Homemade foods for a 5 month old Oscar.

[BigZed]

Hey guys,

I've had my Oscar for about 5 months now and he's about 3 inches long. He is eating very well but I'm starting to consider alternative foods for him.

Does anyone have any suggestions on food for an Oscar? Anything from homemade recipes to store bought goodies. Doesn't matter what it is, I'm mostly interested in your opinions.

Also what are your thoughts on "household bugs" like spiders, centipedes and stuff like that. Our house doesn't have any ant traps down or anything like that.

Any suggestions or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Lupin]

Hmmm...The only insects I'd be inclined to use are crickets, flies and grasshoppers. The rest I won't. How about earthworms, tubifex worms and some fish? You could consider a breeding tank where you can raise and breed the feeder fish such as guppies, convicts, mollies, etc.

There's a link in the sticky of DIY Links in Freshwater Products and DIY section for homemade foods.

 

[Ruben Tolon]

i definitely would not feed any bugs found around the house, as they can be exposed to numerous chemicals that can harm your fish. I'd go with pet store crickets and earthworms.

 

[Leviathan64]

Here's a recipe for you. My fish love it.

 

[BigZed]

Thanks for the info so far guys, Im pretty sure my Oscar will love these ideas!

 

[Star_Rider]

compost piles are a great source for red worms

 

[jones57742]

More food for thought (pun intended) and two have been addressed but in a different manner.

Red Wiggler Worms - even my community fish go crazy over them
http://www.wormwoman.com/acatalog/index.html

Home made recipes
http://www.fishforums.com/forum/fyi-your-info/17320-homemade-recipes-west-texas-style.html

Also for your fish a 5G hex and guppies.

TR

 

[Gless08]

Red worms are great. you can also benefit from raising these hardworkers by letting them take care of your kitchen garbage.:thumbsup: Here are a few useful ideas:
Feeding Red Wiggler Worms to Pets
Guides in Raising Red Worms

 

[fish-n-chips]

To save you some money, find a local bait store. You can normally save over 50% purchasing them there as opposed to an lfs. Also you can buy them in bulk and save even more. Last your I bought 20 dozen nightcrawlers for around $22.00. I picked up a worm box and bedding from a sporting goods store so they were spread out between the two containers. The only drawback was having to go through the containers to make certain none of the worms died. If you have enough fish though you will be using them in short order.

 

[platytudes]

Don't mean to toot my own horn, but here's an article I wrote about making gel foods from baby food (vegetable flavors):
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_6/volume_6_2/food.htm
Quick and convenient, you need only a measuring cup and a microwave...and I've found with cichlids getting them to eat their veggies is important, prevents Vitamin C deficiency which is one of the suspected causes of HLLE/HITH.