I was reading a couple of posts on here about the Oscars Colour and how it can change periodically.. I now have a 72gal Bowfront with 2 Tiger Oscars, Jack Dempsey and a Pleco.. Now the 1 Tiger is 7" and the other is about 5", but their orange seems to be fading away and they look like they have greyish, almost transparent looking stripes now.. They are eating well and are very active.. The Jack (about 5in) has all his colours but will not come out of the rocks cause of the big oscar The Big Oscar is a big bully and goes after the Jack but my other tank has community fish in it and i cannot move him to there..

I feed them Wardleys Cichlid FLoating Pellets (MEDIUM) and frozen Blooworms (they will not touch flakes).. I do water changes once a week and use the water conditioner(twice a month) and Aquarium Salt (once a month).. My tank has Crushed Coral and Lava rock (30lbs) and a 2 Tetra WHisper 45's filters.. I used to have Silk Plants in there but when the Bigger Oscar got hungary he would rip the plants out the bottom of the tank, so i took them out..

I just want to know if theres anything I am doing wrong or if this is just the way they are.. I love the colouring of the tigers and have seen bigger ones at the fish store with all their colours.. So if theres anything I can do to bring back their colours, please let me know..

Thank you

Scarberian

How are your paramater.. ammona,nitrites,nitrates,ph. Color changing will come with stress. With four fish in a 72 gal tank you are over stocked. Test your water

Seems like ur doing everything right my tiger oscar( albino) was a pale with faded orange I found that harkari makes wuts called cichlid gold food that bring out the colors big give it about a week or two and u should see a differnce I did my tiger is a goldish yellow wit dark oragne stripes hope this helps

yep chilid gold is great for colour enhancment i use it all the time and my tiger is glowing! also try putting a few meelworms in they are small and the movement usually creates a feeding frenzzy (live ones)!

www.hikariusa.com/products/cichlid/cichlid_gold.php
cichlid gold contains astaxantin. (brings out the color of the fish)

yes the cichlid gold bring out colour and is probably the best diet for oscars, BUT, i doubt thats the reason for your oscar losing colour, all oscars are different and one of mine has recently started to change colours, but what i think is your problem is, your tank is to small for 2 oscars and a jack dempsey.
you'll find your oscars are getting stressed alot due to their swimming space.
oscars can be territorial and they probably dont have enough space to gain their own room.
but i wouldn't worry to much, as long as your water is ok (i hope you have checked it), you'll find its just the colour changing as it grows.

firstly your tank is a bit on the small side. now then you should post your water parameters for us ammonia nitrite and nitrates as well as your ph and temp. oscars can lose their colour for a number of reason and one of them is poor water. so these reading are important in helping diagnose what may be the prob in your tank. another thing that has risen my suspitions is the crushed coral in your tank. coral will raise the ph level when introduced to an aquarium. so if you can get back to us with your readings it will certainly help.

necros cracked it .....!!!!!!!!!! i also beleive you have p.h. above 8 through using crushed coral......any shells or coral in a freshwater tank sends the p.h.through the roof and you say you do weekly waterchanges so the p.h. will be going in the tank at the level it is in you tap then rising for a week then dropping when you water change and so on and so on!!!!!!!!! this massive fluctuation in p.h will weaken your fish a great deal... stable ph is VERY important in fishkeeping PLEASE POST YOUR PARAMETERS .....BUT ALSO PLEASE GIVE US A READING OF P.H. ON YOUR TAPWATER BEFORE IT GOES IN THE TANK WITHOUT WATER CONDITIONER........

i concur with necro and bgh. no matter what food you gave to
your oscar to enhance the color, if water is bad, it will not
work.

vibrant color is an indication of healthy fish. good water parameters and
healyhy feedings will sure make your fishes produce good natural colors.
however, genetic condition should also be considered. we can not expect
that foods could change the color of my white oscar (white but that lutino).
see my avatar.

The guys have spoken but u really need to get a bigger tank and soon wit two oscars alone u need 100g but wit a jackdempsy(10") max and a pleco (18") max ( I think u said u have a pleco) ur looking at about 200g or more for them but u should remove the coral for u fish sake