He's only a baby, maybe 2 inches long, and I've had him about 1 week. The fish store sold us these flakes for him to eat for now, and when he gets bigger, he will get pellets and shrimp. But he always acts hungry, when I walk by he swims over to me and goes to the top for food. Do you think I can give him little tiny bread balls, or is he too young? This is the first fish I've ever had, and I don't want to hurt him.
2006-09-17 11:16:49 · 15 answers · asked by Its a secret! 2 in Pets ➔ Fish
He's the only fish in a 55 gallon tank, soon we will get an bottom feeder to help keep the tank clean. We are opting not to feed him live feeder fish because 1- I feel HORRIBLE doing that, and 2- A few different places told me that its a good way for my oscar to get parasites, and that other fish have low nutritional value.
The bread balls wouldn't just be more like a treat, and I'd continue feeding him his oscar food. Thanks for the great answers! Except those first 2 crappy ones. :)
2006-09-17 11:48:13 · update #1
dont over feed your fish. it should get fed maybe once a day. and just give him pellets until he is a little bigger. he will act hungry all the time because he is conditioned to think that when he sees a person come up he will get fed. and he is a predator so he will need protein. if you have fed him bread balls not a bad thing but you dont want to cloud the water so just feed it once a day and youll be fine.
and your oscar will get about at least 12" long so if you dont have a 55 gallon tank think about getting one thats the smalloest you can really keep a full grown oscar in.
and when you decide that you want to get some feeder goldfish for your oscar to eat. get a small 10 gallon and a little sponge filter and put them in that for a day then treat them with a gram negative antibacterial so that your oscar doesnt get hole in the head or ick.
2006-09-17 11:21:57 · answer #1 · answered by gsschulte 6 · 4⤊ 2⤋
Ditto most of the answers above. Oscars are notorious beggars. It's alright, but no nutrition. And good call on the feeders, not good for them at all. I fed my oscar lots of things. Pellets were the main food, flakes, spirulina flakes, once a week he got a pea or two, shrimp, frozen bloodworms, krill, beefheart, worms-earth and meal, crickets. Vary their diet, with the main staple the pellets. Also might think about getting some liquid vitamins (baby vitamins or centrum I think makes a liquid) and maybe once a week soak the pellets in the vitamins for awhile and feed him.
Also, make sure you have good filtration on the tank. I ran a hob(hangon back) either Penguin or Marineland (forget which) with a 300gph output, and a canister filter, because they're so messy......
2006-09-17 12:09:32 · answer #2 · answered by tikitiki 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
The bread balls would not harm your oscar per se, however they do not have adequate nutrition for this fish. There are excellent min tabs that can be fed as well as various freeze dried natural foods and, of course, live foods including other fish. Oscars will grow rapidly but they need lots of room, good filtration and frequent partial water changes. When well fed and growing they produce a great deal of waste and these waste products will either stunt or kill them if you don't manage their environment well.
2006-09-17 11:44:12 · answer #3 · answered by Nightstalker1967 4 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Alot of times he is not hungry, he is recognizing you as his provider. I have Oscars, and they are really able to recognize who provides for them. But you do know that they have pellets for babies, too. They come in a green bag. "Hakari" or something like that makes them. They are small enough to fit in the baby's mouth.
My Oscar-one jumped out of the tank and killed itself-is now eating "Oscar Show", but they will eat anything. I know people who feed them cut up wieners. I feed mine feeder fish sparingly, every now and then, but mostly pellets. But sometimes I have given her cut up turkey lunch meat.
So trust your gut, but if you do, make them very small.
2006-09-20 07:07:05 · answer #4 · answered by â¤??? ?å???? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
To speed grow him feed him live guppies.
Fish always act hungry. Bread balls will nasty up your tank. Try pellet food for Oscars.
2006-09-17 16:37:15 · answer #5 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I agree with gsschulte and would like to add,
an oscar fish is one very greedy fish and it can eat many things without floating upside down or swimming funny so bread balls are fine but it should not be it's staple diet.
2006-09-17 11:33:19 · answer #6 · answered by Langdon 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I had oscars for bout 8 years and I fed them their pellets but I also fed them pretty much everything including garden worms. You know that from a vvery young age you can teach them to ring a bell in their tank. You get 1 on suction cup and prior to feeding you get them to come up to the bell & you touch it with your finger and they soon pick what your putting out to them.
2006-09-17 12:39:41 · answer #7 · answered by sooty 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Bread makes fish bloat and possibly die. Fish never know when to stop eating,so they'll always act hungry
2006-09-17 13:14:05 · answer #8 · answered by Taylor29 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's best not to, bread is human food. Fish can't eat human food or else they'll get sick. It's like how a cat won't eat bird food (but they'll eat birds :D ) Feed it the correct food.
2006-09-17 11:26:22 · answer #9 · answered by Shhh..Silence 2 · 0⤊ 2⤋
I wouldn't do it. Fish will eat as much as you feed them. They'll overeat until they die. It's best to stick to what the pet store gave you and follow the directions on the container.
2006-09-17 12:05:36 · answer #10 · answered by Pauleen M 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋