×
Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

Feeding my Oscars.

More
22 Aug 2012 19:17 - 22 Aug 2012 19:20 #1 by jwm (sean sean)
Picked up to small Oscars over the weekend, cracking little fish, (cheers john Seahorse). I have read alot on the web re these fish. They are currently eating new life spectrum, i was wondering how i would go about an earthworm farm. I have a 60 liter tank i was goin to convert, has anyone done this, also got mealworms locked away waiting for them till the pupa stage i believe the fish love them. Can they be cultivated aswell. Has anyone fed them maggots in pupa stage also would ya or should ya.

john

A person who surrenders when he is WRONG, is HONEST. A person who SURRENDERS when not SURE, is WISE. A person who surrenders even if he is RIGHT, is a HUSBAND.
Last edit: 22 Aug 2012 19:20 by jwm (sean sean).

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
23 Aug 2012 08:16 #2 by Ski (Alan McGee)
Replied by Ski (Alan McGee) on topic Feeding my Oscars.
Hi John,

Not sure about the worm thing but mine love prawns and pellets, can't get enough.

Would probably be less hassle and healthier for them.

Alan.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
23 Aug 2012 08:31 #3 by jwm (sean sean)
Replied by jwm (sean sean) on topic Feeding my Oscars.
Cheers Alan, what pellets do ya feed them, the spectrum will do them for another month or so they are only bout 3" from head to toe.

John

A person who surrenders when he is WRONG, is HONEST. A person who SURRENDERS when not SURE, is WISE. A person who surrenders even if he is RIGHT, is a HUSBAND.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
23 Aug 2012 08:51 #4 by Ski (Alan McGee)
Replied by Ski (Alan McGee) on topic Feeding my Oscars.
Below are the ones i get John and they really like them. There's probably healthier out there but these are in my LFS and are a resonable price. The Hikari pellets are supposed to be good as well but they are more expensive





Attachments:

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
23 Aug 2012 10:11 #5 by fei (fei)
Replied by fei (fei) on topic Feeding my Oscars.
they eat everything , after 4" u can give them pinkis

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
23 Aug 2012 12:46 #6 by BillG (Bill Gray)
Hi Fei,

just for clarrification to those who may not know, when you say pinkis, are you referring to maggots?

Please Log in to join the conversation.

  • stretnik (stretnik)
  • stretnik (stretnik)'s Avatar
  • Visitor
  • Visitor
23 Aug 2012 12:48 #7 by stretnik (stretnik)
Replied by stretnik (stretnik) on topic Feeding my Oscars.
Ehm... no, Baby Mice !!

Kev.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
23 Aug 2012 12:53 #8 by BillG (Bill Gray)
Only thought of that after I posted the question :)

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
23 Aug 2012 13:36 #9 by jwm (sean sean)
Replied by jwm (sean sean) on topic Feeding my Oscars.
Yeah thank's i dont do the live food. Pellets shrimp and prawn, the odd earth worm i reckon. Mate o mine has 2 almost 10yr fed on the above list. I wanted to get a few opinions before they started eatin properly. I aint goin to be one of the youtube brigade "hey look my oscar ate a jack russell cool man".

john

A person who surrenders when he is WRONG, is HONEST. A person who SURRENDERS when not SURE, is WISE. A person who surrenders even if he is RIGHT, is a HUSBAND.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
23 Aug 2012 19:41 #10 by JohnH (John)
Replied by JohnH (John) on topic Feeding my Oscars.
I, personally, didn't ever feed my Oscars with anything 'crumbly' for want of a better word since they have such powerful pharyngeal apparatus that pellets are simply crushed and an awful amount is ejected through the gills - they really are messy eaters.
I would use thawed-out frozen prawns and also cockles but worms were always most greedily accepted - they would come and take those from the hand.
I would point out that I would always 'scour' the worms first by putting them into a box of moss, this would let them lose whatever was inside them into the moss - generally I found that 48hours was long enough to purge them of anything 'within'.

John

Location:
N. Tipp

We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl - year after year.


ITFS member.



It's a long way to Tipperary.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
24 Aug 2012 06:05 #11 by paulv (paul vickers)
hi john, ive 6 of these wonderful monsters and they love giant morio meal worms. they jump out of the water to grab them.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
24 Aug 2012 07:17 #12 by jwm (sean sean)
Replied by jwm (sean sean) on topic Feeding my Oscars.
Cheers paul. Were do ya pick the worms up, also stick a couple o pics up.


john

A person who surrenders when he is WRONG, is HONEST. A person who SURRENDERS when not SURE, is WISE. A person who surrenders even if he is RIGHT, is a HUSBAND.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
24 Aug 2012 12:58 #13 by davey_c (dave clarke)

Yeah thank's i dont do the live food.


pinkies are frozen food ;)

Below tank is for sale

my plywood tank build.

www.irishfishkeepers.com/index.php/forum...k-build-diary#137768

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
24 Aug 2012 19:51 #14 by jwm (sean sean)
Replied by jwm (sean sean) on topic Feeding my Oscars.
Just on the pinky thing. Here is an extract from a book i bought re Oscar feeding, its also quoted on some of the Oscasr forum's, "they are a warm-blooded prey that isn't a natural diet for an Oscar,so they contain compounds,fats,and proteins that aren't necessary or utilized by the metabolism of them. These are also very hard on the digestive tract,if they can be digested at all"

A person who surrenders when he is WRONG, is HONEST. A person who SURRENDERS when not SURE, is WISE. A person who surrenders even if he is RIGHT, is a HUSBAND.

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
24 Aug 2012 20:39 #15 by derek (Derek Doyle)
these days it is generally considered that mammalian flesh is unsuitable for even large predatory cichlids or catfish etc., but at one stage before the development of all the current manufactured foods it was normal practice to feed beefheart, cooked chicken and even tinned catfood to the bigger fish. there is little doubt that in their native waters, these big fish will eat carrion or any smaller animals or birds that they can catch as part of their diet.
many of the older breeders kept oscars or snakeheads to act as bin fish to devour any culled or unwanted fish/fry, but this is seldom practiced nowadays.
shrimp/mussels/earthworms are readily eaten by oscars to supplement a good suitably sized pellet and this is probably the best route to go, but oscars are notoriously greedy and messy eaters and good filtration is absolutely imperative.

30 tanks specialise in african cichlids, angelfish and various catfish

Please Log in to join the conversation.

More
27 Aug 2012 11:03 #16 by DJK (David Kinsella)

Picked up to small Oscars over the weekend, cracking little fish, (cheers john Seahorse). I have read alot on the web re these fish. They are currently eating new life spectrum, i was wondering how i would go about an earthworm farm. I have a 60 liter tank i was goin to convert, has anyone done this, also got mealworms locked away waiting for them till the pupa stage i believe the fish love them. Can they be cultivated aswell. Has anyone fed them maggots in pupa stage also would ya or should ya.

john


If you're intending to farm worms I'd suggest you look into brandling worms(the type used for composting).
They are very easy to keep once you have a decent wormery set-up. I've kept these for about 2 years and find that rams and angelfish eat them readily so why not an oscar?

Now is a good time to get them going because they do much better in warmer temperatures.

Dave

Please Log in to join the conversation.

Time to create page: 0.059 seconds
Powered by Kunena Forum