The Oscar (Astronotus ocellatus) or Tiger Oscar is a species of freshwater fish from the Cichlid family. The family originated from Amazon river basin drainage and other parts of South America. Most members of the Cichlid family are popular aquarium fishes in the United Sates.
Genus : Astronotus
Species : A.ocellatus
Difficulty : Moderate
*Usually I would not recommend beginners to get in touch with Oscar fish because they need very large tanks, the minimum will be 50 gallons for a single adult and they produce a lot of waste, that will build up nitrate level which is unhealthy for the fish. Therefore, knowing the nitrate level is an important factor and most beginners don’t even know what’s nitrate level. Also, sulking can be a pain in the ass, you MUST UNDERSTAND SULKING BEFORE GETTING YOUR HANDS INTO KEEPING OSCAR!!!!!! *
Availability :Common
Life span : 15 years or more
Origin : South America
The Oscar in the feature image above is Grumpy, it is taken by Sam Hodge, a member in Wet Pets Global. (one of the most active Facebook group about keeping fish with over 50,000 members) For more information visit my previous article:
Some bits about the Oscar fish
Size & Weight
The Oscar has the potential to exceed 35cm in length and weigh up to 1.6kg in weight. However, expect an aquarium housed Oscar to reach sizes of around inches 25-30 cm. Usually, Oscars can reach 20cm as young as 12 months old but if they are fed with live food, they can grow faster. And Albino Oscar has a slower growth rate.
Lifespan
The Oscar fish can live up to 15 years however some can exceed that, there are also some which cannot make it up to 10 years. Anyways, under proper care they can usually live up to that unless they developed a cure-less diseases or swimming bladder problems. To prevent swimming bladder problems, keep the water clean and change the water regularly, adding a water filter may help.
Varieties
Common varieties of Oscar include red, Tiger and albino. Over the years these have all been interbred to create crossbreeds. I further elaborate this in my future posts.
I’ll elaborate more on different variation and features of the Oscar fish next week and I realised I know nothing about Veil Tail Oscars… Better do some research now, awwwww…
Popularity
The Oscar is now one of the most popular aquarium fish for some reason, people just seem to fall in love with them when they see them. This kind of fish is not very colourful, pretty, or has beautiful fins, so it doesn’t really explain why are they popular. Personally I love Oscars just the way how they stare at me, they look cute in that way. Also I like how my pair of Oscars swims slowly in one direction with their eyes consonantly turning around, that movement is just absolute romance.
… … Don’t spoil the moment… … A moment of peace and romance… …
Memory
The Oscars has a rather good memory compare to other aquarium fish that you will come across, they are able to recognise their owners and are aware of what’s happening outside the aquarium. For example, the Oscars will get anxious and nervous once he notice you carrying a net, in another case if they notice you holding a camera, they tend to come forward. Here’s the proof: (this is Grumpy)
Diet& Feeding
Feeding Oscar is pretty much fun and you can feed them a few times a day because they seemed hungry all the times. When it comes to feeding you can feed your Oscar live food, pellets (not recommended), fruits or worms and insects.
*Live food refers to living fish, if you see this as a cruel act, please stay away from this. Feeding Oscar live food can increase their grow rate but it could be risky too can develop some diseases. Usually leave the living fish in a quarantine tank for a few days before feeding them to the Oscar.The ones that has potential to carry diseases tend to die in the first day, so I’ll scoop them out immediately and feed the remaining ones a few days later. *
Pellets can be fed to the Oscar however after sometime being fed with fruits or worms and insects, the Oscar tend to be picky and just ignore the pellets. If this happens scoop away the pellets. You should often feed your Oscar with fruits because they contains some vitamins, lack of these vitamins can cause health problems to your Oscar. Worms and insects is an alternate of live fish.
Changing Water?
You change water weekly 30-50% depending on how dirty is the tank , do a 100% water change every 3 month or if the tank is too dirty or the nitrate level is very high.
Behavior
Oscars are very well known for creating disasters in the aquarium, they are very good Hydrilla plant ‘trimmer’, and sometimes end up eating the leaves of the lily plant leaving big holes that looks ugly. And not to mention, if you are setting up a showcase aquarium, don’t put in Oscar, otherwise it will end up like a boom over New York Square or the aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Community Tank and Tank Conditions
Oscar living with small fishes will end up eating them all.
Oscars living in groups are fine but make sure your tank is big enough
Oscars need at least a 15 gallon tank.
Oscar love sand.
Oscar can get along well with Pleco. (usually)
pH level: 6.5-7
temperature: 23- 27 degree Celsius
I’ll be talking about breeding Oscars next week. Hope you enjoyed my page 🙂
Freshwater Fish Global 
my Hybrid cichlids will be South and Central America mixed.
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Im getting a pair of hybrid south/Central America cichlids called the (RED PHOENIX KING CICHLID 👑) the male grows up to a large 28 inches the female 20″ they are extremely extremely extremely extremely extremely aggressive/territorial/quarrelsome and predatory. This hybrid is NOTHING to play with it will DESTROY an Oscar cichlid with ease.
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