ok so i have a bass and it isn't eating. Before you say a bass?....aren't those illegal to keep? ya they are illegal but....i have a permit to observe and study breeding behaviors ,eating habits, agressiveness , and territoria behaviours. I also have 2 oscars and a couple other fish in a 150 gallon aquarium not to observe but because i think they are cool fish with unadoptable characteristics.In ways they are very much alike the only difference is the shape and their origin they breed are territorial and eat quite the same as oscars and i would like advice on what i should do last time the bass bred they were still eating but this time around it is nowhere near the same breeding time and like i said they are just like oscars so just think of it as an oscar not eating what advice can you give me .....? just remember though i have almost a perfect situation for a real habitat and feed the fish fish from these waters and crayfish and insects pretty much anything they would eat on their own but the one just seems not to be eating and its the biggest one so he is supposed to get the most intake of food .i could appreciaate it if you could give me some advice

It seems to be a very common trend with Oscars, not eating. The first thing to do is to make sure the water is okay. Oscars/any fish will stop eating if the water is in a bad state. How long has the Oscar been refusing food for? What have you been feeling it? Sometimes if they eat the same thing all the time and then you change foods, they will refuse. When Oscars spawn, they stopped eating, sometimes two days before eggs arrive. Is the Oscar behaving normally or is it sitting on the bottom of the tank motionless? If it is acting normally, then I wouldn't think that it is ill, or not very ill. If you try giving it live food to try and stimulate it into feeding? Sometimes live shrimp can work. Other than that it's very difficult to really say what causes them to do it. I had been there are loads of times and my Oscars and so have many other people. It's one of those things they do occasionally and since fish are so difficult to diagnose, it tends to be one of those questions that gets us to lock. Sorry I can't be much more help.

thanx

Yes they can my Tiger and red Oscar did