Oscars

Nolapete said:
Funny, that's why mealworms contain 15 of the 16 elements of flesh. I AGREE a diet of goldfish is NOT healthy, but that's not what he's feeding them. Earthworms, crickets, mealworms are far from being "potato chips." But everyone has the right to their own opinion. I wish I still had pics of my old breeding group of synspilum to show you. They were enormous and super active and primarily ate mealworms, crickets, earthworms, and shrimp, along with some veggies.
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The main point I was getting at was Oscars are Omnivorous! You stated they were carnivores. Also Pellet food can be very nutritious to fish. Live food is beneficial but so is pellet food. I have seen some amazing fish that have been fed primarily pellet foods.

A couple of links of fish fed on exclusively high quality pellet food....

http://www.malawimayhem.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=47276
http://www.malawimayhem.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7047
http://www.ida-may.com/other/fish72.JPG
 
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Actually in the wild they are indeed carnivores, but we turn them into garbagecaninvores in our aquariums as they will eat anything we feed them. So, yes in the aquarium they become omnivorous. I do agree that pellet food can be fed as the sole nutrition a fish receives. My disagreement is that live food is like "potato chips." I'm sure we can agree that it would be optimal for them to have a balance of both.
 
Pellets contain a concentration of the beneficial parts of the live food. Live food like worms, crickets, most anything but fish do provide a better nutricious meal than a goldfish(unless gutloaded), but a staple diet of good quality pellets will be better in the long run IMO.

Basically instead of eating chicken, vegetables, and grain in separate bites I just blend it all together add vitamins and eat that.
 
Nolapete said:
There's really no need to feed pellet food if you have a ready supply of live food. Live food is more far more beneficial nutritionally than any pellet food to a carnivore like oscars. Just be sure to provide a variety like you are doing with the crickets, worms, etc.
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huh? :thumbsdown:
 
High quality pellet food is much more complete nutritionally than live food, and even though feeding live food is great, I wouldn't use it as a staple of the diet, even if it is varied.
 
Ruben Tolon said:
High quality pellet food is much more complete nutritionally than live food, and even though feeding live food is great, I wouldn't use it as a staple of the diet, even if it is varied.
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That was my point exactly!
 
I would bracket Os more as opportunistic feeders rather than carnivores or omnivores. IME some Os just do not recognise vegetables as food. I currently have 5 Oscars spread over 3 tanks, and have raised them all slightly differently. The first 2 I got fed on pellets and an occasional cricket from the backyard and grew ok. Nowadays they wont even eat crickets, just pellets. The next one will eat anything and everything and is very, very, active and grew quicker than the first 2. The last 2 I bought are in with a pair of carnivorous catfish, that HAVE to be fed meaty foods. I make my own food for this tank which is based around beefheart and kangaroo meat, crushed up pellets, and some veggies for digestion, plus they get the fry from my convict tank. The growth rate of the Os in this third tank has been phenomenal. I've had them about 4 months and they must have grown at least 7" in that time.

The conclusion you would have to draw from this is that the higher protein levels found in meaty foods are the way to go
 
Well now I feed him about four crickets or 3 worms and five Hikari Cichlid Gold mini pellets a day. and he has gotten so active that he looks like he is on speed. I am hoping this is a good thing. so what do you think?
 
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