Oscar Fish

The Oscar is a South American tropical cichlid. Due to its colour it is also known as Velvet Cichlid. The Oscar can grow upto 14 inches and its weight can be 3lb. In general an Oscar can grow upto 11-12 inches in length. There are different types of Oscars that can be found in nearby store, however all types of Oscars are related to wild Oscars. These types of Oscars are Albino, Tiger which further cross-beeding results are Albino Tiger and Red Tiger. In the early 1800's the Oscar was given the Latin name Lobotes ocellatus, but this has been updated to Astronotus ocellatus, a hopefully more accurate name.

The Oscar is one of the more intelligent aquarium fish that you will come across, they seem to have the ability to recognize their owners and almost seem to be aware of what is going on outside of their aquarium. Feeding time is always fun as the Oscar really does live for food and dinnertime. The Oscar is the boss of its own tank and once you have been keeping them for a while, you will realize that it's best to leave them to rearrange the tank to how they like it. They are very well known for creating havoc in the aquarium, but in an amusing way I must add. They excavate the substrate like a JCB and move rocks and decor around with ease, an Oscar aquarium can sometimes look like a battle zone. Plants don't last very long so if you want to setup a showcase display aquarium, Oscars probably aren't for you.

There are hundreds of species of aquarium fish available to buy, many of them have beautiful colors and will make an aquarium look stunning. But there is something about the Oscar Fish that puts it in a class of its own. The Oscar will often become very tame and can be coaxed to feed from its owner's hand. Many people also like "petting" the Oscar and strangely they sometimes seem to enjoy it and will approach your hand. It's not something that we actively encourage but there's nothing wrong with doing it as long as your hands are clean and you are not too rough.

TYPES OF OSCARS

Tiger Oscar fish - The original Wild Oscar fish and is extremely common.

Albino Tiger Oscar fish - This is actually a Lutino Oscar fish with colour pigmentation.

Red Oscar fish - The red Oscar fish is truly beautiful when displaying its vibrant red colouration

Veil Tail Oscar fish - They are beautiful fish with their long flowing fins that often look like silk 

Red Lutino Oscar fish - Red Lutino Oscar fish also called it as Albino Oscar Fish

Lemon Oscar Fish - There are some species of Oscar that are unique and therefore quite rare