this may sound dumb

but i read that you cant just feed oscars a diet of dry foods..also cant i feed them feeder fish and crickets if i know that they are safe??i have been feeding my other animals feeder fish and crickets from the same pet stores for years and they are healthy?????????????????????????? :spam:
 
I don't think there would be a problem with that, as long as you are not getting sick/diseased feeders. Just through in a bunch of guppies and let it run for about a month then put in the oscars. btw, do you have any other tanks already set up? If so, you could just put some of the filter media from the tank you already have into the new tank and it will be instantly cycled. If you do this, make sure you add your oscar at the same time you add the filter media, or the bacteria will die if left in an empty tank with no fish waste to eat.
 
there's so many things wrong with this thread.

first, reptile guy, that's a load of bull. live foods do not make Oscars more agressive. live foods are wonderful for them, but you are right in that live feeder fish should be avoided, but ONLY because they can introduce diseases to the tank, and because sometimes they will escape, and then you end up with another fish in your tank that you might not have wanted.

however, its wonderful to feed Oscars live earthworms, crickets, meal worms, etc. all live foods should be free of pesticides and chemicals like fertilizers.

SECONDLY, a 55g is the BARE MINIMUM tank size for a SINGLE oscar. Sharpie, you keep saying "OscarS" in the plural. not only is a 55g not large enough for two oscars to swim and have their own territory, the bioload would be incredible. you'd be doing water changes every other day, and not 25%, but more like 75%. the amount of nitrates they would produce would be phenominal.

unless you WILL upgrade when they are about 5" long (that's about 5 months) do not put two oscars in a 55g.
 
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The only way in my mind that is is safe to use feeder fish is if you raise them on your own or a friend does. And I like the idea of feeder guppies better. Goldfish are too fatty and leave a huge mess. A much smaller fish is a better choice and if you raise them yourself you can feed the feeders a healthy diet and that will be transfered to the oscar.

And yes, a 55 gallon will just be too small for an oscar long term. It will be fine for a couple of oscars for awhile (say a few months). But a 75 gallon is generally the minimum.

Also do a search for Hole in the Head disease. It is common in oscars and not pleasant to watch. And read up on the sticky posting in the Newbie Forum. Very important info to read before you start. No sense making the same mistakes that so many others have.
 
live food does make animals more aggressive. i have observed it in cichlids, water turtles, and other things many times. just because you have not seen or tried it, doesnt mean its bull. the most laid back oscars are the ones that have only been fed pellets. when fed live food (especially fish) they get used to aggressively chasing down moving animals, this habit can easily get transferred to their tankmates. i am not sayign they will be pleasant if not fed live, just that hey wont be as aggressive as if they were. any fish bred commercially as a feeder has a very high risk of parasites and diseases. there are enough high quality pellet diets out there so that you dont have to risk the fishs's health, which should always be the top priority. if you have been feeding feeders for years and never had any problems related to increased aggression, parasites, or diseases, you have lucked out. the healthiest, best looking oscars i have seen have always been ones that were not fed live. i have not heard of an oscar that got hole-in-the-head that was not fed live. in my opinion and experience there is no need to feed live, there are no benefits, and it is all risky consequences. that is why i do not, and suggest others to not, feed live food at all.
 
75% of an oscars diet should be high quality pellets, but it should be supplimented with frozen and live foods, and even some veggies. oscars eat insects and crustaceans in the wild, and i think part of owning any animal that is not domesticated* is providing it with a habitat as close to the wild as possible. that includes food. yes, oscars will be interested in and "hunt" live foods put in their tanks, but i have never, EVER heard of one becoming abnormally agressive because it was fed a live worm or cricket a couple times a week. cichlids are agressive ANYWAY, and i think its fun watching them display hunting behavior as they go after a live bug on the surface of the water. its also healthy for them. live foods provide them with nutrients that are lost in the process of making pellets and freezing foods. there are a lot of vital micronutrients that can be "killed" by cooking and freezing.

so long as you get your live foods from a good place, catch them from an area you know pesticides aren't used, or raise your own, i think all predatory fish should be fed some live foods. its only natural.
 
in nature most fish die. this is due to bad genes, lack of hunting ability/resources, predation, and disease. wild caught feeders are even more likely to contain parasites and diseases, even if they are collected in pesticide/fertilizer free areas. i didnt say they would become abnormally aggressive if you feed them live, im saying that if you dont feed live, they wont get as aggressive as most people think an oscar is. and in an aquarium with other cichlids (very unnatural by the way) aggression is the last thing you want to encourage. im not saying they will be pleasant if you dont feed live, and im not saying they will be super aggressive if you do. all im saying is that in my experience, cichlids fed only pellets are less aggressive than those who are. therefore making it more likely for you to be successful (healthy, beautiful, and most importantly tolerant of eachother). oscars are domesticated. if by pattern alone, they are domesticated. "good places" get their feeder fish from fish farms just like every other pet store. so they all are just as likely to have parasites and diseases. and no matter where they come from, live food will encourage aggression.
 
sharpie said:
but i read that you cant just feed oscars a diet of dry foods..also cant i feed them feeder fish and crickets if i know that they are safe??i have been feeding my other animals feeder fish and crickets from the same pet stores for years and they are healthy?????????????????????????? :spam:
Click to expand...

A happy Oscar is an oscar hunting down a feeder fish. Its in his nature. I give my oscar a feeder or two every now and then, you should see his eyes light up! For the most part though, 75% staple pellets, then freezedried shrimp and tubifex cubes. Pellets alone don't seem to offer much variety. My oscar, alone in his 55g, is aggressive enough at feeding time that he sometimes comes out of the water to 1/2 his body length when he sees me dropping those 1st 3 pellets (cue the Orca music). You seriously need to watch your fingers. Otherwise, when he realizes its not feeding time, I can touch his head or fins and he doesn't mind. He loves the feeders so much though he'll ignore his other food for a few days after getting them, so I consider feeders a once-a-month treat.

I give him a bunch of tiny snails from the other tanks too.... those must be quite tasty too, he eats them with a vengeance.

2 oscars in a 55g? no way
 
they may be happy when they are being fed, but they wont be when hole-in-the-head is so bad they stop eating and slowly waste away until they die. i have seen this happen, it is not fun and not worth the joy of watching them eat live. there are a lot of low quality foods out there, and im hoping those are the ones that discouraged you. i use hikari gold and bio-gold (one of, if not THE, best food on the market). i also use tetra: jumbomin food sticks, cichlid sticks, and color cichlid sticks. the 5 together have given my jaguar cichlid awesome health and coloration, and a varied and complete diet. i like the hikari better, but use the tetra for more high quality variety.
 
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