from my readings and now first hand observation oscars dont seem to be very hungry sometimes. my new one eats every other day and not greedily like some have said,guess it depends on the oscar and maybe the age too huh? mine is an adopted full grown.
Penn, I have heard you say that oscars dont need to eat near everyday and can in fact go for long periods of time without. with that understood, when I go on my feeding tour of my 14 or so other tanks I always drop him in some pellets and every other day it seems I fish them out. also he still hasnt bothered the guppies I offered him, so I guess he has tankmates for now.
the only other fish Ive had that didnt eat readily everyday was a large female jd. why do they do this?
mike c.

When Oscars reach adulthood and have finished their initial growing, no they don't need to eat every day. Remember that they are only in a tank, they aren't really moving anywhere. For some reason, Oscars to get bored and go of food. I have always kept my Oscars hungry, this way they are willing to eat whatever you give them. Okay, I have had times when they just go off their food for no reason. Normally, they start eating again. I think that's why a varied diet is very good. I have found that young Oscars will eat virtually anything you put in a tank, once they reach adulthood, they can become much more fussy, obviously not all of them, some Oscars are more fussy than others.

Once the Oscars reach 7 inches, it wouldn't hurt to feed every other day. The other advantage of doing this if you haven't got as much waste going into the water. Feeding a large Oscar twice a day will mean more tank maintenance

It is possible that your adult grown Oscar is used to certain foods and maybe you are giving him something he isn't used to etc. They can become dependent on foods they like while rejecting others. Plus, an adult Oscar is more likely to sulk a bit after being moved so that is another possibility too. Lastly, I myself wouldn't simply drop food into his tank like you might do with other fish and I would only feed the Oscar upon demand, that is, only if he was acknowledging you and waiting anxiously near the top of the tank for thew food. Don't drop food in otherwise. If hes not there to take it, don't give it. Besides, if he was that hungry, those guppys would be history and most likely will go sooner then later. Hope you don't mind my thoughts on this...

not at all Ken, all thought are very welcome. the food I am feeding him is the food that came with him, a medium pellet for cichlids from wardley. I have some cichlid gold on order that I like to feed my fish.
I will kepp those thought in mind when doing my feeding rounds. thanks
mike c.