Hey hey

I have a problem with my oscar not eating.

I went away on a months holiday leaving my fish in the loving hands of my sister! Being as lovely as she is she only fed him live food, fish, prawns & crickets. Now as expected he wont go back to pellets.

i have tried different types of pellets to the norm i feed him but he hasnt touched any food in the last 2 weeks and a bit, and i cant afford to keep him on live food.

i have read starving it is the trick but its been weeks already.

what should i do????

Hi, the people on the forum told me in a previous thread, i think last week, that Oscars can survuve in the wild in mostly dried up ponds.
They can do without food for a very long period.
And Oscars get spoiled indeed.
Fed mine all known O-treats and now he only eats some mealworm-larvae.
Bought some sinking pellets today and hope he eventually takes those...

I have a Green Terror that didn't eat for 5 weeks till I tried live worms. It's still all he'll eat but he's my favorite so he gets what he wants. Even after all that time without eating he still had lots of energy. It's amazing what they can do.

what is your temp? sometimes raising the temp make them hungry.
cold temp slow down metabolism, thus minimal eating....

yes thats right about temp... and keep changing water regularly.. i hope its not illness.. and i think a month should be fine...without food.. and then they eat whatever is put..

I agree with warlock and paul they can go a long time without food. But if you are really feeling worried and you say you don't have the money, like most of us in this economy, you could always go in the back yard and dig a hole and catch some night crawlers. I feed my oscar some from the garden. He loves them plus night crawlers are a good source of protein. To make sure he is getting his vegi diet as well try some cooked green greans or peas. This is a poor mans way of feeding an oscar but it works really well to keep a ballanced diet. Let me know if this helps

Warlock1977 wrote:

i believe your poor man's way of feeding will turn out to be the best varied feeding routine for your fishes.

hahhahahahhah @ the poor man's way of doing things

I also tried some cucumber last night and that wsa really fun to watch