This afternoon my overly excited little monster decided to take a flying leap out of the tank while I was feeding him. Unfortunately in my panic I grabbed him with my hands instead which I know is a big no no, but having a tile floor he was all over the place.

He seems to be none worse for wear some damage on his scales and fins but back to his old self. My first question do I need to add anything that might stop infections or do I just monitor him and check that he does not get any fungal infections?

My last question is how the hell to I stop him from getting over excited and going all over the place. I dont have the luxury of getting tanks with glass sliding panels so I have to lift the lid to feed him.

Any advice would be helpful thanks.

Thats natural behaviour for a hungry Oscar nothing to worry about ..just ensure you put some sort of weight on the lid when your not there

STAFFIE wrote:


Yeah look there is no way he can get the lid off by himself, as I siliconed some weights on the inside of the lid to give it some weight.

I agree with Staffie... I lost an Oscar because I didn't put something ontop of the tank. You have weights so that is good. They are pretty strong little fish though! I have a 4x4 (made all pretty!) on top of my lid. Mine still jumps at the top of the glass though - maybe they see condensation drops and think it is food - who knows! Double check your water levels though - just to make sure he isn't freaking out over them. Once mine were acting all weird and I found out my levels were out of whack. Just my experience.. others here may disagree or have other opinions.

Keep us informed!

Oh yea... welcome to the site! Sorry forgot to say that!

Brooksie wrote:


It is only during feeding times that he gets like this so its not the water conditions, I feel like a goalie in front of a soccer net trying to block the fish from jumping out sometimes.

All part of owning Oscars ...although some do it and some dont

I have a canopy on my 125 gallon tank which makes it kind of a high jump for them to try and jump out. I have in the past though come home and found my O on the opposite side of the room dead on the floor. No issues recently. I like the canopies though.

All I can suggest is to lift the lid a little when feeding

delboybully wrote:


Yeah I was thinking of making a feeding hatch on the top of lid were I can drop the food. Having your Oscar flop all over the places after jumping out the tank is a rather traumatic experience.

That may be the only way... sounds like you have an active one there!

I have a hood with light but also use cover glass with a smallish feeding gap or you could glue with silicone a hinge to a feeding site

cheers Gazza