My female oscar is huge like it is going to pop no joke, it has lost alot of colour more blackish now and huge, i am definatly sure it has eggs now for over 2 months and has been courting with the male I have jaw locking chasing eachother around. Still swims and eats fine so its not constipation so must have eggs but why so long for her to lay them??? I have plenty of nice rocks to lay them on and some flat surfaces they made awhile back. Should i milk the eggs out? as she just keeps getting bigger and getting really scared she will die. Please help people i asked people at fish shops and just said put a heater in at 28degrees and still 2 weeks now and no change.


HELP!!

my oscars lays their eggs regularly in a 15 to 20 days interval. i am not worried because i am not yet ready to ahve tons of hatchlings. i let my angel fish do the job taking all of them.

how big is your oscar or how old or how big she/he is? do you have pair? a single female oscar will lay eggs but will never be fertilized without male. being huge is not a guarantee for an offspring. you need a pair.

liplocking will take a months with out eggs. if you have pair and happen to lay eggs, it will be fertilized but no guarantee they will hatch. if you have both female, will lay eggs with out fertilizing too. if you have both male, dominance or territorial issue will be your concern.

can you give details on the ff pls:
tank size
water parameters
size and ages
tank mates
filtration

I doubt whether your Oscar is egg bound, not for that long, the eggs would have absorbed back into the body. Also, do not under any circumstances try and milk a fish, you could well rupture something inside the abdomen.

Could you take a photo of your fish please? is it just the abdomen that is swallowing, or the whole fish? I'm suspecting that it's probably something else causing the swelling, as for what is impossible to say at the moment

i am not sure but you have to take a look on this thread.
perhaps you have the same scenario with necro's post at
"emergency" titled blockage. pls surf there.

OFL wrote:



X2

What is your water levels? reason i ask is because it could be something called dropsy.
its an internal bacterial infection usually caused by poor water quality, but it could also be something else.
There are a few possible causes. Usually caused by kidney damage. Kidney damage may be caused by overuse of drugs or a disease. Eventually the swelling will cause the scales to raise, giving the fish what is called the "pine-cone" appearance.
i hope is it not this, but just a thought.
if possible, get your water readings up for us because it could just be serious intestinal blockage.

i searched there 1st and did read the blockage one, doesnt seem like constipation and all the signs of breeding are there. Its a 400L tank will get pics and readings up very soon.

p.h is 7.5 and nitrates are 0

ETHNIC_RUSH wrote:

kindly re-check the reading. in a establish tank,
it is impossible to attain 0 nitrate;, nitrite yes,
and ammonia too.

my oscar do spawn regularly but i haven't notice that
the abdomen is swollen. see them preparing the slate

s386.photobucket.com/albums/oo308/PAULHD...ent=oski18feb09V.flv

and this is the fertilized eggs 6 hours later.

i checked the nitrate twice with a sera test kit and it matches the lowest reading colour a bright yellow

heres some pics