Feeding Oscar - how much and how often?

should I feed my oscars? I have 2 , about 4 inches long. I have no idea how old they are, maybe about a year? they seem to want to eat every time I walk in the room. i've heard only every other day, and i've also heard 2 or 3 times a day. I feed them cichlid pellets or flakes in the morning, and frozen bloodworms every other day. is this adequate?

 

Is that in your 55 gallon tank ?
the more you feed them the more they will grow in size, they will out grow your tank anyway, why rush it?
allso the more you feed them the more you have to clean the tank.
feed them once every 5 days, this will slow their growth down.
I have seen a 10 year old Oscar in a 55 gallon tank that was fed every Friday ( cash the paycheck & go to the pet store syndrome).

 

I feed mine everyday, but just once. They will literally eat as much as you will feed them, and they are huge waste producers. I would feed them everyday, but only enough that they can eat in a few minutes. Give them lots of variety on what you feed them.

 

Everything I read says 55 gallons for 1 Oscar plus 20 gallon for a breeding pair. If their two males, or females, they might not get along for too much longer. I'd be prepared for that.

As for food, that sounds about like what I do, so it's all good to me.

I'm also going to be making some food from beef heart and chicken livers. I found the recipe on an Oscar site.

 

Anybody ever gave them alittle bit of raw hamburger OR cooked hamburger???
Just wondering...I mean, I saw the video's where they ate MICE!!!!!

 

I have given my crayfish cooked chicken. That's usually a good treat, since they'll eat anything.

I'm planning on staying away from raw stuff, except as part of a recipe, just because if you add chicken blood or beef blood to the tank, it's gotta come out somehow.

 

Have you ever given your Oscar cooked chicken????

 

Not yet.

But, then I've only had him for a week.

So far, I've done Oscar food, tropical flake food, tropical flake crisps, peas, and zucchinI (spelling). He didn't go for the veggies. I have to work on that part, because peas, at the very least, are good for their digestive tract.

I really can't wait to make this recipe I found on the oscar spot web site. I found two versions, I'm hoping he'll eat both.

 

Would you want to share that website??????? ???.... ;D......LOL!

 

Anybody ever gave them alittle bit of raw hamburger OR cooked hamburger???
Just wondering...I mean, I saw the video's where they ate MICE!!!!!

I tried the cooked hamburger thing, it caused an oil slick on the water surface that was a big pain to remove.

I had to float paper towels on the water's surface to soak up the slime caused by the fat/oil content.

So I figured out to boil the hamburger first it is then "super lean" and will not gum up your water surface.

I have never tried raw hamburger. I would expect similar results.


Harry S.

 

THanks for that info. I think I'll be staying away from it myself then.

There's many other things they can eat.

 

I didn't click on the link, so forgive me if I'm missing something here, but when you make your homemade oscar food, if it's made in a blender or food processor, try adding some fresh or frozen spinach to the recipe.

 

Yes, the recipe does call for some spinach. I'll put it in there, but I'm not promising he'll eat it. I wouldn't. LOL :

 

should I feed my oscars? I have 2 , about 4 inches long. I have no idea how old they are, maybe about a year? they seem to want to eat every time I walk in the room. i've heard only every other day, and i've also heard 2 or 3 times a day. I feed them cichlid pellets or flakes in the morning, and frozen bloodworms every other day. is this adequate?

you will notice that they love to eat but 2 or 3 times a day is good

 

I was at the pet store yesterday, buying my girlfriend yet another betta. While I was there, I also bought some crickets, 3 of them, as a test to see if he would eat them. Ody swam around them, trying to figure out what they were, and then scarfed every one I put in the tank. LOL

It's safe to say...crickets are on the menu, as a treat.

 

I made my own fish food, described it in this post: