I started an oscar tank for christmas, and it is going great, I only have two, a red and an albino. When i got them they were about 2-3 inches long. no after several months my albino is about 5 inches but my red is only 3 inches still. we had trouble getting her to eat at first but now she is the first to come up. but yet she is still not growing. not sure what to do. we feed them a varity of food so that they get the nutrients they need. i am open to some idea or reasons why. http://www.oscarfishlover.com/media/kunena/attachments/legacy/images/d3d017cdc723.jpeg

hello and welcome to the forum..........how often do you feed ????????

about three to four times a day.

it seems like you are varying the diet and feeding enough ,so realy i dont see why your fish are not getting any bigger??????????? oscars grow on average an inch a month so if you got them at the end of december its end of march now which would put 2" - 3" on them plus the 2" you said they were when you got them ...in my book they should measure 5"-6" now.......which you say they are..so i wouldnt be to worried as they seem to be on track with their growth or not unduely small..keep up the good feeding and your fish should be fine

what are your water params? sometimes bad water quality causes the fish to give out hormones that stunt growth. he may just be a slow grower though, since the difference isn't that great. i had a tiger that didn't grow at all for the first year i kept him, then all of a sudden within the next two years he was a full size adult. the only other O with him grew at the normal rate...

-art

the one is about 5 inches but the other one is only about 3
inches. the water conditions are perfect.. i keep track of them and do water changes we it calls for one.. and on a regular basis

to be quite honest, it is virtually impossible to say why your fish isn't growing.you sometimes find this, some fish will grow a lot quicker than others. Some fish will easily reach their potential size while others will just stop and stay relatively small. As long as your water is in good condition and you are feeding your fish on healthy food, I shouldn't worry about it for the moment. You may find that it will just be a small fish and not grow as big as the others. You'll just have to wait and see what happens.

i agree with OFL on this. some oscars are genetically small
although they eat like a pig. i have one client who have two
oscars, after one year, the red tiger is about 10 inches while
the one with yellow markings is about half at 5 to 6 inches only.
as long as they are active, vibrant, and eating well, no need to
worry. just enjoy their gracefulness in swimming.

pence.6 wrote:
[quote]I started an oscar tank for christmas, and it is going great, I only have two, a red and an albino. When i got them they were about 2-3 inches long. no after several months my albino is about 5 inches but my red is only 3 inches still. we had trouble getting her to eat at first but now she is the first to come up. but yet she is still not growing. not sure what to do. we feed them a varity of food so that they get the nutrients they need. i am open to some idea or reasons why.

as long as your fish seems healthy i wouldn't worry.