CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

I was just wondering what you all feed your oscars (other than pellet or flake type), what type of veggies, fruits, are safe for them??? what type of insects. . . worms, beetles, grasshoppers??? and any type of meat?? i really want to get a veriety of food into him and i want it to be as close to his natural diet as possible. . . that means mostly insects then doesnt it??? thanks for all coments.

  I have tried many different foods with mine.  They have nothing to do with veggies at all,  they do totally LOVE steak.  I'll chop it up, remove any fat, then rinse it off to minimize pollution.  When they get a bit tired of it then I'll cook it then rinse it.  I don't reccomend other meat including hamburger, raw, evan cooked because it pollutes way too much.  Raw fish (cooked breaks up too easy), evan shrimp is good.  They look at me like I'm on glue if I offer them flakes, evan most pellets.  I have also given them cold cuts, or hot dogs chopped up, however I advise putting it in the microwave long enough to melt alot of the fat, then rinse it off too.  They also like anykind of insect,  after I give them crickets I have to go in with a net and collect all the shells they spit out. 

  It is really cool with mine because they will eat from my hand sooner that if I just drop it in.  They are so gentle with me too.  Originally I had 5 (I stupidly gave away 2), I now have 3 that are at least 12".

Hope that helps....

really?? where do you get them??? would bait shop type stuff be good?? thanks

There are a number of things you can feed your Oscar as treats.  I believe there's a beef heart recipe in one of our FAQ's that many people swear by.  The O's certainly seem to enjoy the treats, so it's a great quality of life enhancement.  However, I'd recommend sticking to the good commercial pellets as a staple, and using the various live foods, exotic treats, etc, as just that -- treats.  It's all but impossible to really duplicate Oscars' "natural" diet in captivity.  We just don't have all the same plants and aquatic critters available to us as are living in and around the Amazon.  Many people who know a lot more about this than I do believe that feeding fish a lot of "terrestrial" mammalian flesh can contribute to fatty degeneration of the liver, due to the quantity of fats involved.  Even if you heat up hot dogs and wipe away the grease that sweats out, there is still a lot of fat in there -- take a look at the nutritional breakdown on the package.  The occasional treat of earthworms, crickets, roaches, mealworms, etc is fun both for the fish and the fishkeeper, but don't depend on it for everyday nutrition.  Today's fish foods are really quite good, and certainly not terribly expensive.  If you're keeping tons of fish, then you'd probably want to explore bulk alternatives, but for most of us the good commercial foods aren't much of a burdern.

well for now on when we eat fish our babies are getting some.. i didnt know they could eat it......well i fed my crickets, fish flakes,  and they also like turtle sticks
i try to fed them veggies too they dont like it

One of my O's LOVES grapes. None of my other 3 will touch them, but my one goes crazy over them!

I was just wondering what you all feed your oscars

The family dog.

Not really. Oscars I've owned (or, more truthfully, that have owned me) greedily eat almost any processed food I put in the tank. They also love insects, but avoid anything that has venom -- like bees or ants. Cockroaches are lovingly appreciated. And numerous here in West TX! Do you have a spare ten gallon tank? Set it on a table, dump in a big container of oatmeal (not instant or "quick", the real stuff), sprinkle with water to moisten it up a bit, and seal with plastic wrap over the top. 3 or 4 days later -- Mealworms! Os l-o-v-e  mealworms --

Mine has earthworms, crickets & prawns but staple diet is Tetra Doromin & Hikari Cichlid pellets.

Personally I would stick to insect & fish based, as too much animal fat can affect your fish & whether cooked or not there is still animal fat present.  I have heard of people adapting the beefheart recipes, by using fish mixed with veggies & their staple pellets mixed together as a healthier option for the fish.

altaaffe wrote:. . .but staple diet is Tetra Doromin & Hikari Cichlid pellets. . . .

I know that Hikari is popular, but in all my years keeping Oscars I have never had one that will eat Hikari. They will try it, spit it out, and then generally ignore it from then on.

Mine won't touch Hikari. I have 4, and none will eat it. My uncle has 5 and none will eat it. Picky O's!

It might be something with the competition in the tank for food, the Tetra will sink whereas the Hikari continue to float.  The Rainbowfish in the tank are very qick at getting into the tetra & Murphy (the O) will get a few before they disappear he then takes command to get the Hikari floating on the surface, although he does dash at these as well before everybody else realises they are there.  Now that he is eating them I can feed Hikari only and he is still happy.

I use Hikari a lot, and my guys like it, though I also use other foods as well.  Alll of mine like the Tetra Jumbo-Min sticks.  The O's are pretty messy with them, but if you have smaller fish in the tank, they'll gladly clean up after the O's, so that you don't have to put "little" food in there too.  Omega One is well accepted.  I've tried Dainichi only with younger fish so far, though I'll get around to the larger pellets soon.  The young'uns will inhale just about anything, so not a fair test.  Just got a bag of the Hikari Megavore pellets.  They sink annoyingly quickly, and I haven't yet got a feel for how they're being received.  Reviews TK in a few weeks.  Am also trying Aqueon, but again, that's with "teen-agers", so it disappears quickly. 

Alll of mine like the Tetra Jumbo-Min sticks.

My Oscars go absolutely crazy for the Jumbo -Min sticks. They almost jump out of the aquarium

Mark Stone wrote:My Oscars go absolutely crazy for the Jumbo -Min sticks. They almost jump out of the aquarium

Yes, I get soaked every day that I feed dry foods with him jumping to get them.