Aquarium question (oscars)

[siwil1]

I had run down the stock on my old Aquarium over the last 18months and have now using the water from the old one set up a new tank which I have introduced 3 Oscars to. Now I have been feeding them Bloodworm and also Chicilid flake food but what else should they have?

I have seen mentioned feeder fish I assume this is just something for them to hunt and kill if so what do people use?

They seem to be very clever fish and are great fun to watch.

Any other tips from experts will be greatly appreciated

Cheers

Simon

[Raverbaby]

Ive got a couple of oscars too, I give them bloodworm and the chichlid pellets.
I also give them Lance fish- its just whole frozen fish, quite small.
My 2 are also partial to asda's frozen prawns!
I'm not a fan of giving them feeder/live fish

[y2blade]

fantastic Fish, very clever and have real character
my father had one in a tank with a large Plec when I was a child

he used to feed it frozen prawns (defrosted) also live garden worms and the odd live tetra/guppy/whatever as a treat..it was great to watch him feed

back then there were no tree huggers crying about live feeding, it was just doing what it does naturally



I do keep considering switching my large Tropical community tank over to house an Oscar...but the other half keeps buying little fish

[siwil1]

To be honest I did have a couple of Tetra's left.. Empthasis on DID !

I will invest in some Prawns as a treat then.

I have also read they are messy and Ammonia can be a problem, I have upped the filtration in the tank and will keep up 25% pw water changes. Hopefully that will be enough.

I assume to put a Plec in the tank it would need to be quite large to start with?

[y2blade]

siwil1 said:

To be honest I did have a couple of Tetra's left.. Empthasis on DID !

I will invest in some Prawns as a treat then.

I have also read they are messy and Ammonia can be a problem, I have upped the filtration in the tank and will keep up 25% pw water changes. Hopefully that will be enough.

I assume to put a Plec in the tank it would need to be quite large to start with?

yep..the rule with Ocsars is ...IF they can fit it in their mouth they WILL


I used to hand feed my fathers one prawns and earthworms as a child they really are great fish
I have a couple of books about them at home somewhere

edit to add.. this is one of the books I have
http://www.amazon.com/Oscars-Neal-Pronek/dp/086622...

Edited by y2blade on Thursday 3rd March 14:21

[y2blade]

do you have any pictures of your Oscars? I'd love to see them

[siwil1]

I havent taken any yet but will do and load some up.

Thanks for the advice on the book

[tenohfive]

Without wishing to sound condescending, a couple of your comments make it sound like you're unaware of the finer points of the nitrogen cycle. If I'm wrong you have my apologies.

A couple of things, and a link that may prove useful to you:

1. Moving water from an old tank to a new tank serves no practical purpose. The nitrifying bacteria that is used to break down ammonia and nitrites (both of which are harmful to fish) lives in the filter media. The water itself doesn't hold anything of value.

2. 25% water changes weekly are fine. Just make sure you're using dechlor, as chlorine kills the nitrifying bacteria.

http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=2719...

[jame5log]

Oscars love live river shrimp, available from most good aquarium shops. Also any flies, moths or spiders you find lurking about will be munched up happily.

[siwil1]

tenohfive said:

Without wishing to sound condescending, a couple of your comments make it sound like you're unaware of the finer points of the nitrogen cycle. If I'm wrong you have my apologies.

A couple of things, and a link that may prove useful to you:

1. Moving water from an old tank to a new tank serves no practical purpose. The nitrifying bacteria that is used to break down ammonia and nitrites (both of which are harmful to fish) lives in the filter media. The water itself doesn't hold anything of value.

2. 25% water changes weekly are fine. Just make sure you're using dechlor, as chlorine kills the nitrifying bacteria.

http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=2719...

No need for apologies I didnt make it very clear, I'm by no means an expert but am aware of the nitrogen cycle and I used all of the media from the old tank. I thought the old water would have been some help though, If it meant all my syphoning was a waste of time so be it! I thought i read somewhere years ago that if using old water the tank would settle quicker with lower spike rates.

Anyway the oscars appear happy after 2 weeks and a water test has shown no nasties thus far.

Cheers for the link I will explore the forums on there as well.

[tenohfive]

Ah good.

Not sure where I stand forum rules wise in endorsing another forum, but for those new to the hobby the link below (and the rest of that site) are the single most useful resource available.

[JFReturns]

y2blade said:

do you have any pictures of your Oscars? I'd love to see them

Me too! Fantastic fish, such character.

[y2blade]

I had a look on youtube last night of Oscars feeding, to show the otherhalf what I was looking at. some good videos

but some I'd rather not watch too
what is wrong with some people? video titled Oscar vs Piranha to the death...NO I didn't click on it

[JFReturns]

Yeah, I know what you mean. Some 'tards putting live mice into a Piranha tank and justifying it saying 'Its nature' and coming back with comments such as 'if you dislike this but eat hamburgers you are a hypocrite'.

[y2blade]

JFReturns said:

Yeah, I know what you mean. Some 'tards putting live mice into a Piranha tank and justifying it saying 'Its nature' and coming back with comments such as 'if you dislike this but eat hamburgers you are a hypocrite'.

aye
things that happen in nature aren't "staged" for "entertainment"

why video it?
rhetorical question, not aimed at you obviously

[PoleDriver]

Oscars are great, but they will try and eat anything, even if it won't fit in one go!
Plecs tend to survive even if they aren't that big as they have very rough scales/skin and spiny fins!

[2L8]

I'm not saying don't do it, but in the uk, feeding a live vertebrate to another animal is illegal. Dosnt stop me feeding cats to dogs though. Joke.

[cailean]

Ahhh, memories of my youth, I used to have 3 or 4 oscars - great fish. I lived in the Caribbean next to a "lake" and used to feed them small fish from the lake. I used to get the oscars out of the tank each month and measure them and record their growth...they got quite big. I used to build my own tanks so they could have enough room to swim and chase the fishes.....happy days...

[Haliatus]

Sounds weird but in the wild they eat fallen fruit. Apples, melon and pineapple all go down well from past experiences. So it's not all meat meat meat

[therealpigdog]

I used to feed my oscars with garden snails too - crunchy!

Cucumber and courgette go down well too!

enjoy having your tank redecorated when they get bigger - mine used to be prolific diggers. Good job you've sorted the filtration too, as they are really messy eaters.