Oscar's - How To Feed, Breed & Maintenance Care For Oscar Fish

Oscar Fish

One of the species from the family of the cichlids is Astronotus ocellatus. This family includes fish commonly known as Oscar, Velvet Circhild, Tiger Oscar, or Marble Cichils. Here is a bit of information about Oscar fish feed, breed, and tank maintenance care.

feed breed maintenance care Oscar fish
Photo by Ango W on Unsplash

Oscar natural residence is in South America, so you can often find it sold as a food in the markets, but it is also spread in Australia, China, and The United States. Due to its slow growth, it has limited potential for aquaculture. Nevertheless, you can often find it in aquariums. Their usual dimensions are 34 cm (about 15 in.) in length and 1.6 kg (2.6 lb). 

The wild species have a dark color and you can see orange ringed spots also called ocelli localized on their dorsal fin and caudal peduncle. Some say they use these ocelli to protect themselves from piranha (Serrasalmus spp.), a species that lives in the same natural habitat as Astronotus ocellatus. 

Another trait is the fact that they can change color. This helps them when it comes to protecting their territory from their conspecifics. You can separate the young from the old by their specific colors. The young ones have white and orange stripes and spots on their heads. 

French Guiana, Brazil, Colombia, and Peru are the native residence of Astronotus ocellatus and you can find it in the Amazon basin, in the Approuague and Oyapock drainages, and Amazonas, Negro, Ucayali, and Solimões river systems, under the submerged branches, in the slow-moving water.

Some populations were noticed in China, the North of Australia, and Florida, USA. They got there due to the trading of ornamental fish. Because it can’t tolerate cold water (it can’t survive under 12.9 °C (55.2 °F), the distribution of the species is very limited.

You can feed captive Oscars with crayfish, feeder goldfish, worms, rosy reds, grasshoppers, flies, and other similar insects. In the wild, Astronotus ocellatus eats sedentary catfish such as Bunocephalus, Rineloricaria, and Oshmacanthus.

The species has a suction mechanism that allows it to capture the prey. They also use a technique called ‘laying-on-side’ such as the one used by Parachromis friedchsthalii and Nimbochromis livingstonii. Vitamin C is vital to the species, its absence may cause health problems.

Feeding an Oscar Fish

Many pet stores reported that most customers buying pet fish end by returning Oscar fish more often than they return other breeds. The possible reason is that these fish if kept and grown in good conditions can exceed expectations in growth.

Another reason may be the violence it develops if kept in congested places. An adult can reach a length of 40 cm and a weight of approximately 3 pounds. Like other fish original from South America and the Amazon, they are omnivores and need to be fed with live food.

A particularity of this fish is the need for different food every day, a habit similar to humans. Another special feature is that it demands vitamin C. The lack of this vitamin can eventually kill it.

This breed is closely related to the Piranha, an assumption based on its preference for live food. It eats worms or crickets or other types of insects living around the water, but it will never refuse grasshoppers or flies.

Oscar fish kept in captivity can be fed with feeder goldfish, crayfish, or rosy reds. Added to these types of food are a great variety of insects and worms. They are really happy when they get various foods each day, comprising several types of insects.

“Flake” food is the type of artificial fish food that can be easily given to Oscar fish and is also easy to find in pet shops or supermarkets. The recommended type is the tetra cichlid large one. A delicacy for the Oscar would be the frozen blood worms, none other than red mosquito larvae.

To keep its menu as varied as possible, the owners should combine all the foods mentioned above. A meal should contain both live food and artificial food.

Breeding

Oscar fish breed naturally without any help. However, if you want to breed them for business development, extra attention should be paid. Things must be well thought through in advance, to avoid ending up with many fish with which you can’t do anything, considering that a pair of such fish can produce even 1000 eggs that may all turn into adults.

The male and the female look the same, as they are monomorphic fish, which makes it more difficult to distinguish them from one another. The only way to tell the sex of an Oscar fish is by observing which one lays eggs. No other signs indicate that, contrary to what some people say. The easiest way to get a male and a female is to ask someone who already has a mating pair to give it to you. Or you can buy more young Oscars and wait for them to pair, so you can detect which is what.

The growth of your Oscar depends very much on the conditions he is being raised in, including food, the size of the tank, and how much you look after it. An Oscar rose in a 300-gallon tank will certainly grow bigger than one in a 125-gallon tank. This is why size is not necessarily an indicator of the fish’s maturity. They only pair when they reach their sexual maturity, which usually happens after the age of one year.

The moment one of them starts to lay eggs, you can be sure that you have a female and a male. The egg tube of the female has an overall shape, quite similar to the normal egg’s pointed end, while the sexual organ of the male looks like a thorn, having a pointed shape.

Fish Tank Maintenance

For your fish to remain as healthy as possible, you should make sure it always has warm and clean water. The temperature inside the tank should be around 77 degrees Fahrenheit, and it should only vary from 74 to 81. To make sure the temperature remains good, you should use a thermometer and a heater inside. 

If the temperature in the tank is too warm, he will suffer from oxygen deprivation, and that can be detrimental to their health. Their health also suffers if the temperature is too low. The Oscar fish tank should have a minimum of 30 gallons when it comes to space for each of the fish. If you have one of them, you should get a tank that is at least 40 gallons in size.

Since this fish is quite messy, the tank needs to be cleaned regularly and the water changed regularly. The filter from the tank needs to be of good quality, to keep up with the water purification inside.

Besides picking up a good filter for your Oscar fish tank, you should also maintain it, so it lasts for a long time and it does its job properly. In many cases, people choose to use multiple small filters, to make sure the water is well filtered.

Here we have provided information about Oscar fish feed, breed, and tank maintenance care. Hopefully, it'll be helpful for you.

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