hiya folks,

firstly i appologise in advance for the long post!

i have a big oscar, a male about 14", who was one of a devoted pair untill the female died after jumping through the lid of a juwel tank, over a year ago.

anyway this guy is getting on a bit (but by no means elderly), he shares a 5' tank (rio 400) with a female convict and a big plec (THE ONLY FISH HE WILL TOLLERATE)

all the water parameters are perfect, i chance approx 15gallons of water every weekend and the tank is filtered by the juwel filter, pus a fluval 404 external and a fluval 4 internal, the venturi on the fluval 4 maintains good O2 levels.

decor consists of 50/50 sand fine gravel mix bogwood and smooth cobbles (plus a few large plastic plants, which he pulls up and i replant in a batle of wills, which he will undoubtedly win!!

hes fed on tetra doromin and prawns, not a great diet but anyone who knows oscars will know how hard it is to change thier diet

i have noticed that his sensory pits are becoming more promenant, and sometimes his head has a white sheen (which i am sure is not fungal or bactirial), and i am paraniod about hith to this end can anyone reccoment a good vitamin suppliment that i can dose via his feed

any and all sugestions will be gratefully received.

i intend to give this guy a happy and full, long life.

thanx

neil

This is him, hes the one in front, with his lady behhind (RIP)

sounds like you are looking after your fish responsibly, a regular water changes are definitely the way to keep fish healthy. People who cannot be bothered to do water changes are normally the people whose fish die or contract illnesses all the time. Keeping fish in an enclosed environment is a huge compromise, they would have so much water in the wild, ammonia, nitrite or nitrate doesn't even come into their lives because of the natural filtration system that exists.

as for vitamins, it is quite important, there are many foods that contain all the vitamins that fish needs, good quality pellets, shrimps and krill, worms are absolutely superb as they contain vitamins that fish need. Cockles and shrimps also contain lots of goodness. if your Oscar when except vegetables, this is also a sauce for vitamins.

You can also purchase vitamins that are especially for aquarium fish. Vita-chem is one such vitamin that you can purchase

to help improve the diet u could give it a bit more meat such as a mouse or goldfish BUT MAKE SURE it is dead first as it is not fair to the goldfish or mouse to put them in live also if u do make sure the goldfish or mouse was not ill as this could lead to the death of your oscar especaly as your oscar is old because it will be not as strong as a younger one

dogchain65 wrote:


I'll have to do respectfully disagree with with the above statement. There is already a thread about feeding mice to Oscars. Saturated fat can cause fish to develop a "fatty liver" this could be fatal for your Oscar. Mouse will contain saturated fat, so it is very unadvisable to feed your Oscar mice on a regular basis. In fact, I would go as far to say don't give them this type of food at all. Goldfish also contain saturated fat, as do many fresh water fish, freshwater feeder fish I'm not the best food for this reason, and we mustn't forget that you can also introduce parasites/disease when feeding live food that you know nothing about and where it has come from.

i was under the impression that if you feed your oscars a varied diet that vitamin supplements were not required. i feed my oscar hikari gold pellets(as a staple), frozen krill, shrimp, beefhearts, earthworms and crikets. have i erred in neglecting to add a vitamin with this? my oscars seem healthy and happy and all have good colouring. if someone can clarify this for me i would be very appreciative

You are correct. Crustacean, such as shrimp and krill will contain one set of vitamins, insects will contain another,worms also, peas, the sort of stuff a lot of people feed their fish. I have to admit mind don't get worms that often,mealworms when I go to the shop and may have got them, however, they get shrimp and krill a lot, they also get good quality pellets that have vitamins in them already.

If you feed your oscars a varied diet then they will get all the vitamins and nutrients they need. Cichlid pellets also have everything an oscar will need. Variety is also good cause if you feed only one type of food they get to where they wont eat anything else, then they can get bored of the one type you have been feeding

fishytkye, test your tank water at least monthly for ammonia, nitrite and nitate. Ammonia and nitrite should be zero, if it isnt then either you dont have enough filtration or your filters are not working properly. Nitrate should be below 40, if it is above 40 the do more or bigger water changes