one particular parrot, my biggest one. I have read that oscars love food though, and have also found if I feed the oscar extra food out of my hand he calms down, and seems to be more relaxed, he is apprximatly 5 inches, I feed them all a varied diet of frozen, flakes and cichlid pellets, the oscar particulary like the pellets but how many should he get? I know they will constantly eat so what do you think is a good amount for him?

(I know people do not like parrot fish and I understand why, also I know my oscar will need his own tank away rom the parrots when older)

 

[shelaghfishface]

oscars are fantastic fish have had many and loved them all soo much

youre right they will eat a lot but wont literally eat constantly , watch him feed and gauge how much he needs.. gradually dropping in more till hes had enough.. if you feed too much you just risk messing up the water wen it rots and breaks down ( i have always had a plec in with mine for this reason)

not sure about the flake tho.. unless its a firm fave with the parrots i wouldnt bother.
dried mealworms is a good treat for them, mine used to love them ( can be found very cheaply in some home stores in the bird feed section)
my first oscar Jambo, used to love donuts tho of course i dont condone feeding them junk food lol.. the cod out of a fishfinger and prawns were a fave too.

what size tank do you have them all in? he will need a very large tank soon 300l being the very min size ( at least 15 inches deep -front to back) as they can grow to 12 inches he will need to be able to turn around lol)

oscars are very intelligent fish and can and will get bored easily and start trashing the tank ( heater covers are a must) so nice to hear that you hand feed him does he recognise the food tub yet? mine used to do a wiggle when i pulled it out.. like an excited labrador

anyway ill stop rambling on now... would love to see a photo of him though

shelagh xxx

 

[onidrase]

Oscars will eat anything. Flake, freeze dried, frozen, fingers, crickets, fish, chicken, suction cups... a varied diet is good, but make sure the food you give him is nutritionally beneficial. I've seen more than enough threads about oscars with hole in the head disease, which is generally caused by poor diet.

 

[Liam50]

my staple was hikari cichlid staple and i fed him hikari cichlid gold and for a treat either a horse fly or prawns used to love the latter. just gave my away today in fact but to a good home at least.