As some of you know, I am, since today with a young adult widowed male Tiger Oscar. He is confused in what to expect, and he's not the only one. I am as well.

Should I start from zero keeping him solo as I try to form another pair with the sure method of grow six juveniles together or is it worth it to try to get another adult and cross my fingers its a female and they end up getting along?

I am fund with Luna, although it was Moon who owned my heart. She was mostly unafraid of me, ate from my fingers, look for my hand in the tank... sometimes he would joined her but at times he would keep his distance from me.

How to handle his bereavement, his grief? He surely miss her more than I do. They were paired-off and had one successful trial hatching eggs.

Pepe
Santo Domingo

to find another female to go with luna will be a little on the difficult side i would believe. since moon really cant be replaced perhaps another option you might consider is not getting another oscar and getting another species of fish if you think your tank is looking too empty.

necromancer4 wrote:
i totally agree with cris on this.

but your other option of keeping another 6 juvenile is not a good idea. attachement to the fishes is very difficult to handle. better get one and
take your chance to be a felame. at least you have one painful feelings if you
rehome it later.

I've been thinking about talking to the LFSs that keep adults or sub-adult Oscars to negotiate that I pay in full for the fish, keep it for whatever time I need to find out if accepted by the male Oscar (a day? a week? two weeks?) and if it doesn't work out that they take the fish back and give me a credit (I would take a discount if they feel like charging for "leasing" a fish).

I could use a 30gal Breeder tank (30"Lx18"Wx13"H) as back up if I need to use it (I would move the fish in there to another tank) if things get nasty; or just divide the Oscars in the six footer with egg-crate...

What do you think?

Pepe
Santo Domingo

sounds good, as long as the lfs is willing to take them back if things dont work out.
hopefully the first one turns out to be compatible

necromancer4 wrote:


That is the compromise I need from the LFS in order to try this.

I figure chances are 50/50 in getting male or female at random -which I only will verify if eggs are ever laid. Incompatibility issues concern me the most since I don't have at home another tank big enough to take proper care if things get nasty.

Udpate on Luna:
He is upset, no doubt about it. Luna tore down an airline last night; one that until that moment went undisturbed for months. He almost knocked down an internal bio-filter (Resun BF-200). He keeps hiding behind Hygrophila diformis bundles during most part of the day... hasn't eat a thing today (he did yesterday). I noticed that he still pass the night in their slate rock. At least he's not uprooting plants.

I'm feeding them in a few minutes. I'll keep watching over for him.

Pepe
Santo Domingo

Update:
Luna remains sulk. Not eating today either. Hidden behind bundles of Hygrophila diformis (torn down a bundle already).

Good News: I cut the deal with the owner of a LFS. Just brought home a sub-adult, likely 7 inches long Tiger Oscar. Placed him/her in a 10gal (after acclimation) quarantine tank (bare bottom) with a few (likely seven) very young Kenyi (from less than 1 inch to 1.5 tops) until I get back home.

I will try to bring him/her to the main tank later this evening since I need to be around to monitor how things go.

That quarantine tank and the main Oscar tank have almost exactly the same water parameters.

If this fish is not accepted I can replace it at the LFS for another one.

Crossing fingers!

Pepe
Santo Domingo

Good luck. Hope it works out for you.

best of luck to you pepe

Can't wait to hear how it works out for you.

just keep us posted.... waiting how it works...

Update of events (rounded Eastern Time):

9:20PM I just placed the newly arrived sub-adult Tiger Oscar in the tank. The fish went hiding next to Luna. When Luna found out, turned around carefully,Luna displayed some dominance show-off at one point he bit the other fish lower lip -there's visual evidence of the sored area (nothing to be scared of, milder than when my Heros Severum look after lip-locking. The newly arrived stayed frozen, likely showing submission.

9:40PM The newly arrived moved behind a driftwood and stayed there. Luna went out of his hiding spot, went into the place the new Oscar was hiding, didn't hurt him/her but smoothly moved backwards (reverse swimming) and "glided" to the opposite end of the tank (where the slate rock is). As soon as the new Oscar followed, Luna went back into his hiding place.
No idea what this means.

9:55PM Now I just filmed Luna showing off his dominance, awesome display, widening his gills while the sub-adult -looks so tiny next to Luna keeps avoiding getting hurt.

10:15PM Luna is increasing hostility towards the new Oscar. I'm letting him/her get some hits, but watching closely.

10:30PM Luna cornered the other Oscar in his hiding spot, gave him/her some harsh treatment but then allowed the fish to get out.

After a while, Luna went out and after the newly arrived again. So far the long pauses between "attacks" make me think that Luna is just proving, beyond doubt that he is the boss in there.

A funny thing has been happening. A male Kenyi goes after Luna and distracts and disturbs Luna's aggressive display against the new Oscar. You can see it in the vids below:

s276.photobucket.com/albums/kk3/pepe1965...current=P1020451.flv

s276.photobucket.com/albums/kk3/pepe1965...current=P1020454.flv

11:00PM I'm gonna call this attempt off for today. The new Oscar is going into the just 50% water change Quarantine tank. I dosed with cichlid vitamins (Tetra CichlidVital). He/she is staying the night there. Tomorrow we'll give this another try.

Pepe
Santo Domingo