The Oscar fish's scientific name is Astornotus ocellatus. Astronotus means being marked with a star on it"s back. ocellatus means bearing an ocellatus marked, or "eye spot." Oscar fish are in the animal kingdom and are classed as a bony fish.
The Oscar fish are found in South America and have accidently spread to Florida. They live in fresh water and are in subtropic and tropic waters. The Oscar fish are in the Cichlid family. Cichlids differ in size, body shape, coloration, and breeding habits.
The Oscar fish live in aquariums in the classroom. The tank is small and is 20 gallons in capacity. It takes a small filtration system and power filters are the best. It seems to create a current in the water that is beneficial to the fish. The classroom food used is a floating pelleted fish food. They can also eat tubifex worms, brine shrimp, daphnia, blood worms, and smaller fish. Large and small Oscars are know to eat a lot and are also know to die from eating too much. In the wild, Oscars prey on invertebrates and smaller fish. Bigger fish eat them in the wild.
The life cycle of an Oscar fish is that the females lay their eggs. Males fertilize the eggs. The eggs will be laid in string or in rows. Eggs hatch in a day or a day and a half. The parents' job in this process is to fan and hover over the eggs. At any point in time the parents are know to eat their eggs.
Oscar is looking through the glass tank.