Good Morning all,

I have some questions as I'm ignorant to the care of Oscars(don't shoot me now...). I have had one tiger oscar for 1.5 years now and he/she has been very intertaining. Mr. Oscar seems very smart and knows when I've got what type of food in my hand by the bottle I've got and depending on the bottle will react differently. When I get the orange Krill bottle out...he goes nuts.
Okay...so my question is...he doesn't seem like he is feeling very good as he lays at the bottom of the tank close to the suction filter. He doesn't want to eat anything but if I stay and talk to him/her enough...him/her will swim to where I am and watch me but won't eat if I try to give him/her anything. I was surprised Sunday evening when I had the person I'm dating over and the fish went nuts. He looked like he was dead and was almost floating on the top of the water and I was fretting over him/her. I left the tank and sat down on the couch to think what I could be doing wrong. The fish all of a sudden gets up from it's "death" state and for the rest of the night...would swim all over the tank and then come back and just stare at my date and at one point...was trying to jump out of the tank. The guy I'm dating thought it was halarious and I wasn't sure what to think because I've never seen the fish act that way.
This morning I went into the living room and he was floating up at the top of the tank and looked dead, couldn't see it breathing or anything. I went into the kitchen and by the time I came back...he was swimming down to the bottom of the tank...I'm not sure what to think because this has been going on for about 3 weeks and hasn't in the past been typical behavior for him.
I put some medication for ick and parasites in the tank and have used it for the past 4 days. I changed the filter again and dropped one of those fizzy pellets into the water which is suppossed to balance the ph level in your aquarium.
I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong and why he's acting the way he is. My chiclid which lives with Mr. Oscar is fine and doesn't seem to have a problem and bosses the Oscar around all the time.
Any suggestions?
Kila

Okay, welcome to the site. Firstly, have you done a water test? You need to test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrates and pH. You say you have added something for the pH, I assume that you tested and ph before?

How big is your tank and what sort of filtration are you using? How often do you carry out tank maintenance and do you clean your filter? If so how do you do it?

Oscars are quite intelligent and in my opinion, have got the ability to recognize their owners, and people who they haven't seen before. This is why the Oscar may be a little bit spooked when he saw your boyfriend.

Have a good look at the Oscar and see if it is breathing heavily at all. What I mean by this is is it opening and closing its mouth constantly?

Thanks for the welcome...I was just wondering...I wrote 2 separate responses to your reply and I was told both times I wasn't logged in and my little replys were deleted.
Can you please tell me what I'm doing wrong? I used up my lunch hour writing those.

I am not entirely sure what went wrong., I've done it loads of times, wrote a very long message and then lost it all. I sometimes write messages in word and then copy and paste, that way you won't lose it if something goes wrong.

Welcome to the site Kila!

I have the same about losing what I typed often, I think it's because you get logged out after a certain amount of time not using the board actively. (Would guess about 5 min. ?) It's probably set like that somewhere in the admin tools. Loading threads and pages and hitting buttons counts, but since typing is only done in your browser until you submit the text, you may drop out if needing longer. Well that is my theory at least. I got myself used to copying the text I wrote so it's in the computer's cache, and in case I drop out, I can just log in again and paste it.

Was wondering what other cichlid species you're keeping with your Oscar? If it gets bullied a lot, it might as well be stressed and act strange therefore and go off food. They can't get away in the limited space of a tank like they would do in nature.

Yes, and water parameters, tank size etc. would be good to know as well. Did your Oscar and/or other cichlid have ich and parasites then? Else I'm not too fond of the idea of adding meds (or pH adjusting stuff) just in case there might be something wrong but not knowing what; can do more harm than good.

Okay, welcome to the site. Firstly, have you done a water test? You need to test for ammonia, nitrite, nitrates and pH. You say you have added something for the pH, I assume that you tested and ph before?

I haven’t done a water test for about 3 or 4 months...I ran out of the test strips and funds. I’ll try to take some of the water down to the local pet store this weekend though (it’s not real close to where I live unfortunately).

How big is your tank and what sort of filtration are you using? How often do you carry out tank maintenance and do you clean your filter? If so how do you do it?


I have just a starter tank (20 gallons) and it has a paddle wheel and large oblong filters which I change every other week which snap in and out pretty easily.
Every other week I siphon out 50% of the water and replace it with fresh and vacuum the floor of the aquarium (to Mr. Oscar dismay...he attacks the vacumn hose when I do it) lol...

Oscars are quite intelligent and in my opinion, have got the ability to recognize their owners, and people who they haven't seen before. This is why the Oscar may be a little bit spooked when he saw your boyfriend.
I have to agree with you there...Mr. Oscar has no idea of his size compared to us. I had no idea they were that aware of their surroundings to behave like a German Shepard would...maybe I should just change his name then to Spike. Though...Killer might be more in line. I came home this evening to find he had killed the cichlid. I’m surprised it hadn’t happened before now though...the cichlid was always nipping at Mr. Oscar (aka...Killer).

Have a good look at the Oscar and see if it is breathing heavily at all. What I mean by this is is it opening and closing its mouth constantly?
Tonight though...once I got the cichlid out of the tank and scolded him/her, Mr. Oscar perked up and came to the edge of the tank and then swam like he used to.
A half hour later he was kind of on his side on the bottom of the tank looking at me but he doesn’t seem to have any apparent breathing problems though...
He was picking the krill up I fed him tonight but just spitting them back out once he put them in his mouth and swam to the bottom of the tank and that’s where he was when I left him tonight. So...do you think it will ever be safe to put him with other fish? Also...on one of the rocks I noticed like grey type stuff growing and it is about an inch tall and blowing in the current of the water...any idea what that is? Mr. Oscar was going over and over it like he was scratching his belly on it somehow.
Okay...I’ve wrote a book (so glad you told me I’m not the only one who’s long winded in here and gets kicked off...lol). Kila;)

Welcome to the site Kila!
Thanks for making me feel welcome. I have the same about losing what I typed often, I think it's because you get logged out after a certain amount of time not using the board actively. (Would guess about 5 min. ?) Egads! Just 5 minutes? Dang...I’ll always be typing stuff in Word then...lol It's probably set like that somewhere in the admin tools. Loading threads and pages and hitting buttons counts, but since typing is only done in your browser until you submit the text, you may drop out if needing longer. Well that is my theory at least. I got myself used to copying the text I wrote so it's in the computer's cache, and in case I drop out, I can just log in again and paste it.

Was wondering what other cichlid species you're keeping with your Oscar? If it gets bullied a lot, it might as well be stressed and act strange therefore and go off food. They can't get away in the limited space of a tank like they would do in nature.

The cichlid was a Pseudotropheus cichlid Malawi, a really pretty orange and was as aggressive at times as Mr. Oscar. Most of the time they got along, the cichlid was about 3.5 inches long and seemed oblivious to me being there most of the time. Well...he never seemed lonely or stressed out for that matter. He was doing and eating fine, it has been Mr. Oscar with the problems and it’s upsetting that Mr. Oscar killed him.


Yes, and water parameters, tank size etc. would be good to know as well. Did your Oscar and/or other cichlid have ich and parasites then? Else I'm not too fond of the idea of adding meds (or pH adjusting stuff) just in case there might be something wrong but not knowing what; can do more harm than good.


Mr. Oscar had never had a bout with ick...but the cichlid had it when I first brought him home.
I had to separate him from everybody else for awhile and then they all did fine for about two weeks...and then Mr. Oscar went on a “sea-food diet” spree and killed most of the fish and ate some of them. Always wondered why the cichlid never was eaten since he was small at the time too. Maybe his bright orange color? I don’t know...all the rest of the fish were grey and blue cichlids...oh well. Kila

Ummm .. so what do we start with?

Well, starting with you wondering if your Oscar will ever get along with other cichlids. Answer is simply: not in that tank. Not even the Oscar should be in there - considering its probable size at age 1.5 yrs, there is way too little space for it to swim for one, plus it's very likely to get problems with water quality since Oscars are messy fish. They are also territorial fish just like cichlids are, so it's no wonder your other one ended up dead. Sorry for it though.
A single Oscar shouldn't be kept in anything smaller than 55 gal at least, for my taste that is still very small.
I could keep telling you things but would ask you to please read the info provided on this website first of all (Helpful Articles and the things about Oscars in the FAQ section). You might then get an idea already what should be different and what you need to do.

In very short words: Oscars need a big enough tank, sufficient filtration, good tank maintenance, a varied diet and suiting tankmates (Malawi cichlids are not really suiting).

Would be really good if you could have your water tested (and tell us the results), would be even better to get test kits for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH so you can monitor the hopefully positive effects of the changes that are necessary. The liquid tests are way better.

I honestly don't know what filters you mean (which is probably because of my limited vocabulary) but cleaning weekly sounds quite like having not enough filtration anyway to me. If they get clogged, it is best to clean the filter material in some tank water you drained out, not fresh water. About water changes, I'd highly recommend to do it rather twice weekly in a tank that small than bi-weekly, same goes for vacuuming the gravel/bottom. Don't forget to add some water conditioner to remove chlorines.

What is growing on the rocks might either be some kind of algae or some kind of fungus, I'd take them out and scrub them thorougly with a hard brush to get rid of that stuff.

If the Oscar still isn't eating really, I'd stop feeding for some days. Maybe he gets hungry again or is too sick to eat anyway, then it might need the appropriate medication.

Don't like to sound like you're doing everything wrong but it's quite the case, sorry. If you're willing to improve the conditions for him I'm sure you can do that with some learning, everyone else here started knowing nothing somewhen.
Hope he'll start eating again, and under the proper conditions you can then have your entertaining pet for 10 more years or so.

Thanks for the reply...I'm trying to learn what I need to do and I'm looking now for a bigger tank. Mr. Oscar this morning was swimming around in his tank like nothing was wrong...all puffed up and acting macho(if a fish can act macho...lol). Funny though...if I would get too near the tank this morning he would turn on his side and play dead...when I would leave and he couldn't see me, he would start swimming around like normal. He's never done that before...for some reason...does he see me as a threat for some reason? I joined this website to educate myself on taking care of fish such as Mr. Oscar...so don't worry about hurting my feelings... I'm ignorant on this subject, I know.
Have a good day,
Kila

Lol Kila ... the Oscar is probably expressing how you hurt his delicate feelings when inviting the other guy in