Hey guys, I’m trying to feed my oscar pellets as u have suggested, but he doesn’t even touch it! I think he doesn’t consider pellets as food, he didn’t eat anything for 2 days, but I’m offering him pellets thrice a day! I am concerned it is going to hamper his growth. So should I continue to offer him pellets or should I feed him bloodworms? When I open the aquarium cover he gets excited but loses interest when he sees pellets and he even jumped out of the water twice to reach for food!
And how can I tell whether my oscar is a male or a female? Thanks…………

O's can go quite a while without food I would keep trying the pellets when your O gets hungry enough he'll eat them.

Check out these two articles for more answers to your questions.
www.oscarfishlover.com/content/view/27/63/
www.oscarfishlover.com/content/view/32/78/

Thanks John, one other question...
what does Karma mean in the top right corner of each post?

Agreeing with John, as long as he doesn't look emaciated, I would keep trying, maybe just feed nothing for a day or two and then try pellets again.

About the Karma, think it works like you can give someone a "thumb up" if you found a post to be really good and helpful, this would increase the person's Karma. Same goes for the thumb down, just the other way round. Basically just something to play with ... I've clicked the button occasionally but I'm guilty of forgetting about it most of the time, lol.
(Oh .. think the buttons are only available if you've generated a certain amount of posts.)

Jeffrey wrote:


Your welcome

Sorry I haven't got a clue what the Karma buttons are I haven't paid much attention to them up to this point. In fact I don't have them on my posts?

Maybe OFL can explain it to both of us.

Oscars even babies ones can go quite a while without food. In the LFS they feed the absolute minimum. Next time you buy an oscar that the shop has loads of go back 2 weeks later and if they have any left you will be amazed at how much bigger your ones will be.

I would stick with the pellets (dont forget to remove any uneaten pellets) for a week. If he still isnt eating feed him something he likes for one day then pellets for a week again. Hunger will soon get the better of him and he will start eating them. Dont forget to keep a varied diet once he starts eating them

Personally i would see it as a blessing in disguise that your Oscar doesnt want the pellets. There are lots of other food much closer to the oscars natural diet that you can feed your O's giving them a healthier lifestyle. Try river shrimps mealworms crickets which can be bought from most local stores or by mail order. Try earthworms and other insects that you find in your garden. Frozen food like prawns whitebait any white fish are also great for your Oscars. Pellets are messy and an unnatural food and in my opinion can cause digestion problems if fed too frequently.

Thanks guys! i'm feeding my oscar tubifex, shrimps, prawns, bloodworms and small fish, shrimps have tough skin, is it going to cause any trouble?

and i gave all u guys a thumbs Up!

when oscars get imported they stop feeding them a week b4 they get shipped so that they dont polute the bit of water they r in in the plastic bag,they then spend quite sum time on a ship/plane without food b4 they make it 2 yr LFS so yes they can go without food for a while.

i personally like pellets as they r loaded with vitamens and all the good stuff needed for yr O's.

You're o's will have no problems with the shrimp,they'll make short work of just about anything that goes in there mouths!!