Hi there! My first post here!

I bought 4 tiger oscars about 2 months back when they were around 2 1/2 inches long. Now two of the oscars have grown quite considerably and are almost double the size of the other two (who look like they haven't grown at all).

I guess this disparity happens often due to the many such observations on this forum. But what I find weird is the difference in eating habits between the two pairs.

Ever since I got them I've been feeding them on a main diet of pellets and twice a week or so on feeder guppies or earthworms as a treat. Now, while the larger two oscars happily gorge on whatever i feed them, the smaller two do not touch the pellets AT ALL! They seem to be holding out for the feeder fish or earthworms.

So I've stuck all four to a diet of strictly pellets for a week now hoping to correct their eating habits but while the larger oscars are fine, the smaller two still aren't eating at all!

I was just wondering if their not eating the pellets is the reason they haven't grown at all in 2 months?

Since these are such greedy fish it's worrying to me that they would not eat for so long.

Some help or information would be much appreciated!

Thanks!

Welcome to the forum

like many questions about Oscars, this is one of those that is not easy to give a conclusive answer. If you buy batch of Oscars, you often get one that is the runt of the litter. I know that's not the right term for Oscars but that's the way I like putting it. In other words, you often get one Oscar that doesn't grow as much as the others. I've got one here that is at least an inch smaller than the others and I bought them all at the same time at all the same size.

You've got four Oscars, I hope you are going to tell me that you've got a very big tank. If you turn around and tell me you're keeping them in a 55 gallon tank then I'm going to tell you that you've got too many Oscars and you need to think about scaling down because you will just run into more problems in the future. Everybody's experience with Oscars is different so it is sometimes difficult to put yourself in someone else's position when you haven't actually been there. I've got six Oscars here and they all eat the same. Apart from the one, they've all grown uniformly. Even the smaller one eats like a little pig.

What you need to do is water test to begin with. Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH. Fish that won't eat can sometimes be ill. You just want to check your water and make sure it's in good condition. Ammonia and nitrite should be Zero and no higher. Nitrate should be no higher than 40 ppm. Your pH is okay between 6.0 and 8.0, although it's best to have it at the lower end.

Now observe the two Oscars that are not eating. Are they showing any signs of wanting to eat when you put pellets in? Sometimes when fish go off a particular type of food they will get all excited until they realise it's not what they want, are your fish doing this? If they are, at least we know they want to eat. It's when they don't want to eat anything, that's when it can be worrying. Are any of your fish breathing heavily?

If the two smaller fish that are not eating are showing no signs of ill health, and your water is in good condition, I should keep feeding the pellets. If they are healthy Oscars, they will not starve themselves to death. You could try things like mealworms or crickets, these are good healthy food for Oscars. However, I think I would be more happy if they would accept pellets so you really must try and get them onto them. If the other two are eating, I would expect them to eat at some stage. Oscars can go without food for quite a long time so even if you got two weeks and they wouldn't see, they're not going to die. We all know the Oscars are very greedy, normally they will eat anything you give them. I am actually very surprised that your Oscars are this fussy at such a young age. They normally get fussy when they are older in life.

What pellets are you feeding to your Oscars? I feed my Oscars Ocean nutrition and Hikari, they seem to like those. Tetra also makes some good food, one is called Dorimin.

Okay, I think that's about all, they want to bombard you with too much information

Thanks for the quick response!

My tank is close to 300 gallons, so going by the 55 gallon per oscar rule, I have a bit too much space! I've been thinking of adding a pair of pacu's as well.

I have tested my water and it is normal. pH is around 7.

I feed my oscars Hikari. The smaller oscars behave just like normal - they swim towards the top every time I go near the tank and 'beg' for food. But when I drop the pellets in they just don't want to eat them. I know that if I drop in an earthworm or a guppy they would gulp them down!

So I guess I need to stick to the pellet diet until those two come around? I was worried that the reason the 2 small oscars didn't grow versus the other two was because they were not eating the pellets. Would that be a valid reason? 'Cause I'm thinking oscars that small would NEED to eat alot in order to grow!

I just feel bad denying my bigger oscars their feeder guppy and earthworm treats just because of the fussy small ones!

Thanks again for info!

Don't forget that pacu have the potential to reach 3 feet in length. Okay, they don't always reach this in captivity but I have seen some huge fish, nearly 2 feet long so to answer your question, no, your tank is not big enough for two pacu.

If two of your fish are eating a lot and two of them aren't, that could well be the reason they are not growing at the same rates as the others. However, I wouldn't like to bet my life on that. If they won't eat pellets at all, you could give them other things like insects and worms, these are full of goodness and very good for Oscars. However, I do think pellets should play quite a big part of an Oscars buyer so it would be good for you to get them onto some kind of pellets. I can quite understand your dilemma, they don't eat for a week, you want to feed them something else. I don't see a problem with that, like I said, give them something with a lot of goodness if they just won't touch the pellets. They are babies and they should be eating quite a lot of food every day so for the time being, do feed them other stuff. When they are adults, they don't need eat every day. If they won't eat what you're giving them, let them go hungry.

would it be ok to just feed your oscar pe;;ets his whole lief if the y are a good brand? or should u give them feeders. i ask this cause mine is terified of feeder, worms it only eats pellets and runs from anything thats alive

I don't think you would actually harm fish if you were to feed it pellets all time but we do recommend supplementing the diet with something else a couple of times a week. Whether this be earth worms, shrimps/prawns, mealworms, crickets, everyday bugs from the garden. I think you've just got to give your fish time and see what happens as it matures. Nobody is going to be able to tell you what your oscar is going to be like in the future, well, not without a crystal ball anyway.

lol im gonna post some pics of him soon. he has came around still al ittle timid but hes starting to give me the puppy dog eyes. then he eats and goes to his favor hiding spot and relaxes a bit. i almost had him take a pellet out of my hand today but he thought twice lol. great fish gald i decided to get one. and this site helps out a lot.

Sounds good to me. The more he gets used to you being around, the more confident he will get so just bear with them.

Thanks for the comments about the site, we just do our best to give out the information that we think is correct.

hoepfully from learnign adn getting exp with them i can help out members here as well one day lol pics will be up within a week.

I'm sure that within time, you'll know loads about Oscars and will be able to help out people on here

my oscars is eating good but he still is hiding and seems to not wanna swim around. he comes out and eats then goes back to hiding. i have had him for about a week now and my water readings are perfect. could i have just got a shy oscar? or should i be concerend with it is it maybe a health problem?

If your water readings are good in your Oscar is eating okay, I don't think you have anything to worry about. Probably just a shy Oscar, give him time