I have a baby oscar fish (4 inches approx) and a baby eel tail catfish in a 600 liter tank. I do regular water changes (small amounts every few days, mostly to clean up mess off the bottom.)I have 0 ammonia and nitrites, and nitrates are always kept low (barely a trace). I have had them both for a couple of months.

Yesterday morning, my oscar was his usual self. When I got home fom work that night however, he did not come out of his drift wood cave to greet me, as he usually does. I wasn't too worried, as he sleeps in there, so I thought he would come out in a bit once he relised the tank lights were on (which means food). He didn't come out though, even when I put food in, which has never happened before. The catfish was swimming around normally, and ate all of the food.

I was worried, so I moved his bit of wood to check on him. He swam around a bit, but still wasn't interested in eating. Then he just kind of sat on the bottom until i turned the lights off. Once the lights were off he swam back to hide in his cave. I decided to leave him alone and not stress him out.

He has not improved today. He is still hiding, sitting on the bottom, and not eating. I tried feeding some blood worms, which he usually goes nuts for, but he didnt eat them. I put in some peas, incase he was having trouble with digestion, but he only picked at one before spitting it back out.

He is not bloated, and when he does swim, he swims normally. He is his normal colour, although once or twice he has briefly changed colours and shown white stripes down his sides. His breathing seems normal, although he sometimes yawns really wide and then have sort ove a spasm with his mouth, or like hes chewing on something.....

From all of this, all I can think of is maybe he has hurt his mouth....I bought him some crickets the other day as a treat, and he really chowed down on them. maybe he ate to many, or one got stuck in his throat. Or maybe the catfish stung him? He did also knock the air tube from a hob filter (it helped cycle the tank, now it adds a bit of water movement)into the water....the tube had a bit of bluetak on it.I dont think he ate any bluetak, but if he did have a nibble, could that have made him sick?

Im not really sure what else I can do for him, but I am stressing out that he is going to die. Is there anything else I should do? Thanks for reading, sorry its so long

hey there!
I really find nothing out of the ordinary in your story.
Something might have spooked him into hiding.
Or he may be pouting or sulking, which is perfectly normal for oscars and may happen for lots of reasons.
If your waterparameters are as good as you say and there's no change in his outward appearance,i think he'll come around.
Just give him some time.
The catfish may have stung, but i think that's very unlikely, unless the oscar has been able to try and swallow him?
Is the size difference that big?

bluetac shouldn't harm a fish as its non toxic. may be a bit of fighting going on? could it have jumped and banged its head on the lid? etc. I would just monitor it. even my fish go off there food sometime. its good that you are paying enough attention to notice.

Thanks for your input guys. I hope he is just having a sulk. He and the catfish are about the same size. While they don't seem to fight as such, the catfish does kind of follow the oscar around alot and get in his space, which prompts the ocassional nip. I guess il just keep an eye on things.... I had heard that oscars do mope around from time to time. This is my first oscar and the behaviour is a bit un nerving... I guess other kinds of fish I have had in the past, if they sit on the bottom not eating, it is generally not a good sign. Well I feel encouraged that he may not be dying now at least

linkhyrule wrote:


You'll get used to it, or at least recognize the behaviour.
Here's mine doing the "Laying on the gravel and i don't care anymore-routine"



And again, even resting sideways against a stone:





and my other Oscar, with the same behaviour:


Once mine got bigger they never really sulk anymore.
I guess it's harder to impress them nowadays.

Sounds to me like it might just an oscar being an oscar, however if things continue after a few more days then you need to look into things more

If your oscar had a piece of cricket stuck he would be opening and closing his mouth a lot or he might not be able to close his mouth, try to get a look into his mouth to check its clear (this is going to be difficult)

What are you testing with strips (inaccurate) or the bottle types

This morning he is swimming around again. I put some food in and he started eating it. I guess he was just having one of those famous oscar sulks, he looked just like the oscars in noddys pictures . Sorry to eat up your time guys, but thanks so much for your help. Oscars sure are interesting fish....

Oh yeah I use the liquid testing kits. I splashed out on one of those master kits. I did originally have test strips, but found them pretty useless. They never seemed to detect any nitrite, and I thought my tank wasn't cycling, then suddenly I had nitrate? Yeah the liquid kits are so much better

well its good to see he is back to his mormal self =]
you will get used to these lil tantrums lol
but you should post sum pics of your
O =]