MY OSCAR fish

The Artist

Can someone help.Im concerned about my 2 year old oscar.I have been feeding him King British Cichlid floating food sticks all the time he loves them.But in the last 2 weeks i dont know if i should worry as he used to eat them them straight down no bother But now he takes it allright but after takeing them it just spewing them out?All the food just blows out through the gills is that normal as he never done this before?What should i do?

Jimkel

davey180 wrote: »

Can someone help.Im concerned about my 2 year old oscar.I have been feeding him King British Cichlid floating food sticks all the time he loves them.But in the last 2 weeks i dont know if i should worry as he used to eat them them straight down no bother But now he takes it allright but after takeing them it just spewing them out?All the food just blows out through the gills is that normal as he never done this before?What should i do?

I would be concerned about this if I were you, Maybe try a different diet, If hes having Digestion and/or Swallowing problems try adding some epsom salts to the tank, Its and old breeders trick, helps clear up blockages. All else fails bring him to a vet.

Nikster

Have you checked your water parameters to make sure that it's not the quality of the water that is making him ill? I always check the water straight away if any of my fish are acting odd

ValerieR

Hi Davey180,
Do you have other fish in this tank ? Are they behaving 'normally' ? Any sign of agression in the tank ?
As Nikster highlighted, have you checked your water parameters ? Was the change in behaviour straight after a water change? Did you add anything else to the tank ?
Regards,
ValerieR

jameshayes

Had this exact problem with my oscar a few years ago - turns out me moved the TV on the same day, when we moved it back he started eating again. Wierd! (or conscidence)

The Artist

Nikster wrote: »

Have you checked your water parameters to make sure that it's not the quality of the water that is making him ill? I always check the water straight away if any of my fish are acting odd

no the water is fine i have the water tester.As for my other fish they are all fine it just the behaviour of my oscar for the last 2 weeks ichanged the water last week to if that was the problem,no its not the water.

Jimkel quoted Maybe try a different diet, If hes having Digestion and/or Swallowing problems try adding some epsom salts to the tank, Its and old breeders trick, helps clear up blockages. All else fails bring him to a vet

i still have my salt rock from my last tank(if i can find it),is that the same as Epsom salt?And if no good take him a vet,would it be a specialist vet or my standard vet?How do i take me fish down to the vet(i know its a stupid question)eg bowl,bag ect?
and thanks ValerieR for replying too:)

dbrock

hi dave is he by any chance, going around
grabbing all the food at once?

Had an oscar a while back who would collect all the sticks before any other fish could, hence while his mouth was full the sticks start to expand, due to the water!!! And as they expanded hecouldn hold them in his mouth, causing bits to come out mouth and gills,

If your worried give this guy a ring
dimitry. At fintastic aquatics
01 2145442

The Artist

dbrock wrote: »

hi dave is he by any chance, going around
grabbing all the food at once?

Had an oscar a while back who would collect all the sticks before any other fish could, hence while his mouth was full the sticks start to expand, due to the water!!! And as they expanded hecouldn hold them in his mouth, causing bits to come out mouth and gills,

If your worried give this guy a ring
dimitry. At fintastic aquatics
01 2145442

yes used to grab as much as he can last year as he slowly eats now but still blowing out of the gills as for the phone number il give him a ring thanks for that.Il let you know the update cheers.

The Artist

jameshayes wrote: »

Had this exact problem with my oscar a few years ago - turns out me moved the TV on the same day, when we moved it back he started eating again. Wierd! (or conscidence)

maybe it was the cat ads:D:D

LegacyUser

HI, we have an Oscar. It is @ 5 years old and used to be owned by a former moderator of this forum. He's a.k.a 14 inches long and in a 615 litre tank.

Oscars will spit out food for one of 2 reasons.
1. They are bored with their food and only tasting to see if its the same food again.
2. They are unwell.

King British isn't great food (cheapest of the cheap), and as Oscars get bigger they tend to need something more substantial in their diet.

I'd suggest trying something else, like a small piece of muscle to intice your Oscar back to eating.Don't throw in a full muscle, just a small portion - becuase if your oscar does not eat it, then it will mess up the water.

Actually .... here is an article that is very good .. http://www.oscarfishlover.com/content/view/16/31/

"It is very common for an Oscar to become bored with its food. Very often a telltale sign of this happening is when they chew their food up and don't swallow it, they just spit it out. "
Best of luck!

The Artist

bubby wrote: »

HI, we have an Oscar. It is @ 5 years old and used to be owned by a former moderator of this forum. He's a.k.a 14 inches long and in a 615 litre tank.

Oscars will spit out food for one of 2 reasons.
1. They are bored with their food and only tasting to see if its the same food again.
2. They are unwell.

King British isn't great food (cheapest of the cheap), and as Oscars get bigger they tend to need something more substantial in their diet.

I'd suggest trying something else, like a small piece of muscle to intice your Oscar back to eating.Don't throw in a full muscle, just a small portion - becuase if your oscar does not eat it, then it will mess up the water.

Actually .... here is an article that is very good .. http://www.oscarfishlover.com/content/view/16/31/

"It is very common for an Oscar to become bored with its food. Very often a telltale sign of this happening is when they chew their food up and don't swallow it, they just spit it out. "
Best of luck!

i must say im shocked that they change thier liking of food!I looked at the website you gave me to my belief i didnt know that,i must say thanks so much for the info.where would i get
1. mussells
2. live shrimps
3.prawns
Can i use the frozen prawns from the supermarkets(defrosted)?
im going to my local pet shop in a minute and fish monger to get these thing and hope for the best.
again thankyou BUBBY for the help and let ye know of the out come.:D:D

LegacyUser

We spoil our Oscar, we buy the bags of muscles in Beshoffs in Howth. They are about 3 euros a bag, and we keep them in the freezer. You can take out a couple each evening and defrost in the microwave. Then chop them up.

Our Oscar will eat them whole at this point. Oscar will come to the top of the water and take the food from our hands! Little spoilt divil!

My husband doesn't like using the frozen muscles/prawns from the supermarket. I think he said it has something to do with additives, maybe salt in it. I'll ask him to give you a pm with his number.

I reckon that this is probably what is happening to your Oscar.

LegacyUser

Well Davey, how is the Oscar today? Is he back to eating again?

The Artist

bubby wrote: »

Well Davey, how is the Oscar today? Is he back to eating again?

i got fresh king prawns,washed them down,peeled and gave him 2 yesterday.Hmmm he was get a taste of it swallows,good so far.Today greedy fecker,ate 3 no bother as i have other fish,oh no they are bloody robbing them!So i gave the others differant food to distract them from my oscar and worked,gave him more until he starts rejecting and he does so i presume hes full.:D
Il try again tommorow and see if hes ok thanks.
I couldnt get any of these?
1. mussells
2. live shrimps
As they dont have any in my area help?
:D

Fishyfreak

The King British Cichlid sticks are pure cr*p. A change in diet will do him the world of good.

The Artist

Fishyfreak wrote: »

The King British Cichlid sticks are pure cr*p. A change in diet will do him the world of good.

i got help and changed the diet for the moment,Thanks FishyFreak.

LegacyUser

That's great! The lucky bugger! Fresh King Prawns. Don't worry about the other ones you couldn't find. If he was sick he wouldn't have even bothered with the king prawns. One more happy Oscar in the world. :D

They are so fussy, one minute fine and the next all touchy with their food.

The Artist

hi again ye all yes its about me oscar agian.Hes doing alright but rejecting mussles that i tried feeding him and the cut up prawns too?So i looked up links of oscar food and can someone recommend which is best? I think me oscar is so fussy about his food:cool:
http://www.aquariumguys.com/cichlid-food.html
http://www.aquariumguys.com/dried-food.html

thanks:D

Fishyfreak

Have you tried the New Life Spectrum cichlid pellets, My Malawi/Tanganyika cichlids devour them. They are in the first link, really good and a tub will last you at least a year.

I've got Hikari Cichlid Staple food, it's not great.

Stay away from the Tubifex as I've heard that they have very little nutritional value. Just ok for the odd treat.

Ya know yourself that Oscars can be very picky, I give my Cichlids an occasional prawn or two or earthworms, just be sure to purge them overnight.

The Artist

Fishyfreak wrote: »

Have you tried the New Life Spectrum cichlid pellets, My Malawi/Tanganyika cichlids devour them. They are in the first link, really good and a tub will last you at least a year.

I've got Hikari Cichlid Staple food, it's not great.

Stay away from the Tubifex as I've heard that they have very little nutritional value. Just ok for the odd treat.

Ya know yourself that Oscars can be very picky, I give my Cichlids an occasional prawn or two or earthworms, just be sure to purge them overnight.

Earth worms! My god my Oscar is a cannibal so!:eek: I must start reading about earth worms now.

:D