Hello. I'm new to the forums and jusgt had a few questions about my fish. I've had raised oscars in the past and haved absolutely no isses. But recently I set up my 85 gallon aquarium with all sand and a rock in the center (no plants or hiding places) I have 2 oscars and 6 exodus'. The exodus' are agressive types of tetras, close to a piranna (so I was told) I was hessitant on putting oscars in, not knowing if they would get along. Well lucky for me they get along awesome! My oscars are acting strange. When I come in the room they are literally laying down on their sides on the bottom. Just being extremly lazy. I've never seen an oscar ever do this. They just started eating with me being in the room too. But when I leave the room they get off the bottom and swim around and eat the pellets from the top. Why is this happening? Do they need some weeds to hide in? I've never has any issues with oscars, my water is perfectly fine. Everyhing is balanced out and the water is crystal clear. All of the fish are healthy and very bright in color. Btw my oscar eats mealworms, pellets, and garden worms. They also might eat guppys (those are for the exodus). If anyone can tell me why my oscars are being so sluggish and shy I wouild really appreciate it.

welcome to our community

The behavior you are describing sounds like stress. The fact that they start eating okay indicates that we can't do anything seriously wrong with them. My Oscars often behave like this, normally when carrying out tank maintenance. When the lid is removed and old alike thing taken off they seem to really dislike this happening. They would just all huddled together, sometimes laying tilting to one side. However, this behavior doesn't last too long.

Does this happen every time you walk into the room? Are you wearing any bright colors?Has anyone done anything in the room that could have upset the Oscars, maybe drop something on the floor that caused a lot of vibrations?

Honestly I really don't know why they are doing this. I'll be inclined to let them get on with it, if your water is okay, and they are eating perfectly okay then I wouldn't have thought we are ill. You will probably find that they stop doing it eventually.

Hmm good point. The tank is in a very quite room and nobody goes in there exept me. When I purchased them, they were spunky at the pet store. When the person at the store opened the lid they swam to the top really fast thinking they were gonna get food. I'm concerned because at one point they seemed very active. I'm gonna try to put some plant in there to give them some cover. Maybe adding more fish? I was thinking of a yellow lab chiliad to the tank. The exodus I have in the tank now are super active. Hopefully they will get used to their new home. And yes they group together. Its like they are inseperable. Its really strange. The exodus try to school with them as well.

I wouldn't add any more fish, your tank isn't actually big enough for two Oscars as it stands. There is a possibility they are just a little skittish and get spooked easily, they are certainly showing signs of stress which will happen if they are frightened in any way.

OFL wrote:

So would adding plants help them be more secure? I don't plan on keeping my oscars for very long. I get enjoyment getting them when they're small and raising them until they're. Larger and I take them to a local fish store that has a gigantic tank full of oscars for people to buy. I change my aquarium often because I get bored easily. I plan on having my oscars for a while tho. I just want them to act like the many oscars I've had.

I wouldn't bother with plants, they'll probably just rip them to pieces, or the plants will die. You could try a very large plant pot, you may find that it gives them someone to retreat to. Having said that, I've not really knowing the Oscars to use hiding places that much. If you don't once a pot, a piece of wood, or a couple of rocks. Just remember that the more that goes into your tank, the more water displacement you will create. Basically, if you put a very large piece of wood into your tank, you will have a little less water in there, I think it will displace much water, but when you haven't got a very big tank in the first place, you obviously want to make as much as what you've got there already.

See what other people say

I agree with OFL, your tank is a bit under sized for the type of fish you are keeping. How are your water parameters? My Oscar is also shy at times and other times very active. It's hard to explain why they are behaving this way. Do you have cats or any other pet that could disturb them? Test your water and post the results or do you have results from a recent water test. Any changes at all as far as equipment? I wouldn't worry yourself, hopefully we can figure this out, or the issue may resolve on it's own.

OFL wrote:

Alright cool. One of my concerns are the exodus fish I have now. They are super aggressive and when schooled together (which is 99% of the time) there was one time when the oscars were put in the tank, the other fish rushed to them and took a nip at one of my oscars. Fortunately there has been no rough play since that I know of. I do know that the exodus fish are extremly aggressive and they're constantly swimming around, and try to school with my oscars. I don't know if the oscars are skitzed out by the behavior of my other fish? I'm gonna give it a few more days, if it keeps up, ill have to place my exodus in a seperate tank and observe the behavior of the oscars with just them by themselfs.

As you can see, here are my oscars, they are albino tiger oscars, but I got them because they have a little bit of albino and a little bit of dark coloration of a normal tiger oscar. I don't want my fish to die, Like stated before, the water is fine, the Temperature is 75-78 give or take. What can I do? they have PLENTY of room to swim around for their size. This is getting very frustrating.

What is an exodus fish? If these particular fish, whatever they are being aggressive toward the Oscars then it may be wise to move them to a different tank, you have very young Oscars that probably won't like being picked on, this may well be the case, they could be the targets of bullying.

Give them a little bit of time, I'm sure they will come around

nice tigers you've got there huh! not an albino ... perhaps your o is
suffering from stress of being nipped by the exodus. those little fishes
are know for fin nipping... your o will not have a chance to survive with
them. injury starts on find and eventually will get sick due to continuous
nipping.

At the pet store, I got fish called Exodus. I googled them and NOTHING came up. The info I got was it was a tetra. He said they were pretty aggressive and he put some guppys in the tank, and they devoured them. I liked them so I got 6. I did more research and what came up as the closest match was "head and tail light tetra" The guys I have aren't as rounded off, if that makes sence. I'm guessing that's the kind of fish I have. The information I got on the tetras are that they are a great community fish, but as soon as guppys hit the water it's like a shark tank. They don't bother the oscars at all. I'll put my divider up and see what happens. The oscars have only been in the tank for about a week, maybe less. Maybe i'm being impatient?