How often to feed juvenile Oscar?

[sealife]

I have a small red Oscar cichlid. Around 1.5 inch. He's on his own in the tank (55g) and very happy and swimming freely. Always at the top looking for food.

How often do I feed him?
As he's always hungry and im not used to this. I dont like to overfeed as im scared of bloat.

Also, I have Hikari cichlid bio gold, and Hikari food sticks for food. Are these ok?

Thanks.

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[Rivers2k]

I feed juvenile fish twice a day. Oscars would be no different. Many cichlids seem hungry all the time because they associate you with food. So they see you and think they are getting fed. Also they are opportunistic feeders so they will eat until they are stuffed.

 

[sealife]

Thank you for the reply.

I will feed him twice a day. Hikari food sticks in the morning, then Hikari bio gold at night.

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[TMRC Exotics]

You could even go up to 4x daily feedings, some power feed hourly. Bloat isn't a condition to worry about as much with centrals, it strikes Africans mainly.

 

[sealife]

How much do I feed him?

I put 1 food stick in morning (brake in half) and 3 floating pellets at night (mini size)

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[TMRC Exotics]

I'm not familiar with food sticks but I would be feeding 5-10 pellets of a "mini size". As many as he can eat in 2 minutes.

 

[sealife]

He puts the 3 in his mouth in about 2 seconds but it takes him a 45 seconds to munch on it and swallow.

I have tried more and he puts them all in his mouth but takes him a looooong time to break down and swallow. So im not sure which is correct.

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[TMRC Exotics]

It usually takes time to swallow pellets, I went through this as well. 2 mins is a safe timeline.