Oscar Fish

This species of fish from the cichlid family known under a variety of common names including oscar, tiger oscar, marble cichlid or velvet cichlid. This can grow up to a length of 45. The Oscarfish, or to give it its scientific name, Astronontus ocellatus. Astronontus actually means being marked with a star on the back. Ocellatus means bearing an "eye spot" The Oscar is a fresh water fish that is a member of the Cichlid (pronounced sick-lid) family which is native to the Orinoco, La Plata, and Amazon river. This Oscar is also found its way into other tropical and subtropical parts of the wild such as some of the canals in Florida USA. However these are not native and were probably introduced accidentally, or released on purpose.



APPROPRIATE HOME

It is not very sensitive and can be kept even by less experienced aquarists, but you must provide it with an aquarium that is large enough. A 100 gallon aquarium is considered a minimum. It will require a pH between 6.5 and 7.0 and water that is soft or just barely hard.In the wild, it is not uncommon for an Oscar fish to grow larger than 30 centimeters When Oscars are kept in aquariums they rarely grow larger than 30 centimeters. In its natural environment the species typically occurs in slow moving white water habitats, and has been observed sheltering under submerged branches. The best tankmates for Oscars are Large Plecostomus and other large Neotropical Cichlids such as Texas Cichlids, Jack Dempseys, Salvini, and other cichlids from South America which are the same size or bigger.

FEEDING

Oscars are large carnivores and they are known to be happy eaters even in captivity.In nature Oscars eat small fish. But in aquariums small fish can introduce diseases. Use live food wisely and try to keep the Oscars healthy by using vegetable based food with vitamins. Crickets, worms, adult brine shrimp and krill are all suitable food types. Frogs and beef heart will also be appreciated. It is easy to train your Oscar fish into accepting prepared food, such as pellets and flakes. A high quality prepared food suitable for large cichlids is recommended. A prepared food can provide a good base, but we should not keep your Oscar fish on flakes or pellets alone. Supplementing prepared food with some of the food types described above is always advisable.

BREEDING

Oscar fish can be bred in aquariums as long as you provide them with favourable conditions. To get a breeding pair, you must house 6 young Oscars together and let them form their own pairs. Make sure you choose healthy Oscars from different broods. It can be hard to sex young Oscars, but you will hopefully get at least one pair from 6 individuals. If you don’t want to wait and let Oscars grow up together, you can instead buy a breeding pair but this is usually much more expensive. The stress and disturbance experienced by the fish when you move them from their old aquarium can also cause them to brake up and stop being a breeding pair. Once a pair has been formed you should remove the other fish from the aquarium, since breeding Oscars are highly territorial and can hurt intruding fish. If the spawning does not commence immediately there is not easy fix that can kick start it. What you can do is provide the pair with suitable conditions and wait for the spawning to start. The courtship behaviour can be very violent – sometimes too violent and resulting in the death of one of the Oscars before any offspring has been produced.Frequent water changes are important to ensure suitable water chemistry and low levels of soluble waste. Do not change more than 25 percent of the water at once. Feed the pair bait fish or frozen fish. Prawns, crickets, earth worms and other meaty foods are also suitable.Pellets should be avoided since a majority of the pellet will slip through the gills of the Oscar and never end up inside the stomach. Raw meat from cows and pigs should also be avoided. An Oscar would dig the substrate or look out for a flat surface for breeding. They are highly protective of there fry's and should be kept alone. Feeding newly hatched brine shrimps are good as the fry grow fastly when compared to that of powerded flake food.

Highlights

This blog contain as many strains/species of Oscar that we can find. Some of them are more of common than others. All the fish on this page have the same thing in common, none of them will be found in the wild. All of these fish have been bred from the original Wild Oscar. Wild, or Common Oscars as they are also known as are still available. However, most of them are bred in captivity and are not taken from the wild. The Red Oscar appeared in the late 60s. It was bred in Thailand. The Tiger Oscar is the closest you will get to the original wild Oscar when it comes to colouring. A true albino is normally white with no colour pigmentation whatsoever. Oscars that have a white body with red or orange are normally referred to as albino. Strictly speaking, they are actually Lutino or Leucistis.