what not to feed a oscar

[Alasse]

YOU and YOUR FISH lucked out and you never experienced what can happen when feeding live food does go wrong. It happens. I have been in this industry long enough to see it happen many times. With the quality of prepared foods these days (at least with one or two) it simply isn't worth the risk..

I've never experienced it because i take precautions, same as any fishkeepers does. You are not the only fishkeepers thats been keeping for a long time or been around the industry. Risks can be lessened a great deal these days. It is a risk everytime you put your hands in the tank, but washing your hands prior lessens it. It is a risk even keeping a fish in a tank, but it can be lessened if you know what you are doing. Live food is beneficial and can be fed with no more risk that frozen/pellets, PROVIDING you do risk management, quarantine the live food, breed your own.

[Fishguy2727]

What pathogens can be introduced with a water change?

[Scrup]

Interesting thoughts on staying away from what is natural, but the comparison is a bit off base IMO.

In nature water dries up, and that is bad for fish, therefore nature is bad for fish? I just fail to see the connection between that and feeding live fish. It is food. Not good food, but food. Kinda like ramen noodles, but for fish. Yeah you can add some veggies and play around with the sauce, but its still just ramen.

But if they are home bred and all properly quarantined from the get-go, and the diet is primarily a nutritional one and not mostly just fish I see no way this would cause any harm. If they are all home bred the danger is probably less than if you were to buy a new addition to the tank.

Also, on top of some bargain bin pellets and wafers I still make a good bit of my own fish food. Purchasing a specific brand of expensive pellets is not the only "right" way to feed your fish.

[Rhaethe]

Any particular reason why this thread ... which has two members arguing ... is not getting locked? Yet this thread, which had two members having a friendly discussion in Chatterbox, did?

Just sayin.

Peace.

[Fishguy2727]

Arguing is if two people leave the facts behind and are basically yelling at each other.

This thread is a debate, even if heated. This means the people involved are sharing thing opinions and experience and still managing to stick to the facts. That makes this thread productive (sharing of knowledge).

Threads like this allow people to take big steps in the hobby. They require both sides to present more and more information. In the end everyone (the two involved and anyone reading along now or in the future) is more knowledgeable and better informed in the end.

Please read the article in the posted link. It explains why nature is not ideal. This doesn't mean I do or recommend anyone simply do the opposite of nature. It simply points out that although a good place to start, doing things simply because they are 'more natural' doesn't necessarily mean they are better or even good for the fish.

[Scrup]

Agreed. Seems pretty civil and constructive to me, aside from the random off-topic rant....just saying.

I did read the article and I do understand what you meant about nature fishguy, and I agree. Survival of the fittest is not pretty, lots of checks and balances. But we are talking about occasionally feeding your fish a "treat" if you will. Not putting them on an entire diet of nothing but rosy red minnows.

Fish are opportunists. They will eat what they can. Most fish are adaptable enough to handle foods that are less than ideal. So...while I agree it is not the BEST food source, I really don't see any danger in it when it carried out as prescribed above. Quarantined, home bred, and fed as an addition to a healthy diet, not as a staple.

[Rhaethe]

/etc/init.d/derail on

You made my point. Thank you three.

The discussion in this thread is that. Heated perhaps, but a discussion. Nothing in it lock-worthy. Yet the other thread linked earlier, with far less heat to its discussion was locked. All a matter of perception perhaps.

And yes, this is a derail, but not a rant. Or perhaps, its a heated derail? ;)

/etc/init.d/derail off

Back to the OP!

There is little I can think of, outside of intentional poisoning, that you "should not" feed a fish. As long as it is assumed that you do feed a nutritious and balanced diet.

[Alasse]

What pathogens can be introduced with a water change?

Anything that is able to live in your tank is able to live in other water sources. It is a risk. Anything added to your tank carries risks, you limit them to the best of your ability, nothing more you can do.

Many many years ago, i had 1 tank, everytime i did a waterchange i ended up with Ich, why because it was rampart in the water supply. I ended up having to treat the water, by boiling, before any waterchanges until it settled in the water supply.

It happens, i lessened the risk by doing what i could to fix the issue, but the risk was there and real

[Alasse]

We are having a healthy debate i thought, not arguing. Arguments involve name calling and usually nasty things.

I certainly hope i never resort to that, well actually i refuse to lower myself to that level, i'd rather leave the thread and move on. Life is too short.

[Fishguy2727]

Where are you getting your water from?

Drinkable water should not have parasites in it.

That doesn't make sense to me at all.

Stress (and the presence of ich) causes ich. Ich cannot infect without the fish being stressed in the first place. I have seen that a thousand times. If it was just ich in the water then every tank with ich in it would have every fish infected, but that is not what happens at all. I have bought fish I knew were sick with ich and added them directly to my display tanks. Not only did the other fish not get sick, but because the sick fish were not stressed in my tank the ich went away without me having to do anything. So even if the water did actually have ich in it, it wouldn't matter if there wasn't something else also stressing them. Conversely, as long as ich made it in to the tank at some point ich can break out again when the fish are stressed by the water change.

Sounds to me like your tank had ich and between outbreaks it never went away. Something about the water change was stressing them causing the ich to come back every time. You suspected the water so you started paying more attention to how you were doing them water changes. This meant that the temp change was better and no longer stressing the fish out enough to cause the ich to break out again (or you eradicated it with meds).

Back on to live foods...
If you feel that you need to provide a treat I would recommend a high quality frozen food. They do not have the same pathogen risk as live foods and still provide a treat of too much protein and fat (not a problem if a very rare treat, max one meal per week).