My 2 Oscars are acting exactly the same way as in your article "breeding Oscars" - moving everything around, clearing the bottom of the tank, liplocking, etc. They were not specifically bought as a pair, but are inseperable. If this is a sure sign that they want to breed, I'll definitely need to put in a flat rock. Can someone help??

First of all, how old are your Oscars?

Yes, this is certainly the sort of behaviour a breeding pair of Oscars will go through. However, from my experience, they won't necessarily lay eggs when they are performing this behaviour. The first pair of Oscars I had used to lip lock a lot. They started doing it a long time before they lay their eggs for the first time. Also, Oscars will clear gravel where the eggs are going to be laid or not. Unfortunately, it isn't a guaranteed sign that they are going to lay eggs. They do you prefer to lay on a flat rock and will clean it vigorously when they are preparing to breed. The way I used to know my Oscars were going to lay eggs is that they used to go off their food a couple of days before.

You might want to make a note of your Oscars behaviour for future reference. Also, post any experiences on this forum, is very helpful for other people

Thank you very much for your quick reply - seeing that I'm not that experienced yet, this is very helpful. I'm going to insert a flat rock / slate today and will keep a close eye on them - they are certainly behaving out of the normal. They don't eat as much as usual and are really moving every piece of gravel they can lay their mouths on - especially the tiger. Will keep you posted on developments.

Sorry, I missed out on the question of their age - I am not sure how old they are - I've got them about 6 weeks ago from a petshop and they are about 25cm long (excluding tails) - so already quite big. Their tank is a 250 litre tank and I've got 2 pumps running. Tested their water last night and everything seems fine. I also have a "ammonia remover ball" in the tank and religiously make their water change once a week (30 - 50%, depending on the mess in the tank).

Their size indicates they are now adults and probably sexually mature.

By the way I noticed your comment about measuring including the tail. This has been a contentious issue on a certain forum that I use occasionally. People often go on about not including the tail when you measure the fish. Wrong, freshwater fish should be measured from nose to the tip of their tail. Saltwater fish are often measured slightly differently. However we must remember that this is only a hobby, were not doing it for conservation which is why all these rules and regulations are in place.

Okay, I'll get off my soap box now

Did I say "including tail"??? Must be nuts today - it's without the tail, so they are even bigger! Ok, so I learn all the way and enjoying it

SO you have these two bigger Oscars in addition to the "6 very small baby Oscars" as posted in the other topic? Wow, I guess you have the Oscar bug don't you?

It's exciting to have a Mated Pair and my two turned out to be mates as well, although too young to actually breed yet.

A quick update on my two to-be-parents(?) I gave them a nice piece of slate and it is as if they guard that thing with their lives! Non-stop cleaning, trying to move it, grab it with their mouths, lying over it... I can't determine which one wants to do what, but I do notice that the Tiger makes very funny jerky movements with his head - he/she hasn't done that before. Not to mention the ammonia ball in their tank, they suddenly have one big fight with it... Will let you know if something happens.

Sorry Jake, I didn't see your posting earlier - yep, I've got my 2 big angels which seems to be partners now (they weren't bought as a couple) - they are inseperable and then in their own tank I've got the (now) 5 little ones... as you will see from another posting, little blue died... But the bug surely hit me hard...