Hi Everyone,

Just need a little advice, i have a tiger oscar about 8-9'' over the last few months he has started to become more and more shy and nervous, i thought at first it was just a phase as ive had oscars before and know that they can be moody but it seems to be getting worse rather than better! He is in a trigon 350 aquarium that runs with a fluval FX5, there are a couple of bristle nose plecs in there with him but they are rarely seen! The tank is well decorated with the juwel black background, many pieces of bog wood and a selection of fake and real plants! He seems to enjoy the tank but every time i approach the tank he backs away immediatley, even if ive got food! He wont eat anything other than the tetradorimin pellets and frozen block food! He will eat but only once ive backed away from the tank!

Any suggestions would really be appreciated as this is just not typical oscar behaviour, and i cant seem to figure out why he's gone like this as he never used to be!

Thanks very much, Peter.

Probably not going to be easy to give you a conclusive answer as Oscars can act very strange sometimes. Their eating habits can also be up and down.

I assume that your water conditions are good? We always ask people to tell us what their water parameters are if any of their fish start behaving strangely.

Strange question, but has your dress code changed at all? Oscars do see in colour and I've noticed that some bright colours make them nervous, whilst others don't seem to bother them. Going back to them only eating one type of food, I would say that 80% of people who own Oscars have experience this at some stage. As long as your fish is eating okay, I shouldn't worry unduly.

You could try leaving the lights off and only putting them on for a couple of hours in the evening, maybe he won't feel so nervous then. Apart from that, I can't really help any more as I haven't really had the chance to observe your fish.

have you always had wood and plants in your tank?
oscars are not ment to hide, so maybe its become natural for him to hide when he see's you, like OFL said, turn your lights off for longer periods and take out some of your wood, dont give him so many hiding places.
also, when you approach the tank, is it sudden? try to approach the tank abit slower so he sees you coming.

when i first got my oscars, i made the mistake of giving them hiding spaces, and i didnt see them much, so i removed all the wood and within a few days he was fine and swimming towards me when he see me.
now i can walk up and down along the tank and he follows me along.

you've been covered by OFL and glen2009.
adult oscar has good memory retention,
it will take time before he/she can forget
being bag and delivered to your tank.

btw, welcome to the site.

Thanks for the reply, ive not changed anything as regards to dress code nor anything in the house, ive been really busy with work and just got in so i'll do a test now on the water and get beck to you in a minute!

Hi Glen, no the wood hasnt been in their all the time but he has been acting like this since way before the wood went in, i got it for two reasons 1st for the natural look and 2nd to see if he would settle any with it in, the tank looks great and when im not close to it i can see him bashing everything up in typical oscar style! ha ha! but when i approach he backs off straight away, ive even tried sneaking up so he wouldnt see me but that dosnt work either!

Hi Paul, i dont think its got anything to do with being bought from the shop as i got him from when he was about 1.5'' and i used to be able to hand feed him regulary!

Hi OFL, right ive done a test and the results are as follows;

1. PH = 7.0
2. Ammonia = 0
3. Nitrite = 0
4. Nitrate = about 40

thanks, Peter

PAUL wrote:



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