Nowadays, there are absolutely loads of fish food   available. We are lucky enough to be able to purchase food for virtually any type of fish that you may keep in an aquarium. If you are looking for food for your Oscars, then you should be looking for cichlid food, because as you already know, the Oscar is part of the cichlid family. I would recommend that the staple diet of an Oscar should be mainly pellet based. There are loads of different types of pellet on the market. They come in all shapes and sizes and are manufactured by various companies. Two of my favourite brands are made by Hikari and Tetra. These being Hikari Cichlid Gold which has a colour enhancing agent added. I also always have a supply of Tetra DorImin. They come in various sizes that should suit the very smallest, to the very largest Oscar. If you have a medium to large Oscar, I would suggest that you always purchase a larger size in these products.

Let's take a look at various other foods that are available. You may have seen foods that are described as "freeze-dried" Freeze-drying is a process that preserves food, whole and in its original condition and most importantly, it retains all its essential nutrients which of course is very good for our fish. Shrimps and krill are often freeze-dried so these can be very good as food. On the downside, freeze-dried food can be often more expensive than its frozen counterparts. You may want to make your own food. There is already a recipe for beef heart on this website, so check that out. You can also make home-made food that can be frozen using fish-based products. There is a recipe for beef heart on this website, why not check that out. You can also put things like fish and shellfish in a blender, mix it all up and then freeze it, Oscars will really relish this. Making your own food means that you can add exactly what you want, you can add nutrients and vitamins if you like, it's nice to be all to make a nice healthy food for your pet.

How much food?

So, how much food should you give your Oscar?  Baby Oscars fill themselves up very quickly.  You will notice that their bellies become slightly rounded, this is the time to stop feeding.  As your Oscar grows, distinguishing how much they eat by looking at their bellies is not always that easy.  I've found that as the Oscar gets bigger, it can eat a lot of food and you won't notice any difference in their stomach size.  For this reason, if I am feeling pellets, I now like to work by the two or three minute rule.  Basically, this means dropping three or four pellets in for up to three minutes, and then stop.  If in that three-minute period, the Oscars start expelling food from their mouths and gills, cease feeding straight away, even if they haven't had that much. 

Okay, what about if you are feeding other types of food, insects, fish, shrimps or krill. If your Oscars are still babies, I should avoid trying to feed them on big fish, by all means chop the fish/shrimps into pieces, just don't give them this food whole, all that will happen is they will swim around for a couple of hours with it sticking out of their mouths which could cause stress. Once your fish starts growing, you can start feeding this type of food whole. For instance, I would give one of my 8 inch Oscars, at least three Lance Fish, these could be up to 3 inches long.  I find that this is more than enough for one meal.  When it comes to different types of food such as fish, shrimps or cockles, depending on how big they are, just use your discretion.  Three or four medium size shrimps would be more than enough for an Oscar that is 6 inches upwards.  If we are talking about Oscars in excess of 12 inches long, you could give them four or five.  Just don't make the mistake of thinking that large mature Oscars need to eat a lot.  It is quite the opposite, adult Oscars can go without food for longer than juvenile Oscars.  In fact, you can feed every other day once the Oscar reaches maturity.  I have found that in some cases, their eating regime improves when you do this.

I've made this video that I hope will help you when it comes to feeding your Oscars.  The video is in real-time so you can see how long I feed for.  These Oscars are extremely healthy and are fed once a day with a variety of foods which includes various types of pellets, frozen fish, shrimp, krill, cockles, mussels, as well as bloodworm which isn't really meant for them.

Let's go back to feeding your babies briefly. I have already mentioned that they are normally around 2 1/2 inches to 3 inches when purchased as babies. Don't be tempted to put too much food in at once, baby Oscars will stuff as much food in their mouth as they possibly can. They can actually gorge themselves to the extent that they can't close their mouths and it takes them a long time to clear the food. A lot of the food will be expelled from the gills because there is just too much. For this reason, put only two or three pellets in at a time. Once you Oscars get bigger, they are able to handle food in larger quantities.

Picky eater

 Oscars do have teeth

Like most fish, oscars need some way of chewing their food up. If you listen carefully when an Oscar is eating pellets, you may hear a crunching sound. An Oscar is equipped with a pair of pharyngeal teeth that are located at the back of the throat. These teeth are powerful which is why an Oscar will make mincemeat out of even fairly large fish. Oscars are incredibly greedy and will eat almost anything that they can get in their mouths, which is why it is not advisable to put small fish in with them. Another question a lot of people ask is have oscars got teeth in their mouths? The answer to this question is, sort of. They aren't teeth like you'd find in a piranha's mouth, they are a little bit what you would find in a mackerel's mouth, more a rough surface. they probably only have this so that prey can't escape. They are actually capable of drawing blood if they catch you on a sensitive part of your finger, for example just above your nail. Having said this, don't let that stop you hand feeding them because that is one of the joys of keeping Oscars.

Hand feeding Oscars is always fun. If you do buy a new Oscar, and a big one particularly. Be very careful when you feed it for the very first time. A lot of Oscars will lurch at food. It matters not to them that your hand and fingers may be in the way, they want the food and they can really go for it. Although Oscars haven't really got teeth, they can still draw blood as I have already mentioned on this page. I would strongly advise you to not let young children put their fingers near an Oscar's mouth when it is being fed. As you will see by the video below, an Oscar could very well cause a very nasty injury to small fingers.

Try and establish how your Oscar feeds. He may well be very shy and will not except food straight from your hand. Fish learn by repetition. The more you do something, the more the fish will get used to it. If your fish will not take from your hand, start off by just feeding pellets on the surface, or sinking food, whatever it you want. Once the Oscar is comfortable with taking food from the surface, don't let go of the food until the Oscar is comfortable to come towards you. He still may not take food straight from you, you will just have to bide your time. Hopefully, once has really got used to you and knows you are not a threat, he may take food straight from your fingers, or just open his mouth and you can drop food in. Having said that, some Oscars are very very gentle, and some Oscars are just pigs and they will literally jump out of the water to get to the food. I would avoid trying to hand feed these sort of fish, unless you want sore fingers.

Juvenile Oscars are often very excitable at feeding time. My young Oscar would eat everything in the tank if he could get away with it. It's very difficult with these sort of fish. A lot of people get worried that the rest of their fish are going to go hungry. Unfortunately, this is a possibility with a greedy Oscar. In cases like this, try feeding your greedy fish at one end of the tank while dropping food in at the other end. This may work, it may not. Your other option is to drop food in after the lights have gone out, this often works. If all else fails, try feeding frozen blocks of bloodworm. I have found that the Oscars will not eat all of the bloodworm so that at least there is something left for the rest of the fish. Obviously, thaw it out before you put it in because the Oscar will just eat the whole block if it gets the chance.

Beware of some foods

I think it's very important to mention that feeding certain foods to your oscar could compromise their health. Don't be tempted to feed catfood or dog food. Your Oscars may well love it but unfortunately this type of pet food is not at all suitable for fish. It contains far too much fat for a fish's liver to handle. If you continue to feed this type of food to your fish, you run a very high risk of it developing liver problems which would more than likely end in a fatality. Don't feed your fish on bacon, steak, or any meat that contains lots of fat. I would strongly advise you to go to your fish shop and purchase food that is specially prepared for fish. Beef heart is very popular, it is prepared especially for fish and is very lean and contains virtually no fat at all. You can also make your own beef heart recipe if you want. Doing this means that you know exactly what is going into your recipe. You can add vitamins if you like or you can add extra items like shrimps or prawns.

Alternatively, you could always ask your fish shop if they sell live river shrimp, your Oscar will go mad for these.  They are also very healthy and good for your Oscar.  You could also feed them  live prawn from the sea.  Even though prawns live in saltwater, they will stay alive for quite a while  before they start dying.   If like me, you live by the coast, these can be harvested very easily by using a dropnet and a fish bait.  If you live near a harbour, go down just after dark and fish off the wall, you should catch loads.   These can often be used to trigger an Oscars eating instinct again after they have stopped eating.

Oscars love prawns and shrimps

Growing Oscars

People often ask how they can make their Oscar grow big. Fish grow big by eating lots of live food, it's as simple as that. Take trout and Pike for instance, you often find them in huge lakes where they have plenty to eat, in this sort of environment, you will often find huge pike and trout, whereas in the small rivers, they don't go quite as big.  An Oscar is not going to grow huge on a diet of a few pellets every day. An Oscar will grow big on a diet of fish, shrimps, beef heart, and seafood, all of which are quite high in protein.  Having said all of this, overfeeding fish must be avoided as it can lead to obesity, so take my advice, stick to a healthy diet and be happy with your Oscar at whatever size it grows to naturally..   

Bright colours can frighten fish

Fish DO see colour.  Occasionally, some people can't understand why their fish are reluctant to feed, they often shy away and won't come to the front of the class. Fish are often frightened by bright clothing, especially if they only see it occasionally.  If you find that your fish do get frightened when you wear bright clothing,  try wearing more subdued colour clothing when you feed your fish, you might be surprised to find they completely change and will be their same old selves again.   

Obesity