Hi all, I'm from India n new to Oscar keeping. I jus got my Oscar's(7" & 8") abt 3 weeks back n since then my oscars are only eating feeder fish n blood worms. They absolutely refuse to eat d pellets tat i got for them. I would like to vary their died so as to keep them healthy but they simply don eat any thing else..What do i do.??

i have to say when my boys got picky on me i kept giving them the food for a few days after a day or two they would eat the new pelets but i have had great success with the chichlid gold that is in the red packaging and with flakes. I know they didnt like the green bag of the brand but after a day or two they got hungry they did start to eat it i just had to fish out the food they didnt eat till they did. but sometimes size does make a difference like smaller pellets or larger might help also..... I tend to feel that they were just being like a lil kid asking for icecream instead of eating vegitables so try that if no success try giving a lil of the other food and the pellets together that might work. cause my boys dont like blood worms at all lol.

I know this may sound weird but what I have read and heard is soaking the pellets in garlic juice can help this problem. It is supposed to entice the fish to eat and can boost their immune system also. Hope this helps.

Garlic is a good Idea. also you can just not feed them for a couple days. They will get hungry and they will eat what you put in the tank. Feeders are not recommended at all.

Don't worry about not feeding them for a couple days. they can go a long time without eating and be fine.

Nickisue wrote:
who toldyou feeders are not a good idea mmmm and there is a constant supply of pellets in there natural suroundings isnt there!!!!!! people take advice on this site literally so be sure of the advice your giving i think people forget this sometimes!

feeders are not recommended due to the fact of the poor quality of them a lot of the times most lfs ie petco and petsmart and chain stores dont put a lot of effort into them so you can get a lot of diseas's from them expecially ick is the main reason but pelet food actually has better nutritional value for the fish than feeders since oscars will eat pretty much anything. but you can feed them feeders but there are a lot of different things that you can give them that is better than feeders is the point that is being made.

the point was clear feeders are not recomended absolue RUBISH feeders help to keep your oscar alert sucking pellets from the top of the tank bores the hell out of them and to generalise about LFS is also rubish !!!!!!!!

Hey ppl thanks for d advise n this is a great site. I bought my Oscar's only after coming across this website. I'll stop buying feeders n may be breed molly's for my Oscars so as to be sure they are disease free.

Thank you all

rumncoke0482 wrote:


Thank You Rumncoke0482. That is my point. Read it in every post!

oneeye wrote:



Well you know if you don't find this site and the people on this site informative then maybe you shouldn't come here, no one here was disrespectful to you and you shouldn't be either. No one said that all feeders are horrible, if you trust your LFS then by all means buy them and feed them to your O's.

oneeye wrote:


My point about the feeders is that there is little to no nutritional value. And can make the Oscars sick. They often carry diseases from poor conditions and over breeding.

We feed pellets because they are formulated to meet the Oscars nutritional needs. They are a wonderful staple. If this was not the case then all our Oscars wouldn't be healthy and happy. Now as I said a staple. But I also feed my O's a large variety of fruits and veggies, not to mention, blood worms, night crawlers, worms, crickets, grass hoppers and the list goes on. There is actually a thread or two about what to feed your Oscar.

I hope this helps!

oneeye wrote:



actually oscars in the wild survive mostly on a diet of insects, plant matter, and small invertebrate. though they are opportunistic eaters and will on occasion eat small fish (mostly sedentary catfish) they are not predators like other south american cichlids. and even though there is not a "constant supply " of pellets in the amazon they dont eat a constant supply of feeders either. if you research the question you will find that insects are one of the primary sources of nurishment for wild o's.




oh and by the way where do you come across the information that feeders are good nutrition for oscars??