I was in my local fish shop yesterday (the type that sells fresh fish to eat, not the sort that you buy oscars in) and they had some whitebait for sale. This whitebait is a sea fish that is small, about oscar food size, thin and about 2 to 3 inches long. I fed some to my fish (oscars, JD and jaguar) and the oscars and jaguar loved it. What are others opinion on this as an occasional treat (maybe once or twice a month). Is it ok to feed to oscars or is it a bad idea?

Also if it is ok to feed this to my oscars it may be a useful substitute for those who may want to feed fish to your oscars but dont like the idea of putting live fish in. You can also buy frozen lance fish in your local LFS (the type you buy oscars in) that will achieve this too

Whitebait is perfectly okay to feed to Oscars, after all the fish stores sell cockles, mussels and shrimp, all of which come from the sea. I am in favour of feeding food that has been caught in the wild, there is much less chance of passing on any nasty diseases.

I was a little worried because they were salt water fish but thinking about it if prawns are ok then salt water fish will be ok

Its funny that wild caught fish are less likely to have diseases than bred for the market/shop bought fish. In my opinion it is completely unnecessary for fish bred to be sold to have diseases. If they were quarantined properly at all stages then they wouldnt have diseases but this would increase the cost. I would pay this extra cost however lots wouldnt, thats the free market for you

white bait is great i use it when i go deep sea fishing and the snapper loves it.