Wild red Oscar ?!?

[Guyb93]

Iv been to look at some wild oscars today ( haven’t bought non ... yet ) and for the price they are the colour variety isn’t as green or orange as I’d first expected but amongst the 100 juvenile oscars I see maybe 3 red oscars , first question is are they wild , which apparently they were I was taken back by this as I thought reds and lemons etc were captive bred and true wilds are a green, black with orange, these refs were marked up a higher price than the standards and wild or not I can see why , I didn’t take any photos as I only had my work phone but as anybody saw wild red oscars before

 

[Colin_T]

Never heard of wild red Oscar cichlids. The original wild Oscars were black with a dirty yellow to orange markings on the body when young. As the fish matured they lost most of the markings and ended up dark brown over most of the body.

See if you can get pictures of the young and adult fish. But unless someone has found a new group of wild Oscars that are red, I would say they are not wild caught.

 

[Guyb93]

Never heard of wild red Oscar cichlids. The original wild Oscars were black with a dirty yellow to orange markings on the body when young. As the fish matured they lost most of the markings and ended up dark brown over most of the body.

See if you can get pictures of the young and adult fish. But unless someone has found a new group of wild Oscars that are red, I would say they are not wild caught.

That’s exactly how I’d describe a wild caught Oscar iv never heard or wild colour variety, I can’t say I trust the source as it wasn’t local to me I was working that way and decided to have a look . At first I thought maybe it’s a mistake or he’s trying to pair red oscars with wild oscars for breeding but when he soad the “wild red” cost £20 more than the standard wild I was almost sucked into just believing his word and forgetting what I know about oscars but as reckless as I am in buying fish £110 for an Oscar wild or not seems steep weather it’s wild or not

 

[emeraldking]

Don't forget that most specimens kept in a fishtank are linebred ones. This can result in another pattern, color or even intensity of the colors in comparison to wild ones. Linebreeding can be done with wild versions and aquarium strains. It happens all the time to make them commercially more attractive.

 

[Guyb93]

Don't forget that most specimens kept in a fishtank are linebred ones. This can result in another pattern, color or even intensity of the colors in comparison to wild ones. Linebreeding can be done with wild versions and aquarium strains. It happens all the time to make them commercially more attractive.

These were supposed to be grade a wild imports , only reason I went to see them and they were nice some were massive 17inchs maybe bigger but I can buy tiger , red , albinos sometimes even mangos and lemons from £5_£15 these were from £75-£120 , i really wish I got photos because maybe I missed something

 

[Colin_T]

If I was importing wild caught fish, I wouldn't get big fish (17 inches) because they cost too much to ship. Basically 1 fish per box. The biggest fish I would ship is about 4-5 inches.

Wild caught fish do cost a lot more than captive bred specimens but a 17 inch Oscar would cost 100 pounds to ship it from the Amazon to the UK. So I think they are doing the dirty and maybe false advertising.

If they have some proof they got them from the Amazon, maybe, but I would be cautious about getting any.

 

[Guyb93]

If I was importing wild caught fish, I wouldn't get big fish (17 inches) because they cost too much to ship. Basically 1 fish per box. The biggest fish I would ship is about 4-5 inches.

Wild caught fish do cost a lot more than captive bred specimens but a 17 inch Oscar would cost 100 pounds to ship it from the Amazon to the UK. So I think they are doing the dirty and maybe false advertising.

If they have some proof they got them from the Amazon, maybe, but I would be cautious about getting any.

Most of the fish for sale were 4-7 inches but the one pond had some larger fish 10-17inch which I’m assuming they are the ones that don’t get sold , I honestly I went for a mooch because I had time if was going to import fish I’d use Something a bit more proven instead of a back door importer so to say , just needed to check if there was anybody who had heard of wild red oscars

 

[emeraldking]

These were supposed to be grade a wild imports , only reason I went to see them and they were nice some were massive 17inchs maybe bigger but I can buy tiger , red , albinos sometimes even mangos and lemons from £5_£15 these were from £75-£120 , i really wish I got photos because maybe I missed something

I've seen giants of oscars at a number of zoos. You'd be amazed how big they can get if they have the right circumstances. If you'd compare those to those that are sold at a store, the ones from the stores should be called nano fish instead...