Red Tiger Oscar 5cm

Red Tiger Oscar

One of the worlds most popular South American cichlids, the Oscar is often the first being cichlid aquarists own when exploring the world of South American cichlid keeping. Oscars win many aquarists over for their big size, unique colours and most importantly of all, their amazing personality. Though there are many colour variations of the Oscar from selective breeding the most common and true to nature is the red tiger Oscar. They get the name red tiger due to the fiery red stripes through their body which gives a lava flow look. They have the same fiery red in their eyes and the predominant ‘eye spot’ on their tail which is an evolutionary trait to fool larger South American predators. This eyespot makes the Oscar seem larger than it is to possible south American giants and make them second guess their choice of prey. They also have a very unique dark green to almost black body colour which can change countless times during the Oscars life. The most popular thing about the Oscar is their puppy dog-like personality which is often why they get the nickname ‘wet pet’ because they can become extremely personable to their owners displaying a wide range of fun and interesting behaviours which is better experienced than explained. Oscars however do get fairly sizeable not just in length but in height as well with an oval-like body. They are also fairly aggressive fish and need to be kept with selective tank mates due to their behaviour. However, they are a great fish to keep in a species only tank or a South American biotope aquarium and are a fantastic species to begin off with when getting into the specialisation of keeping large South American cichlids. Trying to find the males and females in this species is very difficult in comparison to other South American cichlids. There are no immediate distinguishing factors between males and female Oscars and it is best to let them pair off naturally. However, because they are territorial fish it is difficult to house multiple Oscars in an aquarium without if being very large. naturally, the wild Oscars are found in the amazon river of South America and are actually a very common food fish. Don’t get any ideas though… these are pets…

Tank Recommendations for your Oscar
The Oscar is a big fish growing to around 30 cm long and are also considered to be messy fish. Because of this, it is best to keep them in a tank that is a minimum of only needs a tank around 380 litres. Though the internet may show recommendations for smaller tank volumes in the long run these can be detrimental to the fish as maintaining proper quality in smaller tanks with a full-grown Oscar can be very difficult. These size tank will not only allow for a full-grown adult Oscar but the possibility for adult tank mates. The aquascape for an Oscar should be taken very lightly as these are big and often clumsy fish. They regularly scratch themselves and bump into scaling materials which could cause unnecessary injury so it is best to keep them on a sand or gravel substrate with a few smooth river rocks and some driftwood to mark out territorial boundaries. Oscars however with their amazing personalities may choose to redecorate their home to better suit them.  

Suitable Tank Buddies

Oscars are big, boisterous fish which can be very territorial. Though an Oscars behaviour can range from slightly aggressive to highly aggressive caution should be taken when they are kept with other fish because the Oscars voracious personality and feeding response can mean they outcompete tank mates for food.

Usually Compatible

Large growing South American cichlids such as jaguar cichlids, red devil cichlids, Veija cichlids and species of a similar sort can be housed with Oscars. 

Sometime Compatible

Geophagus, silver dollars, flag tail prochilodus and other large growing fish species.

Rarely Compatible

Peaceful aquarium species and nano fish such as tetras or shrimp will become immediate food for Oscar.

Feeding your Oscar

Oscar cichlids are by far one of the easiest fish to feed. They will eat any aquarium food given to them all the way from pellets to frozen foods. Their diet should contain good quality floating or sinking pellets with high protein content. This should be supplemented with frozen foods such as bloodworms. One thing to note is that they are messy eaters so feeding flakes might not be a good option. Feeding should occur once a day and it is best to do so during the day.