Peacock Cichlid "red oscar" - Astronotus ocellatus - single specimen

Red Oscars, as the Peacock Eye Cichlids are also called, are absolute connoisseur animals that develop their own great character. Originally, these large cichlids come from the South and Central American Amazon Riversystem, where they prefer and populate rather calm waters. The Red Oscar is an impressive breeding variant of the otherwise rather multicolored Peacock Cichlid: with him the red portion on the entire body predominates, which was besides name-giving. This really large growing great cichlid will look great in a very large Oscar aquarium!

You receive our Red Oscars in pairs in a size starting from 5 cm, the sexes are not yet distinguishable, therefore we recommend to acquire several animals, from which a harmoniseirendes pair will crystallize out.

In the basic color the Red Oscars are greenish to gray, the red color lies over it. On the dorsal fin different eye spots can appear, especially the very conspicuous eye spot on the caudal peduncle gave the peacock eye cichlid its name. Their oval bodies are rather flat. Their mouths are remarkably large, the lower jaw with distinct lip bulges protrudes at times and is both muscular and has many teeth. Red Oscars can grow up to 40 cm tall and weigh almost a kilogram and a half. They live to be almost 20 years old.

Red Oscars can also be bred in the aquarium. As a substrate spawner, the female attaches up to 2000 yellow eggs. The first young hatch after about three days and are initially still attached to plants and decorations, before they swim free after another 5 days and develop quite rapidly. Oscars are caring parents that take very good care of their fry. The young can be fed well with freshly hatched Artemia nauplii and initially color white stripes on a gray-brown base color, before changing color as they grow older.

An Oscar aquarium should have an edge length of at least 200 cm due to the possible final size of these animals. The substrate can be sand or gravel and should offer a good infrastructure, such as with Roots and stone structures secured against falling over,  which still leaves enough space for swimming. The planting plays a minor role and can consist of perching plants such as Anubia, Javafarn or Bucephalandra. Oscars can be kept at a total hardness (GH) between 5 and a maximum of 15 °dGH and a temperature of 22-28 °C.

Red Oscars not only have a very large mouth, they also eat everything that fits into it. Therefore, socialization is only recommended with similarly sized cichlids from the same habitat or large catfish.

In food selection Red Oscars are not very picky. They can be fed with commercially available  dry food in the form of flake food or granulated food, but also food tablets for carnivorous ornamental fish can optimally supply these omnivores. An occasional treat in the form of live or frozen food, such as fish fillets, smelts, mussels, snails or Daphnia and Artemia they are very happy.

Our food recommendation: The NatureHolic Cichfeed has a grain size of 1.5 mm and is therefore also suitable for larger fish. The NH Cichfeed is a soft granulate for predominantly carnivorous fish. It has the same consistency as small crustaceans and insect larvae that fish naturally eat, and the soft granules protect the fish mouth from micro-injuries that can result from hard feed granules.

Our plant recommendation: For planting, use NatureHolic InVitros. These are free of snails, planarians and other unwanted co-inhabitants. Also free of algae spores, bacteria and fungi.

Expert Tip: We recommend when keeping fish the NatureHolic 3 Phase Liquid. The care set offers the best all-round protection for your animals. It ensures optimal conditions for successful breeding and keeping.