For those of you who know me... Brooksie here... I have 2 baby Oscars that are now about 3" in length - Red and Piglet. I have had Oscars before but they were big - 10" and 12".. never babies. These guys seem to be hungry all the time. Here is their feeding schedule:

Mornings... pellets (around 6)
Afternoon... blood worms (1 frozen block cut up)
Evenings... meal worms (they will eat usually only 2 or 3 each)

I have read on here that some people feed them what they can eat in 3 minutes. However, they fill their mouths and then hide in the corner to eat what they have stuffed in there. After a couple of minutes they are right back and the top looking for more... staring and following us around the room as if to say "tap, tap... hello we are starving in here!!"

I can't use the 3 minute rule due to their corner chewing habits. Am I giving them enough??

Thanks for reading.......
Brooksie

Oscars are very greedy, everyone will tell you that. I'd be inclined to drop pellets in intermittently for around three minutes, whatever they eat in that time, that should be enough for one setting. This is what I have always done on my Oscars are now around 11 inches. I never actually physically count out a number of pellets for each fish. if you are feeding them bloodworm, maybe a couple of small blocks, or one large block. Don't get yourself too worked up about it, your little babies will be perfectly okay.

Sounds like a good diet to me.
Feeding 2 times a day should sufice, but 1 block of bloodworms for the 2 of them is not much.
I must admit that i gave my O food more than 3 times a day, when he still was a baby.

OLF the problem with the 3 minute rule is they fill their mouths with 2 pellets and then go down in the corner for 2-3 minutes and chew it or do whatever they are doing down there. Sometimes it can be like 5 minutes before they come back up. I only started counting to be able to post accurate information for you guys! I will increase their bloodworms.

ha ha ha..you are no difference with me.... whenever i am around, i could not
resist dropping another round of pellets to those begging little creatures...
the reason on the 3 minutes rule is to minimized bioloads in the tank. unconsumed
foods become additional load that could compromise water quality...3 times feeding
is normal.... but as they grow up, they could gulp one big chunk and be full for
the rest of the day...

Since I started feeding every other day it seems like my O knows very well when the day of feeding comes.
He actually does not beg for food on the no-food days.
Strange but true.

given half the chance juvenile oscars will eat you out of house and home. imho your feeding regiment is fine and i wouldnt change it at all. when they grow you can reduce the amount of times you feed daily to twice a day and eventually to once a day when are around the 8inch mark.

Hey Brooksie. These guys know alot more than me but I would say your doing fine. My Oscar is the same way. It kinda breaks your heart not feeding him when he begs but I had cloudy water in the begining and cut back to two adays and water quality improved. If I feel he NEEDS a snack then a cricket or meal worm will be offered. Good luck.


Roger

I concur.

it's good to hear your fish do the same thing mine do - they beg; I hand feed them, they stuff their mouths full, they then quickly swim to their favorite spot and chew for a while. The clown loach and baby severum have figured out if they follow them and hang out with them, they can scoop up all the extra food they spit out of their gills. The nice thing is their favorite spot is right by one of the filter intakes:)