leduc_fish Posted June 12, 2011 Report Share Posted June 12, 2011 Hi, I have a couple of oscars and one is a very picky eater. I end up feeding them lots of mealworms, a few minnows, and cichlid pellets. I know the minnows are not good for them. They don't like the cichlid pellets very much. They like crickets, but I found one in my laundry room on the other side of the house one day, so I don't want to feed them anymore. I am trying to raise mealworms because they seem to like them the best. I bought some raw shelled shrimp - cut it into pieces and they didn't take to that very much - though the pleco loved it. All you Oscar owners out there - what do you feed your oscars and how much, how often? Thanks for the info. Wendy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BettaFishMommy Posted June 12, 2011 Report Share Posted June 12, 2011 (edited) my Gus gets NLS pellets, shrimp pellets, earthworm pellets, frozen silversides and bloodworms, and i'm trying to make him realize that peas and other veggie bits are a good thing, lol. small bits of banana are ok too, and Gus's tankmate Chuck (paratilapia polleni) likes banana sometimes. one thing i find that helps with getting them to eat pellets is to soak them in garlic juice. fish LOVE garlic! i feed once a day, sometimes skip the odd day (but not often). Edited June 12, 2011 by BettaFishMommy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fairdeal Posted June 13, 2011 Report Share Posted June 13, 2011 There was no mention in your post of how big these oscars are or how long you've had them but if they are on the smallish side and you just got them it could be the new surroundings and getting used to maybe new food. That will resolve itself over a short time. If they are larger and you've had them a while were they always like that or has the one finicky eater all of a sudden changed what he eats or doesn't eat? What about temperature, tank mates, etc. If you could provide more details maybe we can help you to resolve this problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fatpuffer Posted June 13, 2011 Report Share Posted June 13, 2011 good call on the size. my friend bought 2 small mollys...now they are 6-8 inches?! what? nope they were oscars! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MzCandiz Posted June 14, 2011 Report Share Posted June 14, 2011 I have 2 Oscars, the one is extremely picky (and always has been) and the other will eat just about anything I put in the tank for it. I tried everything to get the larger Oscar to start eating a more varied diet, and eventually I just started making my own food for them. I basically just pureed cichlid pellets, prawns, a bunch of veggies and some vitamin supplements in a blender added some gelatin powder and froze them in trays. They love it! Not to mention pretty much all my other fish. And they don't even know they are getting all their veggies too . Other than that they get some raw prawn, and crickets on occasion. I use to give them mealworms, but I find with the larger mealworms they seem to have a harder time breaking down the exo-skeleton. I haven't tried it yet but I've heard from people that if you let the mealworms make it to beetle stage they go crazy for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JORG Posted June 14, 2011 Report Share Posted June 14, 2011 Hmmm it's been a long time since I kept Oscars but I don't remember them eating machines turning down any type of food. I would suggest - don't feed them for a week and then give them NLS pellets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.