How do you keep Oscar fish in a fish tank? What do they eat to grow fast?
The Oscar fish gets its name because the markings on its body closely resemble a map, but because Oscars are rather greedy eaters and also fairly large in size, people also call them “flower pig fish”, so as a beginner, how do you keep Oscar fish in a fish tank? What do they eat to grow fast?
1. How do you keep Oscar fish in a fish tank?
1. Choose smaller-sized Oscar fish
Although Oscar fish are a tropical fish species, they are very full of emotion. Therefore, when keeping Oscar fish it is generally recommended to start raising them from a young age.
2. Choose a larger-sized fish tank
Even if you start raising them from small Oscar fish just a few cm long, you should still choose a larger-sized fish tank, because Oscar fish grow quickly, basically growing more than 3 cm per month, so adult fish are fairly large in size, and a larger fish tank allows them to grow better.
In addition, when keeping Oscar fish it is not recommended to grow aquatic plants or spread sand at the bottom of the fish tank, because Oscar fish produce a lot of waste and are themselves fairly prone to causing water pollution, so placing some driftwood and pebbles in the fish tank is enough.
3. Daily care
(1) Lighting: The body color of Oscar fish changes as they grow older by the month, and their need for light is fairly strong.
(2) Water quality: Oscar fish generally do not have strict requirements for the water quality in which they are kept, and can live normally in weakly acidic, neutral and alkaline water.
(3) Water temperature: The water temperature suitable for the growth of Oscar fish is 22-26°C.
(4) Disease prevention: Although Oscar fish are great athletes, they are also prone to getting sick, and common diseases include cloudy eyes, white spot disease, and fin and tail rot.
If cloudy eyes appear, it may be that the eye membrane has been injured and invaded by tubercle bacilli and vibrio; as long as you find white fog at the eye membrane of the Oscar fish, you need to immediately change nearly 2/3 of the water in the fish tank, and add coarse salt at a concentration of 5‰ to the water, raise the water temperature to about 30°C, and change the water once every 3 days, changing 1/3 each time. If there is no obvious improvement in the symptoms after taking this step, then medication treatment is needed.
White spot disease is generally caused by parasitism by white spot parasites, and can be treated by raising the water temperature and changing the water frequently, along with a small amount of red mercurochrome.
For fin and tail rot, prevention should be the main approach, and the method is to soak and wash the Oscar fish with oxytetracycline.
2. What do Oscar fish eat to grow fast?
It was mentioned earlier that Oscar fish are rather greedy eaters, especially fond of “meat”, so during normal feeding, the bait can include some tubifex worms, tadpoles, small fish, small shrimp, chopped loach, mealworms, beef, pork, chicken, animal offal, etc., and the diversity of their food should be maintained and not be too monotonous.
In addition, Oscar fish are divided into “wild Oscars” and “artificial Oscars”; wild Oscars generally refer to seven-star-line wild Oscars, non-seven-star-line wild Oscars, and bumblebee Oscars, while artificial Oscars refer to varieties such as red flower pig, white flower pig, and white-red pig.
In terms of feeding, wild Oscars are more fond of eating fresh meat-based foods such as small fish and small shrimp than artificial Oscars, while artificial Oscars can also accept some dry foods.
If you want Oscar fish to grow faster, loach, live fry, and beef heart are the preferred foods.
What should be noted here is that these feeding baits must be cleaned thoroughly, and foods like beef and pork should not be fed too much, so as to avoid causing water pollution.