hey all i am new here but will say hi in the forum later (promise)
i have a what i think is a nice tank set up and have just got an oscar after 5 yrs of looking after south american cichlid's and wanted to get the rolls royce as it were !
so he is a tad on the small side roughly 1 to 2 " long (roughly) i have him in with a mature sevrum and a cat fish and a cleaner, did the usual move it all around before putting steven in, it took a while for all to settle, but was sweet before we checked on him and went to bed the same today and to my surprise when i got home today he was swimming straight towards me and ready for food ...... but now he just hangs in the corner looking sad (i feel a lot like a new dad here) is this just because he is full ?
and why isnt he using all the cover we have put in the tank ?
this prob all sounds f*$king stupid but if he isnt happy i would rather take him back to the shop than say introduce him into a tank if he say to small ?
cheers
ean and steven

hello there and welcome to OFL.
Oscars are known to sulk from time to time.
They will lay on the gravel, turn very pale and look unhappy.
They can get into this mode for the smallest things.
During maintanance, after a change in the tank or especially after being moved to a new home.
It's totally normal, as long as he's eating and none of the tankmates are bullying him.
He may look small, but part of the fun of keeping orcars is watching them grow.
They grow so incredinbly fast in those first months, you can allmost see them grow dayly!
Don't worry too much, he'll grow fast enough.
I bet you won't recognize him in a month or 2!

Cover will only be used by an O if he feels threathened or is bullied.

hey thanks for your quick response....
i have tonight been watching (most if not all of tonight) to see if anyone is giving him a hard time, as the set up is in the office i did this outside (it is summer here) and have noticed if anything the cleaner fish rules the roost and does seem to always be going where steven goes, i will keep an eye on this and see how he does ! so far so good and ha ha can go to bed now and not worry .....
thanks
ean and steven

Good luck!
I sure hope things will work out, and I'm sure you'll get some positive opinions later on as well.lol

yes that is what i think all the other fish will hope for !
steven : 1 cleaner fish : 0
ha ha
thanks again
ean

What do you call a cleaner fish?
You made me curious...

hey ean, welceom to ofl, good to have another experienced fish keeper brought around to the way of the oscar? how are you finding haveing an oscars so far?

hope all works out in yr tank!

Matt

Noddy wrote:


i think i may have found my problem : Chinese Algae Eater !
As they grow, Chinese algae eaters try to run off all their competition. They hate each other and anything else that even resembles their own kind – such as sharks and loaches.
When Chinese algae eaters get large, throw them in with your cichlids – preferably African cichlids. They can take turns “kissing” each other. We take in large ones at Aqualand all the time. In cichlid tanks, they like to hide in the rock work. They come out when they feel like playing tag.

Chinese algae eaters!
My O loves those very much....

askhammatt wrote:


all i can say is im glad i waited 5 yrs i have had breading pairs of cichlids and even a hard to find here in new zealand "blue cichlid" or Texas Cichlid which recently passed away and got to a great size and had awesome personality .... but none of this has prepared me for the O as i want my oscar to be happy ! !
cheers
ean

yeah my problem is he is about 3 times the size of steve right now and i have noticed easily as fast !

I think it will quickly all work out ean... Welcome BTW!