# Jaguar and Oscar Diet--Can I feed them Tuna?



## marcolby (Jul 16, 2007)

Im sure I will get a lot of lecturing on my tank setup, but I kind of jumped ship from African cichlids recently into cichlids from this side of the world.

I have a 90 gallon tank and currently have 5 Jaguar cichlids and one Oscar. The Jaguars are pretty small and the Oscar is about 2 to 2.5 in. Everyone is getting along SO FAR. I am well aware that this environment will not stay civil for a long length of time.

Ok, that is the introduction to what were working with here.

Ok, now to the question. Both Jags and Oscars require a varied diet. There is much dispute on what types of food outside of flake and pellets that you can feed these guys. I was wondering, other than buying feeder goldfish, if it is ok to feed them Tuna from a can, or small pieces of catfish that we recently caught in the river?


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## BillD (May 17, 2005)

There will be some that argue those fish don't need a varied diet, but a quality one, and that argument has merit. One thing you can feed them is earthworms, which are easy to get or culture yourself and free of fish diseases. It is an excellent food to add to their diet.


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## ivanmike (Jun 15, 2003)

Some will eat tuna - but I avoid it as it's very messy and high protein which will put quite a load on your biofilter. I would avoid feeding them freshwater local caught fish strips as they can contain some nasty parasites.


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## BelieveInBlue (Jul 17, 2011)

I'd avoid canned tuna since its probably cooked. And +1 to the catfish strips. If you want you could go to the supermarket and buy some fresh prawns, the ones that are deheaded and sitting on a ton of ice. Then chop up the prawns into bite sized pieces and let them have at it. And of course you can't go wrong with bloodworms.


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