soon to be oscar owner

I am looking to buy an oscar for my 55 gallon tank and i need all information possible about them. i bought one once and it died like in 3 hours and i checked my water and it was fine ... idk what happened... are they freshwater or brackish??? idk .... but all information on oscars is most appreciated cuz i dont want my next one to die so quick

 

they are freshwter and its best not to feed them feeder-fish b/c of the dieases...i dont know much about them, but t_chelle knows ALOT about them so she will post here.

 

Well, it's late & I'm really tired so rather than typing a whole bunch, here's a really good link with lots of info for new oscar owners. It was compiled by several people (myself included) that have lots of experience keeping oscars.

http://www.oscarfish.com/cms_view_article.php?aid=29

-Chelle

 

you can feed them feeders but the other guy is right be very careful where you buy them. make sure it is a nice clean store though, but if you do feed live and the feeders are healthy the oscars will grow BIG healthy and grow FAST. you will have some really cool nice really hungry fish. good luck.

P.S. @ petsmart we usually have really healthy feeders and we medicate whenever we get new fish.

 

If you're going to get feeders from a store, you need to qurantine them for several weeks before feeding them to fish. Just because they look healthy it doesn't mean they are. About a year ago, my parents bought a batch of perfectly healthy looking feeders for my oscars (even though I told them not to). The next day there where little worms burrowing into my oscars' heads. Quarantine, raise your own, or don't give feeders at all. And NEVER make feeders a staple part of the diet. Goldfish feeders can cause a vitamin deficiency and other fish in general don't have much nutritional value for oscars. You'd actually be better off buying things like crickets, earthworms, & shrimp.

-Chelle

 

you will love being a oscar owner, they are VERY smart fish, and when they get bigger they are also a very pretty fish. i enjoy just watching mine.