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Oscar

Scientific name: Astronotus ocellatus

Origin: The Amazon regions in South America.

Temperament: Keep your Oscar with equal sized or larger fish. The Oscar can bully smaller fish.

Care: Your Oscar needs a large aquarium decorated in an interesting way. The set up should ideally include rocks. Oscar fish like to dig, so make sure that the aquarium decoration rests safely on the glass. They can dig up plants roots. Oscars can grow very bored in barren aquariums without things to play with and investigate.

Feeding: Feed your Oscar live food, such as guppy fry and earth worms. Flake food can be used as a base. 

Water conditions: The water temperature should be in the 22-27° C / 72-81° F range. Keep the pH from 6.0 to 8.0.

Breeding: This is an egg-laying species and the eggs will be deposited on cleaned rocks. Your Oscars need several rocks in the aquarium, since the female produces a lot of eggs. Oscars guard their offspring, and the larvae are moved to a pit as soon as they are hatched.

Additional comments: The Oscar fish is a very clever fish and many aquarists claim that each Oscar develops its own characteristic personality.