Feeding an Oscar

I have a Oscar "killer" about 3 1/2 inches long, by the way he got his name from bitting the heads off my daughters guppys he was only about 2 inches long when we first got him and thought it would take a little while (months) before it would be an issue and got him a new bigger home it took 5 days before he killed them or should I say decapitated them. Any way my question is on feeding them how much how often he seems to have an unending apetite. I usually feed him shrimp pellets and frozen brine shrimp cubes and he tears them up like a dog with a bone. This past weekend I went to the LFS and got 6 ghost shrimp for him and 6 rosy reds. I figured this would take him about 4 days to eat. In a display of viciousness he ate 4 rosy reds and 4 ghost shrimp in about 1 hour and by the end of the night they were all gone. Needless to say I was shocked at how much he ate and was concerned for his health. He acted like I feel after Thanksgiving dinner.

Any suggestions about how much or how often to feed him?


55 gallon tank
1 Oscar, 1 rope fish, 2 Goramis, 1 pleco, 1 fiddler crab, 1 red fin shark, 6 zebra danios.

I am planning on a bigger tank at least 125 gallon (as soon as I convince my wife we have the space for it which we do)
P.S I got a new fish a rope fish (eel) but really a fish any suggestion on food for it as well I was told pellet food was fine but I try to vary their diet. I will post photos soon.

 

Those lil buggers don't take long to eat live food..ANYTHING they can fit in their mouth is fair game...so becareful with your others in the tank...I feed my boys hikarI large pellets , as well as fresh shrimp and bloodworms...they pick at the cucumber I put in the tank for the pleco...but all in all, oscars will eat anything....my guys eat twice a day and that's it ..enough that they eat within a couple min ....they will beg all day long tho LOL ..I don't feed them live fish from a pet store as they got hole in the head disease a few years ago and I firmly believe it was a bad sick batch of feeder fish...goodluck..cant wait to see pics~

 

I just got myself a pair of Oscars is it alright to give them bloodworm's every day, I find pellets make the water very cloudy.

 

Oscar is a messy eater so be prepared to add extra filtration or perhaps perform more frequent water changes. Well, the amount to feed is quite difficult to decide. But most importantly is make sure your filter can handle the bio-load. The eat a lot and poop a lot too.

 

bloodworms are great but not exclusively...they need the pellets and shrimp as a variation..this time of year is great because oscars love insects...just make sure anything u get outside, doesn't have pesticides...they love worms of anykind...also, get a container of meal worms for like 3 bucks at your LPS and let them sit for a week or two..oscars adore the beatles that meal worms turn into!! hikarI gold pellets are great for their main meal..and yes I so agree with aquariumnewbie...DAILY water changes or extra filtration is needed to keep these big boys happy...goodluck! got any pics??

 

Thanks for the information when they get a bit bigger I put some pics up at the moment there only baby's I got two large filters on it so I hope it keeps the tank clean.

 

Oscar

They are a lovely fish,mine use to eat out my hand.He loved shelled peas,ox heart,pellets,fish,live food.Enjoy your oscar,but do watch what you put with him as anything that will fit in its mouth it will eat.

 

This might be one of my silly Questions but why take the shell of the peas is there a reason for it.

 

I think the skin of the pea isn't digestible to them. Even platys spit out skin when a piece of skin accidentally fell into the tank once.

 

I vary His food with frozen brine shrimp, shrimp pellets, ghost shrimp (he loves), and some minnows. He has helped himself to 2 zebra danios, and my red eye tetras. I know he is not a community fish but we got him small and thought it would take a little while for him to get bigg enough to pose a threat to the rest of the fish, WRONG! He has grown almost 2 inches in a month and so has his mouth. He is getting a new home of his own next week a 29 gallon at least until I can afford a bigger tank 120 + gallons maybe in a year. He will be on his own in the 29 until then.

As a side note I was at LPS and in their tanks they had an Alligator Garr very nasty looking but cool. I hope someone explains to whoever buys it that it will get to be 6 or 7 feet long and weigh over 90 lbs.

 

Thanks for your replys just one more thing are brine shrimp high in protein

 

I don't know about the protien in them but he tears it up. I think that the frozen beef heart has more but not sure.

 

I don't know about the protien in them but he tears it up. I think that the frozen beef heart has more but not sure.

I get some for them see if they like it they love the bloodworm's

 

I feed my tiger only live food, live shrimps (no need to peel the skin), small fish, feeder fish (I feed him guppies just to watch him hunt! Tiger is an ambush predator:;pumpkin!) bloodworms, insects, crickets, (sometimes I feed him spiders, small lizards whatever I can catch)! I don't feed him pellets but sometimes I give him dried worms. Tiger is growing fast and doing very well.

Oscars don't eat pellets in the wild; so I don't see any reason why we have to feed them pellets, in the wild 60% of an oscar's diet is made up of insects.

Oscar is the greatest fish I have ever had!

 

The frozen brine shrimp have 4% protien not very high if you ask me but killer loves it. I also got some frozen blood worms and they are a lot higher in protien and all of my fish loved them.

P.S I found that one of the guys I work with is getting rid of a 55 gallon tank complete set up so I am buying it for killers new home I think he will like having all the room to him self I may even get another Oscar maybe albino tiger. I am getting the whole tank setup for $50 can't beat that unless it was free.

 

a 55 gallon would be a little small for 2 Oscars, 75 gallon is the standard tank size for a couple of oscars. Protein helps oscars to grow faster....

 

In my my opinion I would not feed my fish any live feeder fish for the only reason that you don't really know what kind of health condition those fish are in. I would have to risk the health of my fish because the LFS has a bad crop of feeders. But I do have to say, it is GREAT fun to watch!!!!

 

true! my oscar 5 inches ate 5 tetras I couldnt catch! it took him about 3 hours to do so

 

he sat on the bottom for two hours cvos he was so full