dwencl wrote:
My oscar will be having a blast digging in the sand substrate and moving things around... however, when I come close to the tank he begins to do the 'Im hungry, feed me' dance, even after Ive just fed him.
Im curious as to how much and often I should be feeding him.. currently Im feeding medium pellets (hes about 5 inches) and tried earthworms today (loves em!).
I used to put in feeders (until I did some thorough reading here) and hed eat all 12 goldfish in one night... now that its pellets I take a pinch (about 7-10) and he scarfs them up quickly.. I do the pellets about 3-4 times a day.
Ive also been working on hand-feeding using pedigree crunchy bites for dogs(about 2-3 daily)... he only gets one though.
So is he really just that hungry or should he be on a diet of sorts.
Thx.
They are notorious beggers...he's training you, lol. 'Hey if I do the feed me dance I get some pellets.' They're pigs, too. It takes quite a bit to make my oscar not want to eat anymore, and I rarely if ever feed him that much in one feeding regardless.
Anyways, 4 times a day 7-10 pellets each time seems to me like you are overfeeding him a tad too much...you have to learn to ignore the feed me bit if you've just recently fed him. It's kind of like how dogs beg for food...they try and look all pitiful like they're starving when we all know they're not. Oscar's, as is well known, can go for weeks without food and still be fine, and while that's certainly not advisable, overfeeding brings with it a whole host of other possible negative issues. Also,
I would not feed him any dog food...ever, it's high in fat content and can cause serious liver issues.
My oscar's about 9-9 1/2 inches right about now and I generally will feed him about 6-8 medium sized pellets in the morning, and for the most part he doesn't eat again until evening when he usually gets something different...like 1 or 2 frozen fish, mysis shrimp, worms, krill or insects. Once a week or so I will go out back and catch him some beetles or other bugs for dinner, just make sure you know what they are and make sure they're not poisonous to them. If I fed him every time he did the 'feed me' routine I'd be pretty much feeding him every time I came into the room, cause that's about how often he does it. If I approach the tank he gets even more active. I think it's always a good idea to err on the side of underfeeding as opposed to overfeeding. Generally you'd have to be really negligent to truly 'starve' your fish, but overfeeding is much easier to do and much more common.
Generally, a good rule of thumb regarding this is to feed according to time limit...not amount per se. If you feed him pellets try feeding him or 1 or 2 at a time, and wait until he consumes them before dropping more in. Continue this until the time limit expires...most adhere to the 2 min. limit. Even if he still acts hungry don't feed him again until your regularly scheduled times.
Here's a link to the article on
Feeding Your Oscar
Also, continue to vary his diet. Try Mysis shrimp (better than Brine shrimp...brine is actually less nutritious than a potato chip would be for a human), prawns, earthworms, insects, frozen fish, blood worms ( i dont care for these b/c they make a mess and are pretty tiny), mealworms, and even cooked peas.
