Hi everyone,
Appologies for not introducing myself first, but i thought this was more important..
I have 2 oscars in a 500 litre custom tank. I have had them for over a year and they are about 7 inches and 6 inches, red tiger and albino. I suspect they are males as they have shown no inclination towards breeding, however they do engage in nightly jaw locking, but stick right together most of the rest of the time.
They are extremely tame, and eat out of my hand normally, and are very lively - normally!
about 2 weeks ago they started getting shy. they then started swimming very fast into the sides, and into the corners, and being forced up the wall they tried to jump out. this would happen suddenly and randomly, even in the dead of night they would will me up. they have torn them selves up very badly and are extremely scared now. they have not eaten for about 10 days now.
I moved them into another 500 litre tank, with plastic non transparent sides and lid, and they dont seem to swim into the sides any more, but they are extremely shy still. if i have a look inside, they lie on their sides on the bottom, extremely still until i leave them alone, so i have been... but they still wont eat. crickets, pellets, feeder fish or peas or anything!
I have 2 mbaba cichlids, bristle nose catfish, 2 african butterfly cichlids and a ghost knife in the original tank, that have all been fine, i'll bet a bit confused by the oscars' behaviour though!
ammonia and nitrites are at zero, and nitrates are at 28ppm, ph is at 7.8.
water has been crystal clear, apart from a small amount of alge on the glass (one catfish is trying his best!)
apart form this, the only problem i have had is whitespot about 4 months ago, treated with medication.
I do water changes - 25% every 5-6 days.
any help will be greatly appreciated!
