Patty and Johnnys new Juvenile Tiger Oscar
- Thread starter Patty1980
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Brookster123
Aquarium Advice Addict
It's called sulking I believe. . Very common in oscar behavior.
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Jmunroe
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Nice. Sounds like you have a good plan with your setups for him. Those large frequent water changes are as important as a good diet. Give him greens, like shelled peas, once or twice a week as well, it helps their digestive tract. A liquid vitamin likes Boyds vitachem or seachem nourish soaked into pellets or freeze dried krill will help with overall health. Large fish don't get enough vitamins in the food, and the vitamin c really helps with bone development. Don't feed feeder fish (or other aquatic), full of disease and not nutritious. Crickets and my oscars favourite, grasshoppers, are loved. Skip the holy rock and add driftwood. They like soft Amazonian water, not hard. I add peat extract to my water as well. My Bahia red tailed oscar is wild caught so I really like to give him the closest I can. But all oscars and SA cichlids do better in softer water. Their colors really stand out. If he is sulking don't worry, he'll come around. Keep a tight lid on the tank, they find their way out the smallest holes and it's not fun coming home to find your new pet dried up on the floor. I wouldn't get him to jump for food either. It's neat, but chasing a 12 inch fish around the floor is not. And wondering if internal injuries from the fall will take him down isn't fun. I had a really hard time breaking this wild one I have now of the habit. Still don't trust him and he's hit the floor twice on me. He's also more aggressive than captive bred and I have a hard time putting my hand in the tank without getting attacked and constantly stalked. If you want to hand feed, put your hand under the water while holding the food. He will take it. Looking forward to seeing how your new guy will look as he grows. They are without a doubt an awesome wet pet. Oh yeah, you will learn to read the color changes that he does. Soon you'll know what mood he's in by his color.
Thank for the great info Jmunroe. I think I've got all of that checked off my list so far minus the DW and vitamins. Will get those asap. I'm feeding him 3-4 times a day for now (no feeder fish). When do you suggest backing off to once per day or how large should he be I guess I should ask? The worms and crickets are so much fun to watch him eat! He is my favorite fish so far because now my hubby is all into my hobby (VICTORY)
Jmunroe
Aquarium Advice FINatic
I feed them twice a day once they are over 6 inches or so, then after a year I feed once a day or once every 2 days, depending how much I've been feeding. By 2 years feed only every 2-3 days. Feeding too often will give them fatty liver and an early demise. A large fish generally takes around 3 days to digest a good meal.
Sounds reasonable to me, will do. Let me get your take on this story. My lfs says his father has a tiger (didn't say how old) that is 17 inches! and he feeds him one mouse per month! To me that sounds nuts......is this a thing???
Jmunroe
Aquarium Advice FINatic
If that's all he feeds it that is bad. 1 being fed once a month is not good and 2 that meat is not good for them.
Mebbid
Aquarium Advice Addict
I agree about the lack of feeding, but why would mice be bad?
I thought that seemed rather infrequent. Too fatty maybe?
Jmunroe
Aquarium Advice FINatic
Mammal meat contains too much fat. Beef heart is very low fat so it's accepted and often used in preparing fish food mixes. Your fish will have liver problems from too much fat.
Don't worry about the name mess up. No apologies needed. Hard to keep names straight on here, even the ones you see frequently.
Interesting development. Here is our current feeding routine: every 6-8 hours we are feeding. So, for example he gets a cricket or two then a few Omega One pellets (only until aggressive feeding slows). Next feed hikari protein sticks and some more pellets. Next time a worm. So, he is being given live foods twice daily along with pellets. My husband says the last day or two he mostly ignores the sticks and pellets and paces the tank almost "hunting". Darting to the surface as if targeting food. His parameters are 0-0-10/20 so that's not it. Have we spoiled him rotten already?? I assumed juvies needed live food daily.....spoiled brat 
Brookster123
Aquarium Advice Addict
I'll always go for chicken over pasta
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Fishanatic
Aquarium Advice Addict
Interesting development. Here is our current feeding routine: every 6-8 hours we are feeding. So, for example he gets a cricket or two then a few Omega One pellets (only until aggressive feeding slows). Next feed hikari protein sticks and some more pellets. Next time a worm. So, he is being given live foods twice daily along with pellets. My husband says the last day or two he mostly ignores the sticks and pellets and paces the tank almost "hunting". Darting to the surface as if targeting food. His parameters are 0-0-10/20 so that's not it. Have we spoiled him rotten already?? I assumed juvies needed live food daily.....spoiled brat
He doesnt need that much protein. Youd be suprised to know that they actually eat more fruits than they do carnivorous treats in the wild. If i were you, crickets would just be a 3 times a week max, and what worms are you feeding them? Some worms have super high fatty content. Also, make sure the pellets you feed them contain the correct ingredients and protein value to be considered staple food
All that said, you are still doinf a great job keep it up55 Gallon- Empty
125 Gallon- CKF and Tiger Oscar
220 Gallon- To come...
They are red wigglers (small earthworms it looks like). We have fed him three total since we got him about 2 weeks ago ( I was just corrected by my husband. I thought he had been fed more than that). But yes the crickets have been daily. We will cut back on those. So, worms......how often? Little stinker. Now he is gonna feel like he's on punishment
Jmunroe
Aquarium Advice FINatic
He doesnt need that much protein. Youd be suprised to know that they actually eat more fruits than they do carnivorous treats in the wild. If i were you, crickets would just be a 3 times a week max, and what worms are you feeding them? Some worms have super high fatty content. Also, make sure the pellets you feed them contain the correct ingredients and protein value to be considered staple food
55 Gallon- Empty
125 Gallon- CKF and Tiger Oscar
220 Gallon- To come...
This is great diet advice. Get him on a good quality pellet such as NLS as the staple of his diet. Supplement with treats like crickets, grasshoppers, worms, freeze dried krill a couple times a week and make sure he has some greens and fruit too is good as said by fishanatic. If he goes off eating the pellets, just don't feed for a couple days then try pellets again.
My name is Patty. I have a problem and I'm ok talking about it. I've now spent about $200 total on a $4 fish. Today I purchased 3 spiffy pieces of DW, some river rock to anchor them (can't recall the type of wood, but its very lightweight and doesn't water log). They looked too cool though. Then a couple larger river rock for scaping. Also, found Vitachem, some small NLS pellets, and some freeze dried krill. Will post pics when I get it all in. Johnny has already developed a connection with him as he is usually the one feeding. He puts his finger in the tank and Maximus (trying on a new name) comes up to him readily doing a little happy dance and has actually rubbed against him a couple times. Pretty adorbs!
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