I know some fish there color is affected by the color of the substrate and was wondering if Oscars are this way. I have a tiger and a red and there becoming paler then when I got them. I have white substrate. The water is fine, temp is good, they eat good and swim around all the time. Don't seemed stressed at all or anything like that. Anyone know? Thanks

their color will change with their mood... when i first got my tiger he was very pale. and still turns white if stressed or mad.
i dont think substrate color has anything to do with it

Thor84 wrote:


X 2

my oscars go from pure white to dark as a jungle depending on there mood

vibrant color is always an indicator that your fish/es
is/are healthy. whenever they change color, you have to
check why: are they stressed? is water good? what food
did you gave lately? etc? etc?

but the rule of the thumbs is "pristine water and varied
foods will always make your fish/es vibrant and healthy"!

Wow I was gonna ask something simular myself, I have 2 red oscars, but they are very bright almost an orange color, but all the ones I ever see in pics are almost totally gray, am i just lucky ?

You must be doing something right! Keep up the good work!

Thanks a bunch I am fairly new at raising Oscars, and my neighbor gave me his, I just want what's best for them.

Well I ca promise, if you follow the advice on this forum, you can never go wrong!

I only have one issue, and I think I know why. My water clouds up quite fast after water changes, and I think I know why it's 2 reasons 1. I have them both in a 40 gallon tank, and 2. I feed them Tetra Cichlid sticks and it really messes with the water. I will be moving them to a 90 gallon soon.

What filter are you running? And did you test your water? And if so What were your readings?

I have 2 filters A Millenium for a 40 gallon and another 10 gallon the only tests that came up bad were the hardness of my water

What all did you test for?


I was just wondering if you were going through mini cycles?