Oscars and prawns

[Olney007]

I often feed my two oscars freeze dried shrimp (hikari krill), but I am thinking about giving them the "real deal" every now and then. Is it Ok to give them raw shrimp/prawns?

Also, I often find that when I give my oscars "feeders"(Yeah, I know some people think it's cruel, go and eat your tofu burgers!), they only eat the heads(unless they are small tetras). My oscars are only about 3 inches long, so is their head eating habit just because they can't swallow the whole fish, or just a malicious decaption fetish?

Later

 

[NickH]

Sure, you can feed carnivorous cichlids "human" fish food. I feed my cichlids shrimp, scallops, etc. Sometimes I even give them the cooked stuff (just plain). I think they even like the cooked stuff better, go figure.

The bags of frozen shrimp you find at the supermarket are good for this. It's cheap, easy, and you have a supply for a long time that does not go bad. Just thaw as you need.

People frown upon using feeders because of the diseases they carry, which can easily be transmitted to your fish. What's more, feeder fish lack nutrients to begin with. If you feed your cichlids feeders on a regular basis, it's really just a matter of time before they get sick. A variety of dried and prepared foods is all cichlids need.

 

[Olney007]

Feeders

I think feeding the wrong feeders( pardon the pun), causes problems. If you have a seperate tank set-up (which you keep clean and regularly maintain) just for feeders, transmission of illness is not an issue. People often blame sudden fish illness on feeders, however;

1. Often people just go to a ****ty chain pet store, buy a load of goldfish and dump them straight in the tank. Of course, this increases the risk of illness.

2. Sudden fish illness can be caused by many other things. People often blame feeders (scapegoating/avoiding the fact you neglect your tank maintenance), when actually water conditions, stress, age of the fish are the real causes of the illness.

On the nutrition point, I would like to see some evidence that live fish have little nutritional content. I am open-minded about it, but skeptical..........

The act of the cichlid chasing the fish does (in a small way) replicate the natural environment. Giving feeders once a week or so also helps prevent stomach problems, such as constipation.

However, as I said I remain open-minded, if I see some evidence.

 

[Oscar_Mania]

The fish that I feed my Oscar come from my dad's tank, which I know is maintained. Whenever my dad gets too many offspring in his tank he gives me some to feed to my Oscar. I also feed all my fish shrimp. I feed them krill also, but it's pretty messy. I think my Oscar has developed quite a fondness for fresh food. He's not really liking his pellets anymore. Like trying to get a kid to eat his vegetables. He eventually eats his pellets though when he figures out that there's nothing else coming.

 

[vfrex]

Giving feeders once a week or so also helps prevent stomach problems, such as constipation.

I have never heard this before. Do you have a link to some proof of that?

Also, not that I am against feeders. I agree that if you breed the feeders yourself and observe that they are healthy over a period of time, the chance of disease is far less.

That being said, I thought that an oscar's diet in the wild consisted more of bugs & crayfish than of small fish. I heard something about the shape of their mouth suggesting that they pick bugs and stuff off the surface of the water. If I was going to use live food to make it seem more like the wild, I would probably drop in a crayfish from time to time (although your oscar is probably a bit small for that right now). Even more plasusible would be to breed & feed earthworms.

Also, on the nutrition of feeders thing,,,I won't comment on most fish, but if you were to get feeder goldfish from the store, you might have a problem with nutrition. I don't remember the exacts, but there is a substance in a goldfish's flesh that stops the absortion of an important nutrient (thiamese and thiamine, or something along those lines).

Seeing as you breed your own, I guess that is not an issue,,,unless you breed goldfish

 

[Olney007]

Feeders

You are right in pointing out that usually oscars live off bugs, crayfish e.t.c. However, when an oscar is young , it is far easier for it to eat and digest a tetra, than an inch long worm or a cricket..........

I will find some evidence on the stomach problems, but just like any other large fish, if you give it exactly the same food all the time, it will get stomach problems, especially if you only feed pellets(dry food). In the wild this is not a problem 'cos of the abundance of food sources. It IS a probelm in the home aquarium.

Of course, this problem can be avoided by feeding bugs, but when oscars are in the two to three inch range, it is hard to find suitably sized bugs. Another problem is that uneaten bugs sink to the bottom and rot, releasing ammonia, whereas uneaten platys hang around waiting to be consumed... ( I never said that I use goldfish feeders. I prefer platys and tetras..........)

Later

 

[vfrex]

It is possible to feed a variety of non-live food.

ie> Different varities of pellets, krill, bloodworms, silversides, smelt, fish fillets, brine shrimp, beefheart, etc.

But on the topic of bugs, I am fairly sure that I was feeding mealworms to my oscar at 3". Furthermore, you can get some pretty small crickets from pet stores. I don't see any reason why an oscar would have trouble digesting one.

Also, I wouldn't say that food sources are just abundant in the wild. As far as live crickets & worms go,,,its true, earthworms can get away. But the simple fact is that they won't given that the oscar is ready to eat. Mealworms will sink to the bottom usually, but again, the oscar will eat it if it is hungry before it hits the bottom. Even if it doesn't, there are 2 remedies,,,

a) Bottom feeder
b) You should be vacuuming your gravel anyway.

Finally, I don't agree with letting platies swim around in the tank until they are eaten. Unless you transition them to the tank as you would a fish you are bringing home to keep, it is going to have to transition to the new water conditions. That transition makes it succeptible to disease, so it is possible that a storm is brewing in those platies while the oscar is dallying around not hungry yet.


edit: I don't know what the market is like in Japan. It is possible that the stuff I listed you can't get your hands on. The way I describe is what is available around me. Sorry if it is not like that over there.