how do you mate Oscars?

Answer 1

As fivespeed said, you don't mate them, they select mates and breed in your tank. Here's a link with some info on breeding Oscars:

http://www.cjexotics.com/information/obreeding.html

Here's a link to a FAQ of questions and the answers from people that were breeding Oscars:

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/oscarreprofaqs.htm

Hope that helps

MM

Answer 2

I had three breeding pairs in the past so this what I can tell you from my experience. Sexing oscars is very difficult unless you buy one from a reputible breeder or buy 6-8 young oscars and let them pair up. If two or more oscars continue to fight, they would be male oscars. Female oscars don't fight, sometimes they'll spawn but the eggs will be unfertile. You cannot sex a oscar by its fins, markings or size. A true breeding pair will show signs of jaw locking, chase each other, shimmying their bodies and fins against each other, and rock/slate cleaning. Before breeding them you must condition the oscars by feeding them with cichlid pellets, and fresh/frozen shrimp from your local supermarket...my choice of food for my oscars and avoid feeder fish as they may carry diseases and they cause hole in the head disease in oscar's. Use 1/4 tank of reverse osmosis water and the rest tap water. RO water softens the water and allows you to easy adjust the PH level which is important when breeding cichlid fishes like oscars. You need a PH test kit and PH Down to adjust the PH level to 6.5. Reverse Osmosis water can be purchased from a local water supply strore unless you have a Reverse Osmosis water unit filter. A large piece of flate slate around 12"x8" is needed when the female deposits her eggs. When they're done breeding, I strongly suggest you move the slate with the eggs to another tank (10 gal) so the parents don't eat the fertile eggs as they monitor and clean/remove the unfertile eggs. If you don't, in the end you may end up with nothing or just a few fry. If you decide to move the slate, have the slate tilted vertically against the tank with a 4-6 inch airstone at the bottom about 2 inches away from the slate to circulate the water and keep any debris off the eggs. The parents would do this by using their fins. On the 2nd or 3rd day if the eggs are fertile, you should see a black spot in the eggs which is the fry. On day 4 they should start to emerge from the eggs. You will see a yolk sac attached to each fry. After it has been absorbed, start feeding the fries brine shrimp. Hatch your own artemia (brine shrimp) because eat a lot and its best if you see a orange color in their bulging belly after they're done eating.

PS. If you take the slate out after there done breeding, they will breed again for you in just a few weeks but do feed them plenty of food. Oscars do need a rest period after breeding so don't over do it.

Answer 3

You don't mate oscars. They pair up and do it themselves. It usually takes 4-6 juvies to get a good pair, and then separate the others when the pair is obvious. Once the pair is isolated, they will usually deposit eggs in a broken or turned over clay flower pot. Farm raised oscars are notoriously bad at raising their fry, so you will need to separate the eggs and place soft air bubbles from an air pump under the eggs to keep water flowing. Feed microworms and bloodworms when they become free swimming, and use a sponge filter instead of a regular hang on the back filter. That is about it.

Answer 4

the general way is getting a 100+ gallon tank, and geting a group of small young oscars. about 6.

give it a few months to a year and half and one pair will form.

They will form bonded pairs so you should then remove the other oscars, and theirs your pair for breeding.