Okay so my best friend went on vacation and i offered to babysit his fish its like some slim creature something dinsaour. Okay so long story short my oscar has it in his mouth half way.....and its about four inches. Please is there anything i can do ill just buy my buddy a new one i dont give a shit about the other fish anymore. Idk how long he has had it in his mouth eather, no longer than ten hours. Im so scared for his life right now.

If your friends fish is half way in the Oscars mouth, it is all over for your friends fish!

Well here lies the problem, you don't put a small fish in the Oscars because they are liable to get eaten. If the fish seems to have got stuck then you will have to take the Oscar our of the tank and manually remove the fish from its mouth carefully.

awww damnit i didnt think the oscar could eat it he tried before and didnt get it idk if its stuck but he is swiming around with it and breathn pretty hard i have a friend whos dad keeps fish he has a 16 inch oscar in a 75 gallon tank maybe he might be able to help......but i only wnat that as a last resort becauase i dont want him to go out of his way just for my fish id feel bad. Or maybe i could bring it to my LFS and see what they can do ive tried taking the oscar out and im afraid hes gona floop out of the net he freaks out of water more than any other fish ive ever owned

Matt E. fish lover wrote:


Matt, first your friends fish is gone and done. Apologize to your friend and buy him a new fish or better yet, give him one of your many fish. That would solve your problem (overstocked tank) and his (lost fish).

Second, if that is not an option to you, take the fish to the LFS for help, but take some of your extra with you since your going to the store anyway. You have repeatedly said transportation was a problem.

Third, have you not listened to anything people on this site have been telling you? Your tank is over, over stocked. Why would you offer to babysit a fish IN YOUR TANK? You are just adding to your problems and now introducing your tank conditions to your friends fish. That means your problem goes back with his fish to his tank.

Fourth, as for your O, they can get a lot in their mouths and it may take some time to chew it but they will either spit 1/2 out or finish it off. My 5" Oscar ate a 3" fish with no ill side effects. HOWEVER, you do have to monitor them to make sure they don't keep it in their mouths too long.

Fifth, yes I'm posting on your threads despite saying I wouldn't. I truly want to help people on this site and you are someone seeking advice. Just don't expect me to hug you and tell you your doing the best you can. I strongly believe you are not doing the best you can do.. putting that aside, I will continue to offer my experiences, offer congrats when appropriate and "hand slapping" when needed. I'm not going to sugar coat anything.

i don't know any dinosaur fish, but what comes to mind is an axolotl.
www.arkive.org/axolotl/ambystoma-mexicanum/info.html
Or a bichir.
www.google.nl/imgres?imgurl=http://filep...&um=1&itbs=1
If it's a non spiny fish,or a axolotl, i say catch the oscar, and remove the prey by gently wiggling it out of the oscars throat.
But if is a bichir, i'm not sure if the spines will hurt your o, when you try to pull it out.

My o ate a algae eater that was too big and it swam around with it for 5 hours and finally spat out the half that wasn't chewed up.


But if an oscars mouth is in an opened position for too long, the o will not be able to close his mouth anymore.

If you catch the o, i say try to get the fish out, instead of taking the drive to the LFS.

Okay by some miricle of god he spit it out.....without a head. Now that leaves me with my other friends eel like fish which i dont no where it is......i think my oscar will be okay i hope. Thanks brooskie by the way i apreciate it, but if i do find mi friends other eel lookn fish what do i do? I dont have ANY spare tank should i throw all my props ive aquired withn four years in there to help it out or what my friend gets back soon.

Matt E. fish lover wrote:


Slow down when typing because some of your stuff makes no sense. Are there 2 of your friends fish in your tank? The one without the head - he goes out with the trash!

Ya sorry bout the typing im just really scared. But yes my friend has two fis in my tank the dead one which i took out and another one, idk where its at. Is it posible my o ate that one to

Then you got another problem if the oscar finds the fish before you do...
Put in a piece of PVC tubing to give the polyptetus (which i suppose it is) a place to hide from the oscars.

An like stated before, you allready have too much fish.
Don't take in any extra fish...

First, did you get rid of the headless fish? You don't need that floating around in the tank.

Second, it has to be there somewhere or, your fish ate it already. If they are as big as you say, I'm sure you would have seen him eat it though. It doesn't sound like it is one that he can take in his mouth with one gulp.

Third, shame on you again for adding TWO fish to your tank after all that we have told you. Very irresponsible on your part.

Lastly, there really isn't much you can do if you don't have a spare tank around. Find a way to get it back to his tank, unless you have someone else. Providing you can find it. How long where you suppose to keep these fish?

Also no real need to add "shit" to the thread title....