Oscette's Oscar Page

This page is dedicated to all my girls and especially Big Girl (who I nursed back to health
after her adoption), who have gone on to a better fish bowl. I miss you all girls.

Hi! My name is Oscette, (Little Oscar). Well, really it is not, it's Carole, but because I wear a custom fish avatar, designed by my good friend SassyCat and I raise Oscars (the tropical fish), my friends thought the name was a good fit. I was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was raised in Weatherly, Pennsylvania and moved to Hazleton, Pennsylvania at 19 and I live here since then. Beside my 3 Oscars, which are girls, I have an iguana. And my hubby BigC, who I have been married to for the last 15 years. I have finally mastered most of the HTML so I could write this board myself and had a great time doing it. I spend a lot of time on the computer in Worlds Chat, Yahoo Messenger, and MSN Messenger. I have 7 other web pages that I'm webmaster over. I thought maybe some people would like to see my girls and I would like to exchange some information with some fellow Oscar lovers. This page is constantly changing, so come back often.

Hope You Like My Page!

Oscar is the common name for one of the South American Cichlid Classes of tropical fish known as Astronotus Ocellatus. Sometimes called "The Velvet Cichlid" or "The Peacock Cichlid". Easier to say "Oscar"! Oscars are native to northern South America and off the southern coast of Florida. Oscars come in various colors. There are red Oscars, Gold Oscars, Albino Oscars, Gold Tiger Oscars, Common Oscars and various Oscars not known to me. Oscars, if raised in the proper environment can grow to a size of 12 inches and can live as long as 10 years. They have a personality, that is to say when other fish dash around, the Oscar explores. They can be taught tricks as a dog can. If you put a small floating ball in the Oscar's tank, he can be taught to push the ball around the tank. An Oscar can be tempramental fish, bullying other small fish in the tank and demanding it's own territory. But as the Oscar matures, some, not all of the aggressiveness diminishes. Oscars can be fed a variety of foods, from small breeder goldfish and tubflex worms to regular chiclid pellets and flake food. Because of the danger of a contaminated goldfish which might have been raised under adverse conditions and cause the Oscar to have "hole in the head disease", I would prefer to feed my girls pellet food and flake food. Each owners has their own preference. They are in my opinion, definitely a beautiful fish to own and watch.

I get questions all the time about cleaning fish tanks. This is the best and the easiest way to clean your tank.

Sometimes children as well as adults buy Oscars without realizing how big they can grow or understand their needs as adults. Many of their bowls become contaminated by their waste and food waste and they become sick and die. Many times their owners can no longer take care of them or no longer want to take care of them. Sadly some of these fish end up disposed of, but many of them end back at the pet store from where they were bought. This was the case of two of my girls-- Seedy and Big Girl. Big Girl's tank mate was so sick, it didn't even make it into the clean bowl at the pet store. I've adopted many Oscars like this and took them home, to find out they were sick. Some I could nurse back to health and some I couldn't. Many fish like these can be found at your local pet store. Next time you're in your local pet store, maybe you'll see one of these abandoned fish and if you like big fish, particularly Oscars, take a chance, you could raise a really nice fish. Give an Oscar a good home. Adopt An Oscar today!

I have an interesting piece of information that I would like to pass on. This past weekend I was in our local Wal-mart. I wondered into the fish section and I found a bowl full of Oscars. It was a 10 gallon tank with about 20 small Oscars in it. They were fighting with each other terribly. In the bottom of the tank was a little albino/tiger girl. She had her one eye knocked out, and just sitting on the bottom. When the girl came over I mentioned that they looked like they were hungry. She said she knew nothing about them, as she worked other departments as well. She opened a flake container and put some in the top. I thought they were going to tear the container out of her hand. At that point I opened up a container of Wardley Chiclid Sticks (which I was going to purchase) and she opened the top. It was a mad rush, they were trying to pull the sticks out of each other's mouths. I made reference to the little girl in the bottom. She asked me what would happen to her. I told her I was going to buy her. That would make the third girl I have that is blind in the left eye. She got the net, put her in the bag and sat the bag in the sink that was there. The bag fell over and she was in the sink. I was polite, so I didn't say anything. When she gave me the bag with her in she handed me a paper about an inch high and about three inches long. It "information" about my fish. It said "South African Chiclid, grows to about 3 to 4 inches long." I almost died when I saw that and never read the rest, that was enough for me. Somehow I misplaced the paper I wanted to scan it to here. But you can see how stores like Wal-mart and others misstate the facts about these fish. As for the little girl she is in the 25 high tank, hopefully she will adapt. So far she just sits on the bottom. I'm sorry to say the little girl passed away about 10 pm this evening 4/22/03.

I happened to be in Wal-Mart today (7/19/03) to buy some sticks for my girls as their usual pet store was closed. As I went over to the sticks, I couldn't help seeing all of the Oscars in a tank that wasn't even 10 gallons. I counted 15, from about an inch to one that was about 3 inches long. They were all taking turns attacking a dead one of their friends on the bottom. I opened the can of sticks and just like before, I gave them some. It was like the mad rush at the soup kitchen. Just about then a Wal-Mart worker came around the corner. He asked me if I wanted any fish. I told him if I had my way I would take all of them. I asked him if he could see what they were doing. I explained they were a territorial fish and they probably killed one of the little weaker ones and were now eating it. I told him that was a good way for the whole tank to get hole in the head disease. When he saw I was giving them sticks he asked if they were their food I replied with "Don't worry I'm paying for them". I also told them several of us on the Internet were filing a petition against all Wal-Mart stores for their inhumane treatment of the fish. He said the guy who runs the department takes good care of the tanks. I then asked him if he was the guy who couldn't find the net, so he was going to take a fish out in his hands. He said I don't know anything about that and walked away. I MUST stay out of that place or get in serious trouble.

Below is a petition against Wal-Mart charging them with cruelty to the fish. Please if you feel this is the case, don't hesitate to sign it. Thanx "Oscette"

Check out your new fish tank when you purchase it. I just bought Stripper a new 55 gallon tank, as she was getting too big for her old 29. I did everything I usually do when starting up a new bowl. I do nothing fancy with my tanks, only add Start Right to the water as it's adding. (I never fool with sitting the water out or anything like that, and my girls have grown to almost a foot in size.) After a few days I noticed that her water was getting cloudy and green. Knew she was building up algae, but I couldn't understand why. She wasn't in direct sunlight and she wasn't getting a lot of seed, it didn't make sense. (I leave on my tank lights 24/7. My girls were raised like that and if I turn the light out or it burns out they go nuts.) Then something told me to check the light because I had remembered I had a problem like that before. AGA (All-Glass Aquariums), who I buy all of my tanks from had packaged another kind of light with the tank assembly. It was a GE Aqua Rays. Somehow the spectrum was different then any they had shipped before and combined with the light on all the time created such algae that I could hardly see her through the glass. I changed the light to a Penn Plex, which I always use and did a lot of water changes and now she's clear. So be careful of your tank assemblies when you buy them even if turn your light out at night. It could still cause an algae problem.

I've been getting quite a lot of letters concerning sick Oscars. I want you all to understand that I am not a Veterinarian or a fish doctor, the advice I offer comes from experience and if there is something I have no knowledge of, then I will consult someone who knows. I feel bad when I'm trying to give advice to someone and their Oscar gets worse or passes away, as in the incident that happened today. All I can do is I try my best, but you should also check with a Vet.

People are asking me what kind of medicine do I use for the treatment of various diseases, such as ich, cotton mouth and all sorts of scrapes and cuts. I'm not here to promote any one particular company, but I am a firm believer in Aquatronics Paragon. The one in the Red package, not the blue. I believe that the blue package is too strong for them. If you read the directions on the package and follow the directions in five days you should see a noticeable improvement. I have used this faithfully to treat all of my girls at one time or another and it works. They also make a medicine called Super Sulfa, that is really terrific when their is a very bad infection. Make sure you have your dosage correct, because a lot of medicines cut down on the amount of oxygen in the water and could make your Oscar pant for air

I am questioned all the time about "Hole In The Head" Disease. I have been doing some research on it and so far I have found some things I can put in here now. Hexamita is a single-cell protozoa, or as some people call it, a single-cell parasite that is usually intestinal in nature, but have the capability of penetrating the intestinal wall and spreading to other organs. In certain species like the Oscar, Discus, and Jack Dempsey they attack the head region causing tubular eruptions and holes, thus "Hole In The Head" Disease. I read on an aquarium board that this disease is fatal. I don't believe that to be true, because I had treated one of my girls for it and the holes healed up and she lived a long time after that. I'm not sure where they come from, but I was always told not to feed my girls live feeder fish, because it could cause the disease. As I find out more on the cause I will post it here. I read on someone's board to slow them down or possibly stop them, put 1 teaspoon per gallon of salt in the bowl. This can be common table salt. (NOT IODIZED!!) Every Friday when I clean the bowls, I sprinkle salt in them, the girls eat it as it is coming in. I was also taught this will promote healing and I believe it does. Again my old faithful product for Hole In The Head is Paragon. Other people would tell you other products. I find this very successful.

I caution everyone to clean your tanks on a regular basis. At least once every two weeks, if not every week.
The buildup of food and waste products in the tank can cause a massive buildup ammonia in the tank, which
can cause the depletion of oxygen and your Oscar could starve for air..

I was answering an email from a fellow Oscar friend in Mexico about his Oscar. He had sent me some pics of her
so I could see what she looked like, when I came upon a great idea. Why not send in pics of your favorite Oscar
and I can display them on a page for everyone else to see.

Send me a pic of your favorite Oscar and I will display them here for everyone to see.

Below are some fish forums that I thought you might want to participate in
or just visit for some of your questions answered.

	The Hidden Reef		Jungle Products
	World Wide Pet Supply		All Glass Aquariums
	The Cichlid Room Companion		Marineland
	Fish Profiles - Oscar		Aquarium Pharmaceuticals
	That Pet Place		Tetra

Brandon's Place	John's Web Site	Stop The Dumping
Centralia, PA	My Home Town	Vicki's Home Page
Chuck's HD & POW/MIA Page	Nation Page	Wardley's Home Page
Con & Donna's Home Page	NE PA Mines	My Family Page
Cyndi's Homepage	Plastic Canvas Page	My Friends Page
Grammy's Remodeling	The Real Hazleton PA	The Girls Page
Jay's Home Page	Rose's Home Page	The Crew Page

	Author Is A Member Of