feeding Oscars

So, I got myself an Oscar. I have been wanting one again. Its been a good 10 years since I had my first (I loved that fish and I was heartbroken when he died).

So, I feed my Oscar pellet food and occasionally feeder guppies. My question is, should I gut load the guppies before feeding them to my Oscar? With my first one, I would just buy a dozen and put them in the tank with him to eat at his pleasure, this time I have the guppies in a different tank, and I plan on trying to breed them (trying being the operative word here. I have little hope for success).

Also, what are some other things I can feed him? I want to give him a variety of food to keep him healthy.

I have a lot of different types of fish food here. From flakes tropical fish flakes and goldfish flakes), freeze dried blood worms, freeze dried tubiflex worm cube things, shrimp pellets, and algae wafers. Would any of these be good for an Oscar to eat? (If not, I have other fish I feed these to).

Any tips and advice would be greatly appreciated.

Try ghost shrimp.

Dr. Who wrote:

Try ghost shrimp.

Hmmm, I will have to try them. They are pretty cheap around here.

My Oscar is pretty small, the mini pellets are still a bit too big for him. Will he still be able to eat the shrimp? And, should I gut load them first. or is that unnecessary?

I thought they were bigger. Shrimp are pretty good food and really no need to gut feed them. Stick with pellets or try some black worms.

Dr. Who wrote:

I thought they were bigger. Shrimp are pretty good food and really no need to gut feed them. Stick with pellets or try some black worms.

They get bigger, hes just a little guy right now. I prefer to get smaller Oscars and watch them grow, lol. I would guess hes about 3 inches or so.

Try to get smaller shrimp. They should be able to eat sub adult shrimp.

Dr. Who wrote:

Try to get smaller shrimp. They should be able to eat sub adult shrimp.

OK, and I apologize for assuming you didnt realize that Oscars get big. I read the reply wrong. I took it as you thought Oscars in general were bigger, but I then realized that you just thought MY Oscar was bigger.

I feel a bit like an idiot right now.

Please don't feel stupid. No question is stupid.

I used to have an Oscar, and a "hotel" tank, for visiting guppies 10G. I worked on survival of the fastest as a means of breeding "fast" guppies. With a lot of artificial grass square in the gravel I soon had a plethora of babies. Infact I found as much fun in my breeding of the feeders and selecting those that would be allowed to live (When you start to recognise certain ones you know they are the faster guppies, the slow ones only stayed for a couple of weeks). First batch of feeders I put all 12 in the tank, next day 1 was left and the oscar was constipated for 2 days....then I had to do a water change...
Hence the setting up of the "Hotel".
I did a mix of pellets and live, and he grew fast. I moved after about a year and knowing I wouldn't be able to set up a tank for at least a week I gave him away. By this time he was about 9" long, and would hand feed, but if you weren't fast enough, your finger skin would do.