| It is thought that the lifespan of the Oscar fish is anything up to about 15 years. However, like many animals it is possible for them to live longer. |
| Oscar fish have the potential to grow to 18 inches (3lb+). However, it is more common for Oscars to reach between 11 and 13 inches if housed in a suitably sized aquarium with adequate filtration and a healthy diet with regular tank maintenance. |
| To keep Oscar fish healthy you need to house them in a suitable sized aquarium. One adult Oscar fish will require an absolute minimum of 55 UK gallons. I would recommend at least 125 gallons for two adult Oscar fish although with proper tank maintenance you could probably keep a couple of Oscars in a 100 gallon aquarium. |
| Filtration is incredibly important as it is the lifeline of your aquarium. Filters come in all shapes and sizes and you must install a filter that can cope with the amount of waste that your Oscar fish will produce. There are two types of filter that we recommend using. The most common type of filter that is commercially available is the "Canister" type filter. These type of filters are housed outside of your aquarium and can hold a lot of filter media which is what removes toxins and waste from your aquarium. You can get them for fish tanks as small as 20 gallons, right up to a whopping 300 gallons. The beauty of using canister filters is you can either go for one very large filter or maybe install two filters. The benefit of having to filters running is if one malfunction was you still have a backup, and you can also clean them alternately instead of cleaning them at the same time.
The second type of filter that people use is called a "Sump Filter". These filters are normally a home-made construction, often made out of an old aquarium, or constructed from the same material fish tanks are made from. A sump filter is usually located directly under the aquarium in the cabinet where it is easy to access. Sump filters can hold an enormous amounts of media and therefore are much more efficient when used on large aquariums. Apart from the benefit of having a little bit of extra water on your system, you can also put all your pumps and heaters in them which frees up space in the aquarium. We don't recommend using a sump filter unless you have got an aquarium in excess of 150 gallons. |
| Oscars have voracious appetites and more easy just about anything they can get in their mouths. However, because they are susceptible to various diseases, their diet should consist of healthy food and me advise against feeding certain types of food. Their staple diet should consist of a good quality pellet which should be fed to them at least four times a week. There are various companies that make cichlids pellets, two companies which I have used for many years are Hikari and Tetra.
Your fish shop should have a variety of frozen foods which make a very good snack for your Oscar fish. You can feed foods such as cockles, muscles, frozen fish such as that "Lance" fish. Oscar was will readily eat blood worm, krill, shrimps, seafood such as salmon chunks, squid and prawns. You can treat them occasionally with beef heart which is also readily available commercially, or you can make it yourself. Making your own food means you can add all sorts of goodies and also vitamins if you wish. If you do make your own beef heart than have a look at the following recipe which will guide you on how to make up a healthy dietary alternative for your Oscar. In the wild Oscars primarily feed on live food such as insects and small fish. Whereas harvesting insects from your garden is probably time-consuming, you can purchase crickets, mealworms and possibly other types of insects from pet stores. Common garden worms are also a very good food for your Oscar as they contain lots of goodness. We don't recommend feeding animal meat to your Oscar fish because this often contains lots of saturated fat which is bad for fish. People like to feed live fish to their Oscars, these are known as "feeders". Please be aware that live fish can often contain disease and illness which if fed to your Oscar can pass on any nasties that the feeder has got. If you really want to give your fish live food then either get it from a very reliable source where you know very selfish that are healthy, or breed them yourself. |
| Hole in the head disease, also abbreviated to HITH is a particularly nasty disease that Oscars and other species of cichlids can develop. Typical symptoms include pitting or small holes developing around the head, mouth and gill region of the fish. If left untreated the holes will get bigger and deeper and may become infected which in some cases may prove fatal.
It is thought that this disease can be brought on by keeping the fish in poor water quality or feeding it on an unsuitable diet. The best way to prevent this disease in the first place is to carry out regular tank maintenance and feed your Oscar on a healthy diet. More information on hole in the head disease can be found here in a more in-depth article about this disease. |
| Yes, you can introduce tank mates in with your Oscar fish as long as you choose them very carefully. Tank mates must be big enough so they don't become an instant meal for your Oscar. They must also be able to compete for food as well. Fish that that get bullied and pushed around easily by your Oscar will have a very hard time and it just isn't fair to put these in with your Oscar. More information on what fish you can introduce in with your Oscars can be found here |
| Many people have successfully bred Oscars in captivity and virtually every Oscar sold in fish stores has been bred in captivity by fish breeders. The difficult part of breeding Oscars is obtaining a male and female that will pair up and produce fertile eggs. Cichlids can be very picky and females won't necessarily breed with the first male that swims their way. To begin with you have to obtain a male and female, you may get lucky if you buy two Oscars, however normally the easiest way to obtain a male and female is to buy several Oscars and wait for them to pair off. However, this can take many months, even years before it happens. Even if your fish do start laying eggs, there is a very high chance that the eggs will not be fertile. Some fish are born infertile because of the way the fish breeder has bred his fish and what chemicals may have used. I'm afraid that there is no guaranteed way to successfully breed Oscars in captivity, it really is down to luck at the end of the day. In fact, the most successful people who whose Oscars have started laying fertile eggs are people who didn't even know anything about breeding Oscars in the first place, they basically bought two Oscars and got lucky. For more information on breeding Oscars, please visit this page |
