Oscar varied diet

[LifeBear]

OK, background...I am buying two 55 gals from someone who decided he has too many tanks. He said I could have his Oscar. It is about 10 inches long.

I have long wanted to go BIG, and I love oscars. I have done the impersonal research, net, books, etc...but I am freaking out a bit now that I am actually going to get one. (Kind of like WANTING a baby and then the REALITY of being pregnant sinking in.)

I know that they need a varied diet; pellets, live foods, etc. but what sort of schedule should I stick to? pellets, pellets, beef-heart, pellets, pellets, chicken, pellets, pellets, frozen something...

And I have read mixed opinions on feeders. Disease isn't as much of a problem, as I have more mollies than I can give away (and more every day, it feels like) but I have read on some sites that they aren't good anyway, regardless of disease. Opinions here?

 

[nc_nutcase]

Personally I have my Oscars on a base pellet diet. I feed them twice a day 12 hours apart and I don't feed them real heavy. I've found Oscars do not ever get full... but they can get filled (a.k.a. no more fits). But I don't like the idea of them cramming themselves until they are about to burst...

So every morning is pellets at 7 AM and their evening meal I change up about every other day (i.e. Mon - pellets, Tues - crickets, Wed - pellets, Thurs - frozen food). I personally don't do beef heart as I try to keep their diet something they may get in the wild. It just makes sense to me that these things will digest easier.

I also often quarantine guppies/goldfish for two weeks and use them as feeders. I've read many times that feeder goldfish make a terrible base diet for fish, but are a suitable treat. Also chasing them is great exercise. So even if you don't rely on the feeders as a nutrient, you may want to toss one in from time to time for exercise.

I vary their diet with :

• pellets
• crickets
• feeders
• frozen fish food (I change this up too)
• bait worms