How to Feed an Oscar Fish

Oscars are most closely related to Piranhas.

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By Summer Banks
eHow Community Member

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(13 Ratings)

Creating a living fish environment is a soothing and relaxing way to add the element of water to your home. Oscars are a relative of the Piranha and eat just as aggressively. Oscars tend to be a dirty fish by nature. These large fish are quite easy to feed and keep the tank clean at the same time.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

Oscars
Oscar Food

Step 1

Choose the right food. Oscars are most closely related to piranhas. These aggressive fish love their live food, but should not eat these treats every day. The food you choose for your Oscar will depend on the size of your fish. Baby Oscars will be happy consuming large flakes and small pellets. Once they grow larger, choosing a larger pellet is the best decision.
Step 2

Remember memory loss. Oscars are truly gluttonous fish that have a 13 second memory. That means to the owner, the fish do not remember ever having eaten. It is in an Oscar's nature to make their owner feel as though they are starving and can be seen hovering around the top of the tank nearly all day. Oscars should only be fed once a day or once every two days.
Step 3

Never feed too much. Oscars are one of the dirtiest fish you could have in an aquarium. Over feeding the Oscar will only contribute to the build up of waste in the tank. Oscars will eat all they need to eat in two to three minutes. The best way to feed an Oscar is to drop small amounts of food into the tank and watch them eat it all before dropping in more. After two to three minutes, the Oscar has eaten enough to remain healthy.

Comments

CAT1988 said

Flag This Comment

on 12/17/2008 My fish Isn't active at all... The water is maintained at 78, and we feed it chichlid pellets or tropical fish flakes and it never seems to eat at all. it never rises above 1/2 the tank. It's only a 10/12 gallon tank. Wh?

SummerBanks said

on 8/4/2008 When Oscars are fed live food on a regular basis ( more than once a week) they can form hole in the head and die. Live food is a treat for the Oscar not a meal.

AtlantisChild said

on 7/31/2008 "Oscars are most closely related to Piranhas."

I think not.

on 7/31/2008 Oscars need live food! I aslo really disagree with this article.
There are many good cichild forums out on the internet, many good books, and (sometimes) knowlegable people at your local pet store's fishroom. Please look to there for info.

- Atlantis