ok guys just im soo confused with the two O's i have. one is definatly femal as ive seen eggs in the tank 4 times now but never seem to get any babies. the female is the tiger i have and i think the other (red) is male as its the only onw to shift gravel piles,clean the plate and dig big areas. at the minute my tank has a big hollow around the plate i have for them then a heap about 2 ich high in the middle of the tank then another hollow and a pile agaist the right hand side of the tank which is now 3 inch deep and growng by day

the biggest one which i think is male is sleeping and spending alot of the day in the hollow away from the plate with his dorsel fin spiked right up. he constantly check the area hes over looking in the ditch allllllll the time hes awake.
hel come get his food then go staight back as if he cudnt wait to get back quik enough.

im yet to see any fry as i read sumwhere that they do sumtimes cover them with gravel untill there free swiming

any ideas or has anyone else experianced there fish doin this

oo and the female just swims around quite content with herself and keep away from his ditch

do you know if the Oscars are the same age? there is a possibility that they are the same sex, I've got severums that are both female. They behave exactly the same as mating pair.have you actually seen them when they are laying eggs? If by chance, they lay eggs while you are there, have a good look under the other Oscar and see if anything is sticking down. The male sexual organ will be a little spike. There is always the chance that they haven't paired up. a breeding pair will both take part in the breeding ritual, shovelling gravel and cleaning the surface where they are going to lay the eggs.if only one of the fish is showing this behaviour then I would be very dubious whether they are a breeding pair or not

the oscars are both and half year old now
ive seen the female lay once and found eggs without seing her laying. the one that lays the eggs does nothing apart from watch the bigger one makeing ditches. the big one will tend to go get the female and bring her to either the cleaned plate of the hollow in the gravel where she looks around it and he vibrates
ive never noticed the other oscar as i was intrested in her laying but if i get chance next time i shall see.
if it makes a diffeence the bigger one sleeps in the hole and the female sleeps with her tail against his but out the hole
could it not just be making a nice bed hahaha

just an update while im tryi8ng to figure the big O out. when i was cleaning gravel yesterday and doing there weekly big clean he atacked me several times when i went near the area he dug out. i still cleaned the area and just let him go for it resulting in a few little nicks on my fingers . i found no eggs or anything as i inspeted what ide sucked out carefully just incase

is he/she just thinking that there is babies as i know dogs and some women go through phantom pregnancies maybe its the same with fish. he could be mentaly unstable or something hahaha