What do you feed an oscar fish? This sucker's huge!?

Question

A friend of mine gave me an Oscar fish because she didn't have anywhere to keep it anymore, and this fish is bigger than my hand. I have no idea what to give it, I've never had a fish like this before.

Answer 1

they are meat eaters, they eat goldfish
the cheap ones at wal-mart or whereever.
just throw some in, see how many it eats,

if you don't like that idea,
try shrimp pellets,

Answer 2

I have 2 albino Tiger Oscar's and they both measure well over 12 inches in length. They do get very large. I feed mine chiclid floating pellets which are available in small, medium and large versions. By the sounds of it you should feed your's medium pellets. Live fish should only make up about 30 percent of there diet. I feed mine gold fish once or twice a week and the remainder the floating pellets. Don't forget the gold fish you buy from the store are sick and unhealthy and probably are'nt eating that well. You don't want your Oscar to be full on fish that have no vitamins and minerals in them because they are sick. Unless you plan on buying and raising your own gold fish then be careful where you get your feeder fish from. Oscars that size can still catch ick and other desieses easily just like other fish. Good Luck

Answer 3

Feeding wild feeders is a risk, they could carry parasites like Ich and infect your Oscar. There is no need to feed your Oscar live feeders. Go to the supermarket and get a bag of frozen shrimps and a fillet of fish. Keep them in the freezer and just defrost pieces as needed. A pound of each will last your Oscar a long time. You can also feed them crikets and mealy worms from the pet shop (they are usually sold to feed big lizards). They are safer because they have not been in a fish tank, so wont carry any fishy diseases. Another 'catch your own' option is earthworms or grasshoppers, just make sure no pesticides have been used nearby. In the wild Oscars eat a mix of small fish, insects that fall into the streams, and aquatic shrimp and insect larvae. Ian

Answer 4

Oscars will eat almost anything that hits the water, but try any of the Cichlid Pellets by Hikari. Right now, my Oscars are on Cichlid Gold Pellets (red bag) by Hikari. Once this bag is finished, I'm going to upgrade them to Cichlid Gold Excel Pellets ( bright green bag) by Hikari. Theres also a new form of Pellets for Oscars by Hikari that's in a (blue bag) that's says Expect Rapid Growth. Goldfish should never be a fishes main diet to do illnesses that fish may have when bought, plus they don't deliver all the nutrients that they will get from commercial products.

Answer 5

Smaller fish are a typical diet for the Oscar. He could also eat freeze dried tubifex and pellets or flakes for a bit. However, the principal diet would be comet goldfish, like the ones you win at carnivals, feeder guppies as well. They are a bit small and would require much more. Make sure you clean up after their meal if there are any parts on the bottom of the tank because the dead body parts can create ammonia decaying bacteria and the water could become cloudy and have a fould odor

Answer 6

Oscars require a varied diet to be healthy. They look like tough 'ol fish, but they are sensitive to water quality and nutrition requirements.
You can feed feeder fish a couple times a week. However, I wouldn't let feeder fish from the petstore anywhere near my fish. If you want to feed live fish, I suggest you breed your own. Platies or mollies or something.

They can eat nightcrawlers, beef heart, insects... their mine diet should be cichlid pellets, though.

Please know that oscars need 60gallons of water each, at least.

Answer 7

I have 2 tiger oscars and feed them Hikari Cichlid Bio-Gold. i recommed you go down to your local pet store and get some..
they can also eat some of the stuff we do orange slices(peeled), tomatoes(peeled), leattuce, peas, etc.

Never give them feeder fish you don't breed yourself. doesn't matter where they're from fish only shop, pet store, petsmart, etc.

also make sure your tank is large enough. 1 oscar requires a 55g tank(minimum) and weekly water changes..

best of luck with your new oscar

Answer 8

Oscars need high protein foods. You should feed them Cichild pellets or tablets and also a variety of food you can only get on high quality pet shops. These food include frozen beefheart, frozen or live bloodworms and other frozen fish food recipes designed for Cichild fish. I suggest you visit your local good fish shop and ask them for frozen and dried food for Oscars.

Feeding them live fish is also a must however it can get very expensive ;) So i would go with frozen food.

Answer 9

The staple food for them should generally be a good quality pellet to give them a well balanced diet.

As supplements you can use live/frozen/freeze dried foods like shrimp, prawns, crawfish, worms, crickets, insect larva (like bloodworms), and fish. If you choose fish get them from a decent place, not walmart, and it's a good idea to quarentine them for two reasons - one to makes sure they aren't sick, the other to feed them and fatten them up some. Meats from mammals are best avoided.

Answer 10

Do NOT feed him only/mainly feeder goldfish--these should be fed only 1-2 times per week, as xxmack675... said. They can carry many diseases and parasites and it's not worth the risk, plus they're not that good for him anyway. He should be fed primarily Cichlid pellets.

Answer 11

Insects and insect larvae, crustaceans and other invertebrates (such as crayfish and worms), fish, and various plant matter. However, being opportunistic, just about anything that will fit in their mouth is fair game. This nature causes them to always act hungry, even if they are being well or even overfed. Overfeeding and resulting health issues is fairly common in the hobby because of this