oscar care

Question
QUESTION: I have an albino tiger oscar and a pleco. I was wondering if you had any tips on taking care of him. I have had him for about 3 1/2 weeks and I feed him brine shrimp, bloodworms, and tropical flakes. Do you have any advice.

ANSWER: Hi ty,
Keep the water nice and clean. I would also add some krill and vegitables to the diet.

Oscars are very smart as I've taught mine tricks like fetch.

Have fun with the fish!
Will

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QUESTION: How do you teach them tricks.

ANSWER: It's all about building confidence with the fish and giving them food rewards. Are there any tricks you want me to teach you?
I'm more than happy to.
Will

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Sorry about asking all these questions, but i think it would be cool to teach him any tricks. Can you tell me how to teach him some simple ones.


Answer
Ok,
here are a few simple ones that often impress people:
swim through the hoop,
fetch,
slalom,
and basket ball.

First, get the fish very comfortable with hand feeding (with bigger fish i use plyers instead of fingers to avoid being bitten), this may take a few days.

For now we'll start with hand feeding, hoop and fetch.
*be careful to train in sessions and not over feed your fish.
*take all training equipment out of the tank when done training
*decor (rocks plants etc.) may distract the oscar from training properly.

HAND FEEDING:
step 1.  hold a small bit of food in your hand/ plyers untill s/he eats it.
step 2. repeat untill s/he will fallow your hand with the food in it and will take food without nipping you/ the plyers.

SWIM THROUGH THE HOOP:
*it is important to teach the fish the hoop before fetch.
step 1. make a hoop out of air line tubing and tie it to a rock. the hoop should float about 3" to 30" above the ground.
step 2. get the fish comfortable with the hoop by holding the food by the hoop. he should be able to approach the hoop with no problems when this step id finished.
step 3. lure him through the hoop with the food. after a while, he should be able to go through without your help. after he does it by him self, give him a food reward.

FETCH:
* making the fetch ring is by far the hardest part of the trick.
step 1. make a Hoop that is slightly smaller  than the ring only don't attach it to the ground. i use lead on the base of mine so one end sinks and the other flowts. it should make an "O" shape that the bottom touches the ground and the top floats.
step 2. he'll remember the hoop trick so make him swim through the ring only after he goes through make him come to the surface.
step 3. repeat step 1 only make the ring smaller and smaller so thatit will only fit over his nose.
step 4. repeat step 2 untill you can drop the ring in and he will bring it up to the surface all on his own. be sure to reward him with some food every time he does it.


Good luck and let me know how it goes.
I'll teach you more tricks later.
Will