hi all im new to all this, i have kept oscars before but not together so thought this time i would give it a go......i have put a new o in with my female o and all they are doing is mouthing and nudging the new 1, the new 1 just l mouths back at her and they are both shaking there whole bodies is this aggression or mating as i have been told so many different things so i thought i would just ask the people that know......hope anyone can help thanks

Welcome to the site. Firstly, how do you know they are a he & she? Also, how big are a fish? The behavior you have described is quite common and doesn't necessarily indicate you have a breeding pair

hi the chap i got my original 1 from sexed her and she is 8 inches which is my profile pic and the new 1 is rescued and 9 inches and the features in its face are totally different ..... they also lay sideways and the new 1 has jumped out the tank while i was feeding it hope that helps

Unfortunately you can't tell the sex of an Oscar just by looking at it, they are not like other fish or maybe the fins are slightly different, or may be the coloration is slightly different between the male and the female, a male and female Oscar look exactly the same and the only way of sexing them is to either inspect their sex organs, or wait until you actually see them breeding.

hi ofl and thanks for the advice well they have been together 24 hours now and no chunks have been taken out of each other and the nudging has stopped but they are still mouthing and shaking at each other and if i walk past the tank they shake at me lol so im hoping they are just flirting but if they mate and have babies all well and good

1 more question and i know its a bit prem but if there is babies do i have to put them in a breeding trap or can i just leave them to it

thanks

It all depends on whether or not you want to keep the babies.. If you do intend on keeping them then you will have to remove them from the tank as soon as they hatch. Once the egg sac has disappeared after about three days then you start feeding them. But I think you are being a little bit premature at the moment so let's cross that bridge if you come to

i concur with Penn... well said boss.