My Oscar - what do you think?

[Rookie]

He is about 25 cm long and about 2 1/2 years old. He watches me as I walk past the tank and if I go close he opens his mouth wide.

He is really incredible...


10778

[matteffect]

Wow really beautiful oscar man! Unfortunatly today i saw 2 full grown oscars 1 = 30cm and 2nd = 25cm being kept in a 3ft half full of water at my lfs. The bigger one was just slowly eating the other oscars fins, was so sad. I think thats totally inhuman what some lfs's do. Anyway beautiful oscar.
Can i ask a few questions:
how big is the tank?
What do you feed this beauty?
what are his tank mates?
how often do you do water changes?
Thanks so much.

[TankMaster]

What do I think?? I think you have ONE hell of a healthy oscar. . .

Well done in raising such a stunning fish.

...

LOL

I just noticed that his marking forms the letter 'P'...

Could it stand for 'perfection'??

>>>>

TM

[Rookie]

@ mattefact

He started in a 90cm but was much smaller - 15cm.
He is now in a 120cm.
He gets Tetra food sticks and very occasionally bloodworm.
In the same tank I have a synadontis, climbing perch, african knife (10cm), parrot, polypterous. As the Oscar and parrot are quite big I can not add too much else unless they are also big.
I am very bad with his water changes but he seems to cope with it and thrive .... :(
He is very cool.
Cheers, Helene

[Rookie]

Thanks tankmaster - he is obviously tolerant of me and my ways as well.

Never noticed the P before. he he

[jedigenie]

Photoshopped!!!

Hehe just kidding Rookie.

Absolutely amazing fish you have there. Show it off with pride :)

[matteffect]

Thanks Rookie, just checking some stats for a future oscar tank. When i say future i mean in a few years time.

[mydummyname]

wow... that is the nicest looking oscar i have seen to date.

the "P" must stand for "Perfect!"

:P

[Rookie]

Thanks guys :)

[oscar freak]

My Oscar - what do you think?
I think he's a beautiful specimen.

He is now in a 120cm.
ok for one oscar(alone) not with his current tank mates.

am very bad with his water changes

He gets Tetra food sticks and very occasionally bloodworm
is a recipe for disaster.

[Gareth]

oscar freak, what would you feed him then if it was your fish?
why I ask is I had Oscars and I fed them basically the same as Rookie except I added some ox heart mix to it as well.
but I would like to know why you say it is a recipe for disaster? Not looking for a fight or anything just interested maybe I can learn something new.

[Rookie]

oscar freak - what is a recipe for disaster?

[thysie]

i thinks he is refering to water changes

[oscar freak]

Not looking for a fight
Neither am i.
there have been quite a few discussions on the site lately about nutrition mainly as to discus keepers but the same should apply to all the fish we keep,a well balanced and varied diet is essential to the health and well being of the fish we keep.tetra sticks and the odd frozen bloodworm is not well balanced nor varied now combine that with a lapse in proper water maintenance(infrequent water changes and overstocking) and soon you are going to see a break out of some kind of sickness,there was someone on the site not very long ago experiencing what im saying right now,i am just trying to save someone and the fish some hardship.in the wild oscars consume other fish and insects with lots of protein we should try and recreate that diet in our tanks to avoid problems that arise from a bad diet namely HITH comes to mind but a proper diet goes a long way in keeping other problems at bay.the basics with oscars should be big fish=lots of food=lots of water changes.oscars while being similar in most cases to other fish we keep also present a seperate set of challenges not least of which is space and proper water maintenance.feeding is the other issue and yes they will eat generally whatever you give them even if it just store bought sticks but one should try to vary it as much as possible and it doesnt have to cost an arm and a leg your garden is teaming with things to make your oscar happier and healthier for free.gareth asked what i feed mine and yes i do feed tetra sticks but i mix it up a list of things,crickets(bought mostly),bloodworms frozen and live,moths,snails.lizards,ox heart,even guppies i know some people are against it for different reasons but if its from a safe source i dont see a problem.the oscar in my avatar was given to me in bad shape riddled with HITH,within 2 months she was healthy as a horse after never having spent a cent on medication just with better feeding than she was getting and daily water changes so it was as clean as it could be its been over a year now and never had a problem since.

[oscar freak]

http://www.fishdeals.com/fish_diseases/vitamin_deficiencies/
this might explain it better

[Tiger barb]

I agree with Oscar Freak. I have two Oscar's in a standard 4ft(120cm) tank (Hence, my plan for my oscars is to get them in a 2m tank by the new year). I do at least a 40% water change a week. I feed them the Tetra sticks as well, but also feed them Bloodworm, cocktail shrimp, some veg, etc.

The main point im trying to make is that having Oscar's in a less than optimum sized tank will require more frequent water changes as Oscar's are very messy fish and missing water changes will just add up in the end. Nutrition is just as important, Oscars's require a high protein diet as Oscar Freak has mentioned.

Just my 2c

[Rookie]

Well consider myself reprimanded - wow. Must admit I didn't think the forum was here to give someone such a mouthful when in essence I was just trying to show off my lovely oscar.
Makes me wary of making comments in future!

[azurekoi]

So just feeding Tetra foods is a bad thing? Wonder why my one Goldfish lived to 22 years then being just fed on that(Tetrafin).... Hmmmnnn... Guess I must be a bad Fish keeper now... Pack it all up then...

Helene - as Tank Master said... What a good looking Oscar... Excelent body shape! So you say you skipped a waterchange or two... Ever test your nitrates? If they within the below 25ppm range,it isnt all that bad at all! Thanx for sharing a pic of a very beautifull Oscar (and remember - I dont like Oscars...lol)

[Rookie]

Thanks Azurekoi - appreciate your comments. Maybe I should test the nitrates some time ...

[Tiger barb]

Hi Rookie, I never meant to have a go at you. I think text doenst always come across the way it supposed to be intended.Taking Azurekoi's comments and your heathly looking Oscar, then the Tetra stick's aint doing a bad job. If its working for you then, keep doing it.

[Rookie]

No probs Tiger Barb. I am not saying that I am not open to advice as I went in to this knowing absolutely nothing and got him long before I knew anything about this forum, which is great for all the help/advice. As my oscars seems to be thriving and interacts with me whenever I go near the tank I can only assume that he is happy. When he was much smaller I had him in a 3 foot tank ( which sprung a leak and had to suddenly get another tank), then put him in the 4 foot I noticed that he was out of sort as he takes on a grey tinge. After a while he came right. Once he adapted to the new tank surroundings. Since being in the 4 foot he has grown quite a bit.

[oscar freak]

hi rookie,i apologize if i offended you no intention was meant.your oscar is lovely and and as you say healthy i only meant to offer some advice(imo) to help you keep him that way.there arent that many oscar keepers on the site and im far from an expert on the matter i to am here to learn.

[Rookie]

Hi Oscar Freak - Thanks. Did feel a bit like a public flogging :bigsmile: but all cool. I am always keen on advice as I don't necessarily know all there is to know about this. I will definitely take stock of what you have mentioned and try to be better at the water changes as I do notive that he is a messy bugger.
Have a great week.

[oscar freak]

he is a messy bugger.
to say the least lol,glad we cool.this conversation we having has actually made me do some research as how i can better feed my oscars as well and iv found some very interesting things.just wondering where we can discus them,new thread or thysies oscar post?

[Rookie]

Maybe a new thread - "how to keep your oscar healthy" :party: