[Thad E Ginathom]

Cat lover says ... Nice to see the cats!

[msbehave]

Originally Posted by dean5545

Nice cat you have! What does chom chom eat?

Chom chom eats whiskas wet & dry food - and the occasional kibble of taste of the wild that she steals from my dogs food bowl. Would have preferred to feed her fresh food but we're a vegetarian household so.. What does mintu eat?

[dean5545]

Originally Posted by msbehave

does mintu eat?

He eats nothing but whisk as and Royal Canine Fit 32.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by abhishek_bmw

Here is our 16 years old moustached parakeet (Psittacula alexandri alexandri).
The most dangerous about him is that he likes to chew power cords and the reward he gives the strangers after disturbing him is a nice love bite (who one ever got a parrot bite knows the pain)-so,its mandatory to request him to go inside the cage verbally and offer him red chillies to shut the cage.
The last picture shows his anger after a disturbing power cut in the summer evening (A/C and fan was off in his "bedroom"),and some people were shouting far outside (I forgot the reason).

Hi Abhishek
You are probably the best person to answer my questions.
To cut the long story short, we got a parakeet. But you have to hear the long version.

Our balcony (we are on a highrise !) has nets to keep those pesky pooping pigeons out. Sometimes, though they do get in squeezing through the corners, and have to be driven out.

A couple of nights back, we heard something, but a quick look outside at night revealed nothing.

Next day, we were in for a shock. There was a parakeet sitting there. We thought the poor bird had gotten trapped, so we removed the net and tried to shoo it away. However, Mr. Parakeet does not want to go away.

Its not even scared, and tries to walk towards us. So I give him guava. He does not come off the railing. Then I I take the Guava and feed it holding the Guava. Then he eats it.

Makes a lot of funny noises sounding like a crow, or a whistle, or just "om nom nom nom".

So by now you know this is somebodies pet who has gotten lost or escaped.

At night he climbs the net like a spiderman, and just hangs there to sleep. At 6:30 am in the morning he starts shouting like a crow till you feed him with your hands.

Also he likes to dismantle the net fiber by fiber and now has created big holes. but he does not fly away. Heck, when he is perched on the door, it seems he is scared of jumping, like a bird not used to fly.

I was earlier thinking of putting him in a cage, and releasing him in some park, but the poor chap will get eaten by a cat or something. He does not have any wild instincts.

But we cannot leave him in the balcony. He will eat the entire net ( I think power cords thingy), and there is a cat around.

So here is what I think.
In the day he can roam about. but when we are not home we will put him in a cage or something.

anything we need to be aware off? He likes to eat guavas and apples. I heard they like chilli. Should we feed him chillies.

Also, when we give him water, he first drinks some, and then starts eating the plastic cup the water is kept in, and once he does a hole, it all spills.

He poops here and there too. Seems partially trained.
Any tips about training and making him more civilized. Is too pampered.

I tried locating the owner, but 100% he is not from our apartment complex.

I also saw that he does not like to be picked up. Tries to bite.
Is very noisy too.

[shankar.balan]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

There was a parakeet sitting there. So I give him guava. He does not come off the railing. Then I I take the Guava and feed it holding the Guava. Then he eats it. ? He likes to eat guavas and apples. I heard they like chilli. Should we feed him chillies. too.

Parrots, Parakeets and Macaws etc are from the same family. Yes they eat chillies. That is supposedly their staple diet in the wild along with other different kinds of fruit.

[ani_meher]

Originally Posted by dre@ms

I have took the plunge in buying the oscars. 5 in quantity and each 3"

5 Oscars, and that too in that small tank

Already others have said it, and I'll repeat. That's actually cruel, friend. Oscars need big tank, and they get pretty aggressive. My relative has a 3.5 feet wide tank, and still he keeps only 3 oscar fishes. He feeds them the 'gutter guppies', not any other fish food that the small fish eat.

Do the fishes a favour, and pls get small fishes for the small tank. You can /should be able to exchange them in the pet shop. There are many calculators available online to see how many inches fish you can keep in the tank (IIRC some 1 inch per gallon or liter). Fish are not plants that can be put in one small pot. They need space to play and grow.

I will suggest you to really reconsider the decision of keeping oscar in the tank, as they are not beginner's fishes. I feel this is your first tank, so go easy with learning it. There are lot of small fish varieties, that exhibit school behaviour. So whole group of the fish will play as one. For the small tank, small fishes are best suited. Personally I feel number of small fishes are really engaging than a few large one.

For time being, don't do the mistake of going for big tank. Keep the small tank and see whether you can manage it. Because a big tank is a big commitment, something really requiring dedicated mind. I had a 2/2.5 ft tank, and that too was sometimes overwhelming with all the regular fishes.

if you want to have a fish that looks big, you can consider angel fish or dollar fish. Both look great, and are almost 'two dimensional'. But don't go overboarding!

Originally Posted by Aroy

. Some snails to keep the tank clean of organic waste.

Do snails really keep the tank clean? I used to believe that snails and the sucker fish were cleaning the tank, but my experience says that they don't have any noticeable difference, except that taking them out of the tank sometimes gets really gross!

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by ani_meher

Do snails really keep the tank clean? I used to believe that snails and the sucker fish were cleaning the tank, but my experience says that they don't have any noticeable difference, except that taking them out of the tank sometimes gets really gross!

Snails like to eat algae, but it is the sucker fish that does a splendid job in cleaning the inside surface of the glass. I have never cleaned the aquarium glass from inside till date. On the ocassion the suckerfish were absent, my glass used to develop a layer of dirt. Once they are put into the tank they clean it up within a night.

Snails are pretty useless in that regard compared to these fish. I hundreds of apple snails in a pot outside which used to eat up the plants. They ate algae only when plants were not available. Gave them snails away and now have less than a dozen left. When they want to lay eggs they come out and eventually cant find their way back and used to die. Hence I gave them away. Now a friend of mine has a snail breeding farm He doesn't sell them but, kind guy.

[audioholic]

Say Hello to my baby oscars:



Before you all shoot me down for getting four of them, all of them arent for me. :P I will be keeping two and the other two will go to my cousins tank later as he has to dispose the current fish. After a long time I found a batch of active and healthy oscars so gave away my giant tin foil barbs and got these home. And the family already likes their behaviour. One problem I observed is that these guys arent eating the normal pellets. They seem to munch only shrimps with great enthusiasm. Guess I need to somehow make them eat the normal food. Some lessons to be taught to them. They do not go anywhere close to the pellets whereas they start ripping the shrimps apart and fighting for it. Though fun to watch, I cant feed shrimps as the primary food.

[Googleman]

Originally Posted by audioholic

Say Hello to my baby oscars:

And the family already likes their behaviour.

I have heard Oscars have a character of their own / they are called "the fish with character", not sure how true it is but if it is true I am very interested and curious to learn more about it from you

[pyrodrive]

Originally Posted by Googleman

I have heard Oscars have a character of their own / they are called "the fish with character", not sure how true it is but if it is true I am very interested and curious to learn more about it from you

Yeah oscars have a lot of personality. Oscars (and many other larger cichlids) are quite intelligent and will recognise you and other family members, beg for food almost like a cat or dog, following you if you walk around the tank. They will also rearrange the tank decor the way they want to.
I have a 10inch oscar living in a 75gallon aquarium with a couple of bichirs and although I have several other tanks with bigger or rarer fish, he is one of my favourites. He is also crazy about pedigree dog food. Makes quite a racket if he sees me taking the tin out for the dog, untill I toss a couple to him !

[deathwalkr]

Oscars and certain other large cichlids like flowerhorns and red devils get really attached to the hand that feeds it and is a joy to have

Which brand have you tried? Hikari is a sure win Keep at it till they realize they have to eat pellets to survive.

Just remember they are one of the most messiest eaters/crappers out there and a good bio and mechanical filtration would be required with periodical water changes.

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by Googleman

I have heard Oscars have a character of their own / they are called "the fish with character", not sure how true it is but if it is true I am very interested and curious to learn more about it from you

True. They are called the dogs of the aquarium. I have raised four oscars before and they were always my favourite fish. I had to give them away due to lack of space. All of them are still doing well wherever I gave them to. As mentioned, they develop a good rapport with us as well as other family members. Once they see me near the tank they try to catch my attention. I have had bigger and beautiful fish, but most of them eat what you feed and swim around. Oscars are totally different. The previous oscars I had used to create a huge racket if it saw a cockroach near the tank. My dad got drenched with water when he fed the fish those cockroaches.

It had given me a couple of nasty bites too. But the fun is worth it.

Originally Posted by pyrodrive

Yeah oscars have a lot of personality. Oscars (and many other larger cichlids) are quite intelligent and will recognise you and other family members, beg for food almost like a cat or dog, following you if you walk around the tank. They will also rearrange the tank decor the way they want to.
!

+1 Thats why my family loves those oscars and were insisting I get them from a long time.

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

Which brand have you tried? Hikari is a sure win Keep at it till they realize they have to eat pellets to survive.

Just remember they are one of the most messiest eaters/crappers out there and a good bio and mechanical filtration would be required with periodical water changes.

Have been feeding them OceanFree pellets. Usually I used to feed oscars Taiyo High red, shrimps, blood worms and the ocassional gold fish, but I didn't get High Red so brought ocean free as a temporary measure. Will stop feeding them everything but pellets.

Yeah I have had them before and they dirty the tank faster than usual. It gets worse as they grow. I have a dual canister Boyu filter to remove dirt, and a custom filter powered by Boyu which passes water into activated carbon and ceramic rungs to remove chemicals etc.

[jkdas]

@ TSK: that was funny

audioholic; a pix of your tank for us? And how much did the filters etc cost?

[deathwalkr]

@Audioholic: I would usually not recommend giving them roaches. Might have a lot of chemicals on their skin and what not.

Get freeze dried crickets from Fluker's and have fun

@JK: drop by at KS and get prices. They usually have a pretty decent selection of external filters. What say we go today evening?

[audioholic]

Originally Posted by jkdas

@ TSK: that was funny

audioholic; a pix of your tank for us? And how much did the filters etc cost?

Two powerheads from Boyu - Rs. 400 each X 2
Three canisters - Rs. 150 each X3
One pack of Boyu Activated carbon - Rs.250(Somewhere close)
Boyu Bio-Ceramic rings - Rs. 200

Both the above are refreshed every four months or so. Having oscars now, it will be much frequent.

Add some misc accessories to the filtration system including a matrix of undergravel filter - Rs. 300

Here are some average pics.

Originally Posted by deathwalkr

@Audioholic: I would usually not recommend giving them roaches. Might have a lot of chemicals on their skin and what not.

They gulp the ones that enter the tank cover. Voluntary feeding was rare. However, the oscars I have brought up are still going strong at six and four years of age in the places where I have given them to so I think they are brought up the hard way Being too careful with these fish makes them become sensitive and less immune to stuff. Hence I really dont follow a strict diet. Not a stalker for expensive stuff either. Yes and that doesnt mean they will live on roaches