Hello everyone I am new to the forum, and was wondering if anyone can help me. I have two five year old oscars Bonnie and Clyde. A few weeks ago my pleco that was in the tank with them died and clyde was acting very strange moving rocks all over the tank and clearing a spot on the bottom, so I did a partial water change. When I did Clyde started attacking me. this was very strange because they both normally like it when i pet them. Anyway after cleaning the filter I noticed there were eggs in it. So ok I figured out the agressive behavior! I then placed a flat rock in the tank to see what they would do. After two days they laid eggs. In my opinion the eggs were beige (I have pictures) the next day half of the eggs were gone and by the third day they were all gone. They were scattered over the tank and were all fuzzy. I read somewhere that this if fungus attacking the bad or unfertilized eggs. Is there anything that I can do about this? Thanks in advance for any advice you may have.

Firstly welcome to the website.

It's always been my belief that it's a little bit hit and miss when fish breed in captivity. In the wilds, they will breed a certain time of the year when conditions are right for them. This is probably one of the reasons why not all fish that are capable of breeding actually do. Maybe the water quality is poor, the temperature of the water is not to their satisfaction, various factors will account for unsuccessful breeding.

We really can't say whether they were fertilized or not. It is not uncommon for fungus to attack eggs, this is very difficult to stop unless you remove the eggs and use chemicals to stop it happening. It also may take several attempts before they are successful in hatching eggs. So if this is the first time this has happened, try me little bit patient and hopefully if you have got a male and a female they may be successful at some time. A lot of people will tell you that it has taken quite a few attempts before eggs have hatched out.

Judging from the article on this site on how to sex oscars, they are male and female. Bonnie is the male and clyde is the female! I should have figured! I guess I will wait and see what they do next. Their water is good other than the fungus covered eggs on the substrate.

I had a problem with the parents eating the eggs so I took them away after I was sure the eggs were fertilized. I have two groups of fry now and they're doing great, it just takes time, trial and error
Welcome to the site !

Did you put them in their own tank or did you put them in another container until they hatched? I have read on other sites that they should go in a different container with methylene blue until they hatch.

if they are breeding in your tank, this will not be the last batch you see lol. there will be more, many many more.

I've never heard of putting methylene blue in with them. I'm eager to see what the mods think about it.

if you plan on hatchng the eggs with the parents then no chemicals are needed.
the parents will fan the eggs and this will prevent most of the fungus from starting on the eggs and for those eggs that do develop a fungus the parents will simply eat them.

now if you plan on hatching the eggs artificially then meth blue is recommended to help in the prevention of fungus on the eggs. also i this is the road you plan on taking make sure to properly airate the tank or bucket you will be keeping the eggs in until you transfer them to your fry grow out tank.

Thanks Necro, mine seem to be doing great without it, they've already hatched but I'll use it on the next batch and see if I get less dead eggs.
Sorry for hijacking...I'm done now

Sinstinna wrote:

hey Sins, hijacking a thread for the same discussion would be fine.....
we have been used to that anyway
if you were able to hatch the eggs separately without meth blue...
your water and aeration is perfect.

yes, methylene blue helps to control fungi in artificial hatching..
but if you can do hatching with the parents, that would be great and
will give you high survival rate....

i know this isnt oscars im talking about here, but i did successfully breed black convicts for a while as feeders for my O.

every time i tampered with them they died. i tried to put them in another cycled aquarium. they died. i put them in a fry net thingy in the same tank the eggs were laid in. they died. if i flat ass ignored the fact they were there, i would get 70-80 baby fish out of the deal. just my observations from my own experiences, that momma fish knows what to do alot better than we do lol.

I'd love to leave them with the parents but they eat them everytime, sometimes waiting until they're free swimming to do it. I couldn't feed my babies to other fish, that's murder : )
Some of the eggs got fungus, some turned very white...were the white ones not fertilized?