oscar

[solar-ton]

common names- Oscar,Velvet Cichlid.

scientific name-astronotus ocellatus.

native geographical area-Rio Ucayali drainage and upper Amazon river of Peru and Brazil.

native habitat-rivers and lakes with lots of bogwood.they like to "sit" on the wood to wait for prey to pass by.

maximum size-14" in aquarium in the wild they can get up to 2'

minimum aquarium size-70 ,or more a 100 gallon is best.DO NOT PUT THEM IN A 30 GALLON OR LESS TANK THEY WILL GET A "HOLLOW BELLY".hollow belly is when the oscars insides grow but its spine doesn't,and the organs become bloated leading to a very slow and incredably painful death.

captive and natrual diet-in the wild oscars eat smaller fish,crustacens,some plants,and water incects.though their diets may mainly be protien in the wild they should not be fed other fish in captivity in order to prevent HITH(Hole In The Head) diesease.goldfish have thiaminese in their systems wich reduces vitamin B so they should not be feed goldfish.if they are fed goldfish it will give them HITH(Hole In The Head)diesease.GOLDFISH COME FROM ASIA OSCARS COME FROM SOUTH AMERICA DO NOT FEED THEM GOLDFISH.also the massive amount of protien and indigestable bones can-and will-lead to intestinal blockage. in captivitytheir diet should consist of: brine shrimp,pellets,beefheart,small incects,and fruit and veggietible matter.they also may eat pieces of dried fruit such as prunes(for constapation relief) and raisins.NOTE: Oscars will not eat until they explode like chickens.they will eat until their scales pop out on their bellies but no more.

tank zone-all levels,mostly bottom.They dig and search for scraps of food.

temperment-aggressive fish,will attack others of its own kind or size,even those larger than it.oscars have varied personalites so one can be so peaceful to the point that its a large community fish,and others will try to attack anything ,and bite you fingers if they get too close.if raised properly some will be peaceful twords eachother,the the cause of what makes them act this way is unknown. if not enough territory they will constantly fight eachother.Many only peaceful when juviniles.this is a picture of when oscars flare when oscars flare:


hardness-1-30 dGH optimal hardness-7 dGH

ph-6.0-8.5 optimum ph-6.8 some peat moss in the filter will lower it the natrual way but releases tanin.NOTE: regular peat has chemicals in it that will kill the fish fluval peat is the clean peat.

temperature-74-86F(22-29C).Optimal temp 79F

salinity-Freshwater.Likes a little aquarium salt in the tank.

Photoperiod-Spawns during the rainy season.

Lifespan-Ridiculously hardy fish can tolerate ammonia,and nitrite up to 4.00 ppm but only for a short time after about a few days it will start to get badly stressed.lifespan averages 20+ years some have lived 30+.

Activity peak-Early morning too late noon.Diurnal

Habbits-Likes to dig by using its mouth as a shovel.

Spawning notes-Oscars are an easily breed fish.note they need a 125 gallon to spawn.turn the temp. from 77F to 82 F over a period of a few days and do a water change of 25% wich mimics the rainy season when they spawn.then they will do a sort of lip-locking thing where they will open their mouths wide and knock into eachother with their mouths.this may last up to 2 hours or more. the pair lays 1,000-2,000 eggs on the glass,slate,or gravel.sometimes they will dig to the glass on the bottom and lay the eggs there.in 24 hours the eggs will turn a tan color if fertilized and white if not.note that if it is the first time spawning the parents may eat the eggs.Also even tough they lay so many eggs only half hatch and the ones that do hatch only about 20% of the fry survive.after a period of 2-3 days the eggs will hatch,they will live in a ditch covered by the parents they will live off their youlk sacs for a few days and then should be fed newly hatched brine shrimp,cyclops,or infusora.To prevent accedental fry death a speonge filter in the two back corners of the tank will keep the tank clean.test the water every day to make sure there is no ammonia or nitrite above 0.02 ppm.

other notes-oscars need an aquarium of rocks and driftwood.a good filter is a must since the fish is very messy,and a heater guard since they tend to bump into things.if plants are to be put in the tank then they should be anco.rd to the ground or be a very tough plant like java fern.color morphs include: red,tiger,zebra,olive,albino,lemon and blueberry,there are also gold, orange,and long finned oscars but they are very rare.most oscars(when you buy them)will probably have hexamita or hith so look closely very closely at the head and lateral line before you buy them.if an oscar doesn't have hith then it would be a good idea to treat it with metronidazole to prevent any hexamita that may be in its system.when oscars have hexamita they usually look skinny,and tend to be inactive.

albino color morph note the gold color on the belly.this oscar was dyed but it will eventually drain out of its system.it doesnt alyaws happen tough...

this is a copper color morph a variety of the red oscar.note that this oscar has a minor case of Hole In The Head diesease.

[fishfreaks]

if your going to use those pics i think you should resize them

[solar-ton]

okay ill do it i thought they were smaller but my camera software sucks

btw DOES ANYONE HAVE ANYTHING THAT I SHOULD ADD?!?! or is it perfect

[solar-ton]

okay,that should about do it,now tell me:does it look good?

[fishfreaks]

looks good, but the red hurts my eyes a bit

[solar-ton]

how does sea green look?

[fishfreaks]

that looks good. to me anyways.

[solar-ton]

lol read the part on feeding

[TheOldSalt]

Metronidazole is the drug of choice for killing hexamita, not copper.

The color is fine, but it should really be used only on the headings in order to keep everything from running together. See your Snakeskin profile.

The pic size is fine, since it looks like we're going to have to settle for just links to pics instead of pics.

Clarify the hollow belly thing; ie what it is and why it happens in small tanks

[solar-ton]

okayt that should about do it but i think ill try to fix the pix cause i got a photobucket account

[TheOldSalt]

Are all these pictures yours?

[TheOldSalt]

*bumping to current*

[solar-ton]

all the pics are mine btw salty,do you think this is a very detailed profile like rate it on 1-10.

[Fishfirst]

It needs some work in grammar, spelling, and some of the content (consistancy in the profiles is I think what we are going for), but overall I think it has a lot of information. Information wise 8.5

Things that could be added
compatibility, optimal tank size, optimal temp, more detail about habits, how to say the scientific name, and anything else that was used in TOS's post on what a profile should have that is currently slipping my mind.
Things to avoid
overly discussing hit, hollow belly, and the whole goldfish thing, it should just not be added to foods that it should be fed, with a small note at the end stating something like this "Goldfish, although often fed to this fish, are not a good source of food and often can lead to disease, and malnutrition. Then once someone has posted an article about how goldfish are never a good food for preditory fish, you can put a link from this profile to the article right after that. This is a fish profile, which is why I try don't want this profile to get off track into "what oscars can get if not properly housed, fed, etc." instead focus on what people should do, vs what people do.

[solar-ton]

Freakin Wooot I Managed To Get The Pics Up!!!

[solar-ton]

anyone else have a rating?

[fishboy]

i give it a 9. I'd say 10 but there's always room for improvement. i heard it's possible to keep 1 oscar in a 55 gallon. Is this true?

[solar-ton]

yeah but it will crap a lot and it prolly wont be very happy

[Fishfirst]

I still think you should focus on the fish instead of having all this stuff about feeding them goldfish, hollow belly, etc... its really distracting.

[solar-ton]

i only put that in two paragraphs the rest is all oscars.