Oscar food: guppies or ghost shrimp?

[DevilSpirit]

I'm planning to get an oscar soon, and I have an extra 10 gallon tank lying around, so I thought I'd use it to raise some feeders for it.

I'm not sure if I should raise guppies or ghost shrimp. I'm pretty sure ghost shrimps would be faster breeders though, but I'm not sure which one has a better nutritional content. Feeders aren't gonna be the only part in its diet, so speed shouldn't be too much of a problem though.

Advice is appreciated. Thanks :)

[Sploke]

Why not both?

[DevilSpirit]

guppies will eat ghost shrimp larvae, and there is a possibility that a ghost shrimp can snag a guppy fry. I only have 1 spare tank.

[Jerzboi]

i don think the ghost shrimp would be able to catch one of those guppies

then again ya just never know....

[excuzzzeme]

I suggest you raise nothing and stay away from live food. 95% of Oscars today are tank raised. The nutrition gleaned from live food is minimal unless you heavily over-feed the food animals and then they will have a high fat content.

At the same time, the more often you feed live food the more aggressive an Oscar will become. They will also develop a taste for live and will eventually refuse anything but live foods. This can be problematic if you ever need to dose medications. You will need more than a 10 gallon tank to breed guppies in sufficient quantities.

You say that live foods won't be the only food, but that is wishful thinking on your part.

[DevilSpirit]

I was thinking more along the lines of a snack or something actually. It's more convienient to feed pellets most of the time anyway.

[d1anonly22]

go with guppys or mosquito minnows depending on where you live the creeks, rivers and ponds should have them for mosquito control and they breed like crazy so its okay to take a few. those are what i breed to feed my tiger oscar my jack dempseys and even sometimes my electric blue melanochromis johanni.

[SubRosa]

If you want to use the tank to raise live food may I suggest raising earthworms? Or even better, crack the bottom, put the tank outside in a sunny spot, fill it with good soil and grow peas in it. Much better snack for an omnivore like an Oscar.

[Wycco]

there is a possibility that a ghost shrimp can snag a guppy fry. I only have 1 spare tank.

That is a possibility- but even more likely the adult guppies will eat the guppy fry. I think an individual Guppy will need more space and more feeding than an individual Ghost shrimp- but an individual Guppy will produce more young than an individual ghost shrimp.

You can however keep a lot of ghost shrimp in the same space you can only keep a few Guppies.

Ghost shrimp also have the added benefit of not being annoying like Guppies! I like ghost shrimp- think they make excellent pets on their own. Guppies annoy me and deserve to be eaten! ;)

/ whistling tunelessly after that last comment as I walk off into the shadows.

[GEV83]

Hmm is this Oscar gonna live solo or with other tank mates? What size of tank?

Oscars do tend to act more aggressive when fed live foods which is bad if you want more then one fish in a tank. You should just try the earthworm raising as stated by another member above or buy crickets gut load them and then feed to your Oscars. I personally see better colors using prepared foods like Hikari then I ever did using feeders like guppies and goldfish back when I didnt know the downsides to live foods like parasites and disease.

[ksane]

Crayfish is the natural diet of an Oscar. Guppies or Ghost Shrimp are way too little to do them any good. A better solution would be to grab some plain raw frozen crayfish at the store and feed those. They love em'!

[DevilSpirit]

Thanks for all the info guys.

I am planning to let the oscar live alone, in the biggest tank that will fit that empty spot in the living room, probably 60-80 gallons.

I'm pretty paranoid of catching food from the wild. Parasites and diseases scare me... o.O

I've never thought about peas. I'll plant some peas this spring to replace my tomatoes, which I'm having horrible luck with anyway...

After some research, another possibility is maybe mealworms? Some articles say they're a good source of protein.

[countrychick]

I only feed my oscar hakari gold pellets.

[SubRosa]

Mealworms are good source of protein for animals capable of digesting chitin, the hard outer shell. They're very fatty as well and are usually recommended as occasional treats.