Neglected Oscar

[Alaska Oscar]

Recently my husband & I acquired an oscar that had been abandoned by our former tenant. The oscar was left in a filthy tank without food or filtered water for nearly 2 weeks. We cleaned his tank up & have been feeding him the pellets that our tenant left. Tried giving him 2 feeder gold fish, but he didn't eat them. He just killed them. Would like to have some tips on what else we can do to help him, please.

[NatakuTseng]

What size tank is it, how big is the oscar as well?

[XSeaNX]

yeah size of the oscar, tank size...and if possible water parameters (If you dont know thats ok) any scars, marks, etc? and hows its behavior? does it hang around the bottom? or is it an active swimmer.

big signs of happy oscars are it being a very curious swimmer as well as perky fins (not clamped). Also how big are the feeder goldfish? remember oscars eat whole so if its larger than its mouth it might just kill it.

Out of curiosity....is he eatting the pellets youre feeding him too? In the long run they are more nutritious than feeders anyway and if hes eatting those I wouldnt much worry about the feeders....some pellet trained oscars wont eat feeders at all. If it isnt eatting anything then there is a trick they use with Discus which is to add garlic extract to the water...its supposed to increase their appetite and get picky/non eaters back to feeding again.

[luvmyfish]

My Oscar loves live redworms, and when he gets larger I'm sure will enjoy the occasional earthworm or nightcrawler. I don't recommend live tubifex, I ditched the tubifex when I noticed some really weird looking things in there that looked like parasites. Frozen brine shrimp are good as well as beef hearts.
good luck with your new pet!

[dave76]

I feed my oscar june bugs rollie polies cockroaches or just about any other insect that my kids bring to me. I dont use feeders, If they do eat them they get scales all over the tank. Feeders are just a no no in my book. every once in a while I will get some ghost shrimp, but I quarranteen them first.

[Alaska Oscar]

My oscar is about 8 inches long. The tank is about 10 gallons, I think.

[Alaska Oscar]

Oscar is eating the pellets that I give him; he makes a big mess with them too. He's in a 10 gallon tank, I think. You may be right about the feeders; I don't think they would fit in his mouth whole. He seems to be a curious swimmer, making lots of turns. He does have some holes on his forehead, but no scars. Thanks for the reply.

[cyberbeer65]

Oscar is eating the pellets that I give him; he makes a big mess with them too. He's in a 10 gallon tank, I think. You may be right about the feeders; I don't think they would fit in his mouth whole. He seems to be a curious swimmer, making lots of turns. He does have some holes on his forehead, but no scars. Thanks for the reply.

A 10 gallon tank is way too small for that poor oscar.You need to get him in a 55 gallon at least.

[luvmyfish]

He seems to be a curious swimmer, making lots of turns.

how is that possible in such a small tank?? If he is 8" hes almost longer than the tank is wide!!

[Michael_G]

Holy Crap!!!! get a bigger tank or trade him into a lfs. no 8 inch fish can ever be happy in a #10g. this i urgent.plus he might have hole in the head disease from what you said about him having holes in his head. its reltively harmless to oscarsal though not esthetic . not so benign to discus.

[NatakuTseng]

Michael, how do you even know its HITH? hmmmm? because it has pores on the head, just like every healthy oscar on the planet? Think before posting things about diseases. You need much more info about that subject before making a diagnosis.

A bigger tank is needed, a 55 would be ok, bigger would be better though. Feeders are a bad idea, especially goldfish feeders. If he won't eat the pellets, starve him for a few days and try it again. If he still doesn't go for a week without trying to feed him. You could also try using some frozen mysis shrimp, much better food source than feeders.

Luv, your oscar needs a larger tank as well, they can get that big in 10gals and no they do not grow to the size of their tank.

[svtcontour]

How can someone keep an 8" oscar in a 10 gallon tank. I mean it doesnt really take any logic to see this isnt right. Its like keeping a Doberman in a closet and then saying "oh by the way, I keep the dog in a closet...is that ok" :(

I had my 10" oscar in a 100 gallon tank and I wished I had a larger tank like a 180.....

[Michael_G]

how big are the ''holes on his head?not sure they are ''pores''

[cyberbeer65]

how big are the ''holes on his head?not sure they are ''pores''

My Oscar has the same pores in his forehead,as said before all healthy Oscars have them.

[mrsdorothy]

You do need a bigger tank of at least 55g. I would skip the 55 and go for the 75g tank. This will give him more room to turn around. But, until you get the larger tank set up and ready for your fish, just work with what you have available.

You will need a clean 5g bucket, a gravel vac,and dechloronator like prime, stress coat will work. Vaccum out about 5g of water cleaning the gravel as you go. You will need to do this at least 3 times per week while he's in the 10g tank, daily wouldn't hurt. Decholorinate fresh water to remove chlorine or chlorimine from your tap water. Add fresh water to tank. Feed a small amout 1-2 times per day. If he's not eating all of his food at each feeding, then you're feeding too much.

Go to your lfs and purchase test kits for ammonia, nitrItes, niterAtes, and ph. You can usually get all of these in the freshwater master test kit. Take a sample of your water with you and have them test your water. Aquarium pharmaceutical tests are what I use. You will also need these tests when you set up and cycle your new larger tank. Refer to the sticky about fishless cycling your tank. There is also a stickie about cycling with fish. If it was me I would get the larger tank and cycle the tank with the fish in it, you will have to do a lot of water changes, or find some boi-spira.

If you do not want a bigger tank. Just do a lot of water changes until you can take him to your local fish store (lfs).

HTH
Dorothy

[FishFreak101]

My Oscar has the same pores in his forehead,as said before all healthy Oscars have them.
Same with my oscar(his name is oscar) its just they're "special ears" like to test the water...well its like to tell the water flow and stuff. :p:

[razorxxx]

:dog: :hang: :help: :D :confused: :coffee: :soda: :Angel: :shark: : :sim: : :Should Get Atleast A 45 Gallon Tank!!




30 Gallon-3 Yellow Labs 3 Clown Loaches 1 Pleco ALL 1 1/2 INCHES