i need help on what to feed my oscars

Hi my name is dj and i just recieved some oscars 3 to be exact and they are pretty big i need to know what i should feed them

 

you can feed them pellets. they have some that are pretty big so you could just get them. you should not feed them feeder fish. feeder fish are poorley kept at the lfs and may carry diseases (sp). also they do not have the nitrients (sp) that your fiss need.

 

WHAT KIND OF PELLETTS

IM STILL NOT SURE ON WHAT KIND OF FOOD TO BUY SOMEONE TOLD ME TO FEED THEM EARTHWORMS IS THIS TRUE

 

Like Willie said, pelleted food is best. Hikari Staple, Gold, & Biogold, HBH Oscar Show, and Omega One pellets are some of the best foods you can get for oscars. As occasional treats they can eat a wide variety of insects. Just avoid anything that is poisonous or stings (eg spiders & bees) or anything that could have come in contact with pesticides. Some of the most popular things to use as treats are earthworms, meal worms, grub worms, crickets, and shrimp (mine love frozen salad shrimp).

And you should also avoid feeder fish. Store bought feeders are an excellent way to introduce a plethora of diseases into your tank. Plus oscars simply are not meant to digest fish so they gain very little nutrition from it and can develop intestinal blockages. Also, feeders contain thiamase which breaks down thiamine and can cause oscars to develop a vitamin deficiency which has been linked to HITH disease.

Also, how large is your tank and how large are the oscars? 3 oscars need at least 125 gallons.

-Chelle

 

yeah i have been told that but i don't know for sure. there is someone on here named t_chelle (i think thats it) she can tell you everything you need to know. what size tank are they in?

 

OSCARS

I HAVE 3 THE SMALLEST IS 8 INCH LONG 6 INCH TALL AND ABOUT 3 INCH TALL AND CAN I GET ANY OF THESES FISH FOODS AT WALMART BECAUSE THAT IS THE CLOSET STORE THAT HAS ANY FISH MERCHANDISE THATS NEAR ME AND THATS 50 MILES AWAY

 

I'm copying the PM I sent you:

A 30 gallon tank is WAY too small for 3 oscars that size and that's why he couldn't keep it clean. Oscars really need at least 55 for one, 75 - 100 for 2, and 125 - 150 for 3. Unless you can get a 125 gallon tank within the next few days, I suggest finding new homes for the oscars. In a 30 gallon tank they are being poisoned by their own waste not to mention they don't have much room to swim around. Something else that bothers me is the measurements of the oscar you gave me. 8 x 6 x 3 doesn't sound right for an oscar. If it truely is 6" tall and 3" wide, it is incredibly deformed (most likely from being cramped in such a small tank). My oscars are 7 1/2 x 3 1/2 x 2 and 9 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 2 1/2.

Could you post some pics of the oscars? Also if you don't already have test kits for ammonia, nitrIte, and nitrAte, you really should get some, test the tank water, and post the results. My guess is they're way off the scale and you have much bigger problems than figuring out what to feed the oscars.

As for food, the walmart here carries some of the very basic foods like Tetra Cichlid Sticks and Wardly Cichlid Pellets. Those are okay, but not quite as good as the ones I mentioned previously. If you just feed the Tetra & Wardly, I suggest suplimenting their diet with vitamins. That can be done by buying a liquid vitamin (Centrum liquid multivitamin for humans is fine) and soaking the pellets for a couple minutes right before feeding them.

-Chelle

 

8 1/2 x 3 1/2 x 2 and 10 1/2 x 5 1/2 x 2 1/2 AND THEN A SMALL ONE 71/2 X 2 1/2X 2 OK SO ADDING ANOTHER FILTER TO THERE TANK WONT HELP WITH THE WATER PROBLEM OK THANK YOU FOR THE HELP AND I WILL TRY TO GET SOME PICTURES AND POST THEM ON THIS SITE THANK YOU

 

Nope, adding another filter isn't going to help. Even if you have enough filtration to convert the ammonia & nitrIte, with that many large fish in a 30 gallon tank, your nitrAtes are going to reach toxic levels within a day or two - meaning you will have to do large water changes every day. And high nitrAte levels has been linked to HITH disease (I wouldn't be suprised if your fish already have it) which will be impossible to cure as long as you keep them in a tank that's too small and will eventually kill them. Plus, there really isn't enough room in for 3 oscars to swim around and be happy in a 30 gallon tank.

Seriously, if you can't get a 125 gallon tank within the next week, you really need to get rid of the fish.

-Chelle