Feeding Oscars...

tachichick · #1 (**permalink**) 11-08-2004, 04:12 PM

Hi, we have two small Oscars in a tank with 2 Mollies, a Sucker fish and one other that I do not know what type.
We are feeding the Oscars floating pellets, occasionally guppies/or small gold fish.
The other day we tried small crickets, which they gobbled up.
We havent had any trouble with them tryng to eat the other fish, but yesterday we found one Mollie dead with a chunck taken out of it.
Is there anything else that we can try to feed them so they will leave the other 3 fish alone?

BWSmith · #2 (**permalink**) 11-08-2004, 04:26 PM

NO. Oscars will eat anything smaller than them. Mollies should not be in the same tank. The only fish that I have ever been able to keep with an oscar is a Jack Dempsey. And even then, they need plenty of space. Anything that the Oscar didn't kill, the Jack did.

haroldo359 · #3 (**permalink**) 11-08-2004, 04:49 PM

yeah, like brian said, the mollies are an oscar snack. and jack dempseys do good with oscars. there are a few other cichlids that i had success with in a tank with oscars, although the oscars hoarded the food.

savannah_babe · #4 (**permalink**) 11-08-2004, 05:12 PM

cichlids are also territorial..

Blueeheeler · #5 (**permalink**) 11-08-2004, 09:58 PM

I have 2 Oscars and 1 pelco in a 30 gal. They are ready to move to the next size tank like a 70 gal or bigger. But they eat anything including tank mates. Mollies should not be in with any other fish other than Mollies or maybe guppies. Never with fish that are carnivorus. Good luck and start looking for a bigger tank if you continue to feed food other than pellets, then grow much faster with live food.

kerri4776 · #6 (**permalink**) 11-08-2004, 11:28 PM

when i was younger i had a fish tank with a jack dempsey some gold fish and some different kinds of community fish.....the woman that owned the pet store told me it was ok...i didnt know any better....beleive it or not i kept it like that about 2 weeks and i went to wal mart and was gonna get some more fish and the guy asked me what all i had and he looked at me and said there is no way that you have those fish together....i got mad and said yes i do and they have been in the same tank for 2 weeks. well i got mad and didnt buy anyfish cause i knew i was right...haha....well i got home and the only thing living was the jack dempsey....i was like what the heck. now i know better.

Bry · #7 (**permalink**) 11-09-2004, 12:37 AM

Heh, I actually had a large oscar co-existing peacefully with two goldfish that were supposed to be feeders. This was, of course, after the goldfish managed to get as big as the oscar was.

Bry

savannah_babe · #8 (**permalink**) 11-10-2004, 05:54 AM

lol bry, ive seen that before..they grow together.. sometimes fish dont make sense

tachichick · #9 (**permalink**) 12-22-2004, 07:05 PM

Well the Mollies in the tank didnt last too long with the Oscars. Then one of my Oscars died, not sure of the cause, it could be that the bigger Oscar was being a food hog and not letting the smaller eat.
We now have about 8 goldfish who started out as feeders, but have grown. Every now and then Oscar will eat one of the bigger goldfish if he can catch one. Our sucker fish has managed to survive being eaten and has gotten fairly big, that I think it will be ok.
We have on occassion dropped some crickets in the tank for Oscar to eat and he chomps them right up.
Other than the live food, we are feeding him pellets, but it looks like as soon as this bag is empty I will move up to the next bigger size of pellets.
Thanks for all the info,

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