# Oscar Overfeeding?



## mynameisrica (Apr 10, 2009)

I always read articles about how you should never overfeed your Oscar, but it never says how much is the right amount. So my question is, how much should I be feeding my 7 inch Oscar. I feel like I am overfeeding him but he always eats like he is starving and if I ignore it he starts chasing the other fish and nipping at them.


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Excellent question!!

Oscars are tricky in the fact it seems they only eat 50% of what's in their mouth...

When they hit 8" or so, like about the size yours is I start reducing how much they get fed because of their wastefullness... Not sure if that's spelled correctly... Anyway... do you remember when your oscar was really small and it would pack the food away not wasting a single drop... Then as it started to grow it would let more and more spill from it's mouth/gills...When you start seeing that then cut back to feeding once a day... And start by dropping one pellet in at a time... Keep track, then try that amount 24 hrs later... See what happens...

As they grow and mature they do not need feed twice a day. And as they get even larger you can cut back to once a day every other day.... My big tank with mostly adults in it gets fed once a day and not on Saturdays... So the point is you'll have to step back and start from the begining testing to see how much he/she will eat in one sitting. Then do that once a day. Your water conditions will thank you, your fish will thank you, and so will your food bill. To prove it you'll start to see how much healthier he's going to look!


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## mynameisrica (Apr 10, 2009)

Well I watched him closely when I fed hiim and he doesn't really expel much food waste as far as spitting it out, but I fed him for about 2 minutes and the stopped and he seems to be content right now. Thanks so much for the advice.


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## OldMedic (Mar 26, 2009)

Excellent question! I've done the same thing and I imagine everyone else has to (overfed) I started giving my 7 inch Oscar 4 medium pellets in AM and 5 medium pellets at night.with a small shrimp for a treat once or twice a week. He's always hungry so its hard to tell but I think mine is doing OK.


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