my oscer (fish)?

Question

ever since i bought him his new tank (200 gallon) i never finished bulding the top.
so a small part was open.
my girlfriend started throwing popcorn in and he LOVES IT.
is that a bad idea?

Answer 1

This is a bad idea and will end up affecting the health of your fish. Good job getting him a decent size tank though. Oscars should not eat anything not meant for them, even dog and cat food is detrimental to their health. It is not formulated for them, even though it may have protein in it, there are fats and other things in the food that is not good for the fish in the long run. The best thing for them is a steady pellet diet with the occasional treat of worms, crickets, beatles, moths, grubs, basically anything that in the wild may fall into the water. In the wild their diet consists of over 60% insects, so that is a great treat for them and a good way to keep their diet varied. Just make sure that if you find the insects that they don't sting or are poisonous, and have never been in contact with pesticides or fertilizers. There are also recipes that you can make at home for them, you mix ingredients together and then freeze it and thaw it as needed, I will leave a link to a good one. They are usually beef heart based because it is so lean and full of protien. As far as your girlfriend, you need to explin to her that this is really bad for your fish and you don't want anything to affect the health of you river dog. And the top that you haven't finished, you need to get on that so that your fish don't end up jumping out and you not finding them in time. Good luck.

Good beef heart recipe
http://www.oscarfishlover.com/content/view/25/58/

Answer 2

The white puffed part of the popcorn will not hurt your oscar, but the hard shuck in the middle of each piece of popcorn could possibly cause him digestive problems.

If the popcorn is buttered or salted, even the white part could cause him problems.

Get off your lazy a** and finish the top so she can't kill your oscar. Unless you are p-whipped and she runs the show that would be the easiest way to solve the problem short of explaining to her that it could make him sick and asking her to stop.

I fed dry dog food pellets to my oscars for over a year before I sold them. They were fine with them. Just made sure the protein was high in the dog food. Oscars will eat whatever hits the surface if that's where they normally get fed, whether it's good for them or not. It is up to you to make sure they get the good stuff and not junk food.

Answer 3

Dude, as an oscer owner and lover,
ask her to please stop. Give him some meal worms to forget the popcorn,
some shrimp cocktail cut in small pieces.
They are aquatic dogs, teach them bad habits, and that's what they'll want

Answer 4

If she won't stop, kick her popcorn feedin' butt out on the street,a good Oscar is hard to find.