hi im new to the site, my oscar has just started swimming in circles, almost like a dog chasing its tail. it has been goin on for over a day now, and he isnt eating any food i give him, he spits it back out. i have no idea why. any ideas? his tankmates are 3 gouramis, 2 plecos, a chocolate cichlid and another type of cichlid. thanks, Blake.

welcome to Oscar fish lover

The first thing you must do is test your water for ammonia, nitrites, nitrate and pH. We need to rule out poor water conditions before we can go any further. have you got any test kits? if not, I would strongly advise you to get some. Failing that, get your fish shop to test the water for you.

i have a ph test and that said ph was about 6.8, the other tests i dont have but i might have to buy tomorrow.

ok iv just uploaded a video on youtube of it.

it might not have been processed by youtube yet.

what size tank is that?

i would say the tank is way to small from the looks of it..

i think its approx 160 litres, about 42 gallons. hes been in this tank for a couple of months and been fine. i cant afford a bigger tank so if he keeps it up i may have to give him to a fish store

have u tried feeding him another tyupe of food? perhaps hes being stubborn.

have you read all the info on this site?

you need at least 55 gallons to keep one oscar on his own.

i have a 55gallon tank and tried to keep more in it but constantly had water problems and if i would have left my tank as it was my fish would have ended up ill. i know have one oscar in there and he is much happier and water quality is great.

i chose to learn the hard way which wasnt good.

if you cant afford a bigger tank i would re home the oscar.

well i went to a local aquarium, and a bloke there has an oscar 3 times the size of mine, and i gave him my tank size and oscar size and he said the tank is fine for now. he said regular water changes and filter cleaning and he should be fine, they tested my water and it had a bit of nitrite and nitrate in it and thats prob why hes pissed off.

Blake32 wrote:


the problem here is that oscars grow very quickly. you might be alright "for now" however that will only last for about a month or so. you said you have a "little" bit of nitrite, well nitrite is toxic to fish. so your water quality is already starting to suffer. once the problems start they only continue and escalate(ask ricky). one oscar 55 gallons, two oscars 100 gallons, 4 oscars 180 gallons. ive learnt from experience that oscars need big tanks. and along with big tanks they need tons of filtration.

keeping oscar can be easy and enjoyable provided you set yourself up in the correct manner. there are posts all over this forum(and others) that tell you oscar need big tanks. these people are talking from experience

My oscar does that same exacxt thing, and i havent figured out yet either. And my oscar also wont eat.