Over the past two days, I have noticed my female o actually viberating! She extends all of her fins and goes to shaking. Does anyone have an idea of why this might be happening? Thanks

55 gal (temporary until custom is finished)
Ammonia 0ppm
Nirite 0ppm
Nitrate 17ppm
Ph 6.8
Temp 77
20% water change and gravel cleaning every 5 days

ive notice my breeding oscars doing the full body shake at times. ive always attributed it some kind of mating ritual thing between them. just a few days ago i notice my albino oscar doing the same thing in from of my red oscar. could be they are pairing up as well or maybe its a dominace thing im not quite sure.

shaking and vibrating is normal habbit of my oscars,
but more during spawning period.

how old and how big is/are your oscar/s??

Thank you
The red o is a year and a half old and about 14 inches from tail to head. The albino o is about 9-12 months old and about 10 inches from tail to head. I don't know how to differentiate between sexes, though.

the only sure way to sex oscar is to see which one lays the eggs and which one fertilizes them. even by venting your oscar the odds are good that you wont be able to tell the difference.

agree with cris... no way to tell which one is male
or female unless you observed which one lays eggs and
which one secretes the milk fluid.

yes, your oscars are matured enough to spawn, by size or
by age. have you obseved lip-locking? moving substrates?
biting any thing inside the tank? if that so, then they
about to spawn.....

do you have slate or rock inside the tank? if none, please
put some so that they will stick the eggs in it.

Good luck!

I really never gave any thought to the whole mating thing LOL
I have notices, the lip locking, once so hard the albino had an injury! They are covering and uncovering thier piece of slate with gravel. Is that normal? And boy are they biting everything! They have a pingpong ball to play with, but having been biting plants,wood,my fingers LOL
Thank you guys sooo much!

they are gonna clean the slate and try to move it.
it it does move, they will dig the substrates and test
the slate again. if still moving, they will bulldoze the
substrate until the glass is exposed. once they can not
move the bottom glass, they will lay eggs in there.

once the load of eggs are in place, no one could ever get near to the
area. even your cleaning, you will be beaten. take note, they will never take
any food a day or two before spawning. watch out for it and removed unconsumed
foods to lessen the bioloads.

How long does the whole breeding thing last? I've checked on my o's every ten mintues today LOL Thank you so much for all the helpful info!

laying eggs could last for 1-3 minutes, then fertilization
could last 30 seconds. both male and female will keep guard
in their territory until the eggs were hatch or eaten by them

spawning process will take sometime, preparation, cleaning, etc
but every now and then they will drive away intruders. one time
i prepare my self to video the process, i just left for a while
and when i come back, the eggs are already there.

in the latest laying, i was just sitting in front of the tank,
watching with no camera. all of a sudden, the female lays load of
eggs and the male discharge the milky substance. very rare
opportunity. then i watch as the color of the eggs changes from
white to brownish.

Oh wow I bet that was amazing!!

Oooh dear...I think my O has the hots for me then!! haha

I sit near her tank either to feed or just to watch her, and sometimes she swims over and shimmies at me...better not go swimming!! o_0