# Diet for Oscar



## SophieThomas (May 12, 2010)

I have had my Oscar for about two weeks now and he is food obsessed, as I expected. What I am wondering is what is the best food combination to keep him as healthy as possible?

Currently I am feeding him a mixture of flake food (TetraCichlid crisps) and brine shrimp (Hikari).


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## JUICE (Jan 4, 2020)

oscars eat anything !! lol


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

To prevent hole in the head and various other problems (mainly because Oscars are not picking eaters and will gorge themselves on anything), you need to provide a well balanced diet, which is in a lot of the high quality pellets like New Life Spectrum, Hikari Cichlid Gold pellets, the Dainichi cichlid pellets April sells, etc. I supplemented my O's diet with pieces of orange and watermelon when I had it, and canteloupe. Basically any fruits that he would eat. If you want to go with a cheaper staple, you can try the soft and moist with krill and the earthworm sticks that Charles sells too.


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## jay_leask (Apr 22, 2010)

ive been wanting to try this for awhile now, one of these days i will get to it.
http://www.worldcichlids.com/diseases/Adamhith.html#Anchor-Ingredient-56874


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## SophieThomas (May 12, 2010)

JUICE said:


> oscars eat anything !! lol


Hahahaha, are you sure?? Because i have a few untouched fish in the tank still


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

They will eat anything, but sometimes they choose not to.  I'd be careful and watch those other fish as the O grows.


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## SophieThomas (May 12, 2010)

2wheelsx2 said:


> To prevent hole in the head and various other problems (mainly because Oscars are not picking eaters and will gorge themselves on anything), you need to provide a well balanced diet, which is in a lot of the high quality pellets like New Life Spectrum, Hikari Cichlid Gold pellets, the Dainichi cichlid pellets April sells, etc. I supplemented my O's diet with pieces of orange and watermelon when I had it, and canteloupe. Basically any fruits that he would eat. If you want to go with a cheaper staple, you can try the soft and moist with krill and the earthworm sticks that Charles sells too.


Are bloodworms okay for him? I have a wack of them that we feed to our daughter's frogs. I actually put spinach/cucumber in the tank once or twice a week now for the silver dollars so he does have access to vegetation. This might be a weird question but what about sea weed? We always have sea week around as well but I've never thought of giving it to my fish before.

I will head out now and pick up some higher quality pellets for him.

Jay- That recipe looks amazing. We're vegetarian so if I can tackle through the idea of handling meat I will give it a try, lol. I know I am feeding him animals already, and believe me I'm not happy with it but it's what they need to stay healthy.

Thank you!


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## SophieThomas (May 12, 2010)

2wheelsx2 said:


> They will eat anything, but sometimes they choose not to.  I'd be careful and watch those other fish as the O grows.


No kidding, eh, lol. I'm still dreaming up things to do to the new tank when we get it to keep my apistos out of reach.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

SophieThomas said:


> Are bloodworms okay for him? I have a wack of them that we feed to our daughter's frogs. I actually put spinach/cucumber in the tank once or twice a week now for the silver dollars so he does have access to vegetation. This might be a weird question but what about sea weed? We always have sea week around as well but I've never thought of giving it to my fish before.
> 
> I will head out now and pick up some higher quality pellets for him.
> 
> ...


I'm not sure he's going to go after the veggies voluntarily, so you might have to disguise it by mixing it with other food. I don't see why not with seaweed, as long as it's not flavoured or salted.

Another great food is shelled peas. My JD's and Chocolate cichlid love them and they are high in protein also. It has the bonus of keeping them "regular". O's are prone to indigestion. My plecos and cichlids all love them. I also give them to my shrimp. Just thaw out frozen peas for 10 minutes or so and squirt them out of the shell and feed the soft insides. All your fish will love it. Try not to overdo it though, as they are nutritionally very dense and fairly high in protein. That partly solves your meat problem (as you're vegetarian). The pellets will have fish meal and other processed meaty foods to satisfy his needs.


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## SophieThomas (May 12, 2010)

Okay, sounds good 

I season the seaweed myself so it should be fine to put in the tank.

Yah, I've seen you talk about the shelled peas in other posts before. Awesome idea considering we always have boxes of them kicking around 

What about tofu? I could try the extra firm tofu so that it doesn't fall apart in the water too quickly.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

With tofu, I'd be worried about digestibility. I know they use plaster of paris in tofu for instance, so what would be fine for us (to hold the tofu together) may not be fine for the fish. It is also very high in protein (I used to eat lots of it when I was a student), but maybe it would be better to try beans instead. I know some guys on Planetcatfish feed their plecos beans (like cooked kidney beans).


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## Death's Sting (Apr 21, 2010)

heres what i feed my Oscar:

- Prawn (frozen and raw)

- tilapia (frozen and raw)

- squid (frozen and raw)

- smelt (frozen and raw)

- herring (frozen and raw)

- krill (frozen and raw)

- silver sides (frozen and raw)

- mysis shrimp (frozen and raw)

- Brine shrimp (frozen and raw)

- algae wafers

- regular wafer

- shrimp pellets

- flake food

- vegetables, i.e: cucumber, zucchini, yams, sweet potatoes, broccoli, romaine lettuce, peas

- pellets, i.e Hikari Cichlid gold, Hikari Massivore and NLS Cichlid formula (this is what i feed MOST)

on a side note regarding worms:

most worms are made up of mostly moisture, and have very little protein. so in short, no worm is better then a top quailty pellet. if u look on a pack of frozen blood worms and check out the guaranteed analysis you will see what i mean.

i don't feed worms to any of my fish anymore, its just not worth it. there's always going to be a chance of disease or parasite when feeding live. the bottom line is, worms are not that nutritious compared to other foods out there. like the ones i listed above.

there's also been cases were fish have become addicted to certain worms and begin to refuse other foods.

heres my Oscar:


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## SophieThomas (May 12, 2010)

Beautiful oscar Death's Sting 

Currently I feed cichlid flakes and brine shrimp but I guess he does eat the algae wafers I put in too. 

I went out to the LFS today and no one seems to carry Hikari (out of the three I checked). I will have to jump online and find a place in Abby or close to it that carries their products.


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## Death's Sting (Apr 21, 2010)

SophieThomas said:


> Beautiful oscar Death's Sting
> 
> Currently I feed cichlid flakes and brine shrimp but I guess he does eat the algae wafers I put in too.
> 
> I went out to the LFS today and no one seems to carry Hikari (out of the three I checked). I will have to jump online and find a place in Abby or close to it that carries their products.


IPU or Big Al's online is ur best bet. and thank u, my flag tail has the same diet and its absolutely stunning as well. its massive!!


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## JUICE (Jan 4, 2020)

Death's Sting said:


> IPU or Big Al's online is ur best bet. and thank u, my flag tail has the same diet and its absolutely stunning as well. its massive!!


so zach ? you pretty much feed everything ? right ? just at different times ??

humm ?? and your oscars look great man !! 

good job buddy !! i think thats what i said , oscars eat everything ..


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## Death's Sting (Apr 21, 2010)

JUICE said:


> so zach ? you pretty much feed everything ? right ? just at different times ??
> 
> humm ?? and your oscars look great man !!
> 
> good job buddy !! i think thats what i said , oscars eat everything ..


ur 100% right thank u!


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## SophieThomas (May 12, 2010)

Death's Sting said:


> ur 100% right thank u!


With a mouth like that can you blame them? lol If I could eat like that I would spend all day gorging, hehehehe


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## SophieThomas (May 12, 2010)

Okay so I have a question, hopefully despite all the shenanigans someone will pay attention to it 

Soooo, I am feeding my little guy a variation of foods on your kind suggestions but now I am concerned I am not feeding him enough. He has grown about .75" since getting him. 

I feed him three times a day but there are a number of other fish in the tank. If I could ensure he received what I put in for him, how much should that be each feeding?


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

I'm not sure there is a rule for that. From my experience with Oscars, if you fed them every time you walked by the tank, even if that's 100x a day, they will still beg for food. Since he's a juvie, you might want to feed 4 - 5x a day if you can. If you see his little full, that should be good. Remember that O's like to gorge themselves and can get indigestion, so you don't want to feed him every time he looks for food (never mind the expense). If you feed 4 - 5 times a day and give him whatever he can eat in a minute or so, that should be plenty.


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

what food is best for Xanthrophyl (yellow pigments)
i was told you can feed marigold petals, has anyone tried that? i was wondering if mine would even eat them without mixing them in with something.


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## SophieThomas (May 12, 2010)

2wheelsx2 said:


> I'm not sure there is a rule for that. From my experience with Oscars, if you fed them every time you walked by the tank, even if that's 100x a day, they will still beg for food. Since he's a juvie, you might want to feed 4 - 5x a day if you can. If you see his little full, that should be good. Remember that O's like to gorge themselves and can get indigestion, so you don't want to feed him every time he looks for food (never mind the expense). If you feed 4 - 5 times a day and give him whatever he can eat in a minute or so, that should be plenty.


Hmmm, well I don't feed him outside of those three times now, lol. You know those brine shrimp blocks from Hikari? He can eat an entire block in about 20 seconds and then moves on to the flake food I put in for all the rest of them


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Those brine shrimp blocks are not that nutrionally dense. Once you get some pellets he'll be much better off. My O used to suck back those NLS pellets like it was going out of style.


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## H . (Apr 23, 2010)

If you are looking for a potential great size, get your oscar on feeders as early as possible. Hikari pellets as additions.


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## Death's Sting (Apr 21, 2010)

H . said:


> If you are looking for a potential great size, get your oscar on feeders as early as possible.


sorry.. I 100% totally disagree with this statement...

the main reasons why they should not be fed are the following:

-They are kept in horrible conditions
-They are often diseased
-They often are carriers of parasites

feeders just generally are a poor choice of food, and should be avoided at all cost! they are oily, not very nutritious and cause fatty deposits on the liver leading to premature deaths. They also contain very high levels of Thiaminase a destroying hormone.

The key is to balance the diet with a variety of foods, there a plenty of foods out there that the Oscar will accept.. just look at the list i wrote of what i feed mine.

The sad truth is we as hobbyists tend to overfeed...i only feed my Oscar once a day and as u can see he is healthy and beautiful as can be.


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## H . (Apr 23, 2010)

I understand what you posted here because I've read these over thousand time online or even on some books...

I was trying to tell my opinion, not trying to argue what is right, and what is wrong. 

I prefer feeders because 

1. I've seen some biggest oscars with best shape from other serious oscar keepers in person, and they have all fed on feeders...and I know some great ocsar keepers are still using 90% feeders as food. 

2. I had kept and bred oscars over 10 years, and I had grown out over 100 adults on feeders. Fish never have health problem directly cause by feeders. Surely I had treated feeders with salt solution, and nowadays we have prozi pro as well.

So again, if you look for a real adult oscar, feeder will give your fish real size and great shape plus some pellet like hikari as addition, will give your fish better coloration.


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## Death's Sting (Apr 21, 2010)

H . said:


> I understand what you posted here because I've read these over thousand time online or even on some books...


 im surprised u haven't realized it then.. 

what a pitty..

it doesn't matter who u know or how long u have been doing it. the science and research is behind what im saying, you have even heard it 1000 X.. so really come on now.. don't be stubborn old man stuck in the mud.. its time to realize the truth.


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## H . (Apr 23, 2010)

well, I know it gonna turn out like this. you started it and you stopped it. feed your fish based on your "science" and you have a good canada day.

-end-


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## Death's Sting (Apr 21, 2010)

H . said:


> well, I know it gonna turn out like this. you started it and you stopped it. you have a good canada day.
> 
> -end-


u too man, i didn't mean to step on ur toes, i just feel very strongly about this particular subject.. i hope u can understand where im coming from.


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## H . (Apr 23, 2010)

that's totally okay, man. like I said I do understand what the result will be since this happened thousand time as well. And you are right, somehow anything related feeders is very strong!


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## H . (Apr 23, 2010)




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## Death's Sting (Apr 21, 2010)

H . said:


> So lets make it even stronger! Lets do a test.
> 
> we pick up 5 baby oscar each from same group from any LFS, and you feed yours in whatever science way you prefer. I feed mine only on feeders, after half or one year, let members decide who's oscar will be better regarding to size, shape and coloration. The loser will donate 500 bucks to BCA?


i thought we were done?

wow.. pathetic...

feeders are garbage... period... you have read it a 1000X u even said and u still don't understand.. like i said ur like a old stubborn man stuck in the mud.. ur stuck with ur old ways and cant move on and realize the the health benefits of food with an actual guaranteed analysis.

the only reason Oscars get huge from feeders is because its all fat. feeders are extremely fatty fish and they cause fatty liver disease in other fish that eat them..

I know other people who have been doing the wrong thing for 20 years.. they call it experience and say their friends do it too... so it must be good. even though there's no scientific evidence to back it up.. its all a bunch of BS and everyone who reads and comprehends what their reading will agree.

soo u can go on feeding crap to ur fish and ill will go on educating people on healthy alternative food like i have done in my original post in this thread..

have a great Canada day BUD!

/end


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## H . (Apr 23, 2010)

since you quote, you do it or not?


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## BigFatLyre (Apr 22, 2010)

seaweed is loaded with trace elements for them, like iodine. Hikari staple seems to be largely soy based and my pet dog...er.....Oscar.....really likes them in any size.


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## SophieThomas (May 12, 2010)

Thank you for everyone's input  I think I have the information to keep a very happy, healthy, well-fed Oscar.


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## flolypops (Jul 6, 2010)

Oscar is primarily eat meat so provide them with a high protein diet. Most Oscars eat primarily small fish, aquatic invertebrates, insects, and insect larvae. Many high quality processed fish foods are available in the market today and most frozen fish foods are also appropriate. Your fish should be able to consume all the food you offer within two minutes of feeding.


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