Oscar Fish Care: Feeding, Tank Mates, Immunization and Breeding Tips

This article is a suitable source of information on general care given to Oscar fish. It is an invaluable resource for those who keep Oscar fish as pets, and any other person interested in knowing how Oscar fish should be cared for. Here, you will learn what you did not know about Oscar fish care.

Caring for Oscar fish involves several activities. Oscar fish are a delicate fish species and those who engage in rearing them should therefore be ready to observe certain minimum care tips in order to succeed in their venture. The various categories of Oscar fish Care are discussed here below.

oscar fish care

Oscar Fish Care: Feeding

Oscar fish, just like other animals, need food to sustain their lives. People who keep Oscars should ensure that the fish have sufficient. Food fed on by the fish should be of the right quality and quantity. When the Oscars are fed according to the required standards, chances are that there will be fewer cases of health complications associated with wrong diet. Care should be taken when using live prey as food for the Oscars. This because the live prey may contain parasites that may, in turn, attack the Oscars and cause diseases.

Oscar Fish Care: Breeding

The breeding season in Oscars may be characterized by violence among Oscar Fish Cichlid of the same sex as they compete for the members of the opposite sex. This is, no doubt, a normal characteristic in the animal kingdom. Keepers of Oscar fish should be keen to note any instances of violence on time and, where such occurs, to transfer the violent ones. Incompatibility among Oscar fish cichlid due to competition for mating partners is a recipe for violence.  The keepers should, therefore, have other tanks ready for transferring those that are not compatible with the rest.

Choice of Tank Mates for Oscar Fish

Compatibility with an ecosystem is crucial for any living organism. Oscar fish also require compatibility insofar as living with other fish species concerned. Tank mates should be chosen in a manner that would ensure that they do not cause any harm to the Oscars. It should also be noted that Oscars can prey on their best tank mates, especially if the tank mates are of a smaller size. As a result, therefore, Gold Fish cannot be used as tank mates for Oscars.

Treatment and Immunization

There are many diseases that affect Oscars when kept in aquarium tanks. When you decide to enter the Oscar fish keeping business, you must be prepared to always monitor their health conditions with time. In order to immunize the fish against common  fish diseases the treatment drugs should be added to the aquarium water in the right quantities. If the fish are attacked by parasites, one should apply suitable anti-parasitic drugs. Parasites should be dealt with the moment they are noticed. This would avoid their quick and exponential multiplication to life threatening quantities.

Oscar Fish Care: Temperature Monitoring

The temperature of the aquarium in which the Oscar fish are placed is crucial for the growth of Oscar fish. It is important for the temperature to be maintained within the optimum range that mimics the conditions in natural habitats. The original habitats of the Oscar fish being Amazon River make them suited to water whose temperature varies from cool to warm temperatures. Very cold temperatures may result in reduced fish activity and hence affect their health. Very high temperatures are the greatest threats to the lives of the rich and may even result in their death.

Oscar fish care: Aquarium Maintenance

The aquarium in which Oscar fish are kept should at all times try to mimic the natural setting in rivers or water ponds in which Oscar fish live. Oscar fish are affected by later pollution caused by pollutants such as ammonia and nitrates. However, it is impossible for an Oscar fish keeper to achieve the natural condition in the aquarium because the rivers and similar water bodies have large volumes of water which enhance natural purification and dilution of pollutants.

Being large fish, Oscars have appetites that cannot easily be satisfied. As result they tend to pollute the water within tanks at higher rates. If you keep these fish, therefore, you would have to put in extra effort to ensure that the water is kept clean. This can be achieved through installation of effective filtration mechanisms.  In addition, water has to be changed regularly. Failure to clean the water may facilitate the growth of parasites that would then attack the fish.

Indeed, caring for Oscar fish is a multifaceted endeavor. Application of the tips discussed in this article will facilitate successful keeping of Oscar fish as pets. If you did not know how to care for Oscar fish Cichlid, now you know!

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