Hey I was just wondering if oscar coloration depends on their surroundings. I have a tiger oscar that's brown with orange markings. When he lies on the bottom (black and white gravel), turns to a splotched black and grey. The background picture on my tank is mostly of brown rocks with some plants and whatnot, so I figured maybe he was staying brown because of that background? I was kinda hoping for a much darker colored oscar, but whatever.

Thanks

Absolutely, it's amazing how fish can change colour. And they certainly change colour depending on their surroundings. The red Oscar I lost used to change from quite a dark red, to a very pale red, especially when the lights were on in the evening and it was quite bright in the tank. When it was dark, she was a darker colour. I think the white sand had a not to do with changing colour.

QUESTION--when I bought my Albino oscar, it was a small baby, about an inch in size. Now it is a bit over three inches long--AND it did that in about a month, but not quite a month ago. I give her vitamin supplements, feed her 3 to 4 times a day, four different kinds of fish food including blood worms and occasional krill. NOW I NOTICED this fish--the outer part of all the fins--ARE TURNING BLACK. Just the tips. The rest is all albino. It looks permanent too. Is this normal??? Why is he turning black there when he was all albino when I first bought it???
Thanks

Like I have already said, baby/juvenile Oscars are normally a completely different coloured to what they are when they are adults. It's difficult to comment on the colour of your Oscars fins without seeing it. It's probably just changing colour as it gets older. Normally, if something is wrong, it is quite evident

Ok--I had my new oscar a little over a month--remarkably it has doubled in size already! Now he/she's getting sassy. Likes to try to literally PECK ME ON THE CHEEK by jumping extraordinarily high when I feed it. It succeeded in this task on several occasions and at one time it, quite literally, kissed me, that is, pecked me on the lips....YUCK!!!!!! GROSS OUT!!!
But it's soo cute when I come back home he/she gets sooo excited it's like a little jumping bean...boing..boing..boing...incredible.

Of course he/she's all alone in a 125 gallon tank. I guess it has good reason to be happy
I enjoy spoiling my pets enormously.

c_etude wrote:


You may well regret teaching it to jump like that for it's food. Wait till it's a foot long and see how cute that is. (Unless of course you want another one to "commit suicide" by leaping right out of the aquarium)

(Maybe the first Oscar you had decided to "commit suicide" AFTER it had kissed you??)

CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO - OSCAR ATTACKS ITS OWNER!

c_etude wrote:



I have exactly the same thing happening. Got 2 small albinos that looked good then as they increased in size they started developing some black fins and some scattering of black on the body. I have seen large albino (or lutino to be exact) that are the same. The best way to describe them is to say they look dirty. I always assumed they looked this way when small. I have found out the hard way that isnt the case. I guess that is the gamble when buying small albino o's. I have never had any problem with fish from the shop I got them from and to be fair the colour was good in the shop. I guess its to do with breeding