My Albino Tiger oscar is leaning to the left on the bottom of the tank. He won't eat. I got him yesterday and he has been doing this since. I heard that he was just "pouting" But I don't know; please help!
I don't want him to die. I don't even know if he is sick, but he will die of starvation.

This is normal behaviour for a newly introduced oscar. It can take a few days for an oscar to get used to his new surroundings, sometimes a little longer

Did you cycle your tank?

So nothing is wrong with him?
I'm new to this, so I don't know what cycling the tank is. Can you tell me what it is? I had another oscar, Felix, but he died yesterday of unknown reasons. I woke up and went to feed him and he was dead.

Hi. you need to read this...
tank cycling

Now, the oscar that died..did he die before you got the new one?
Do you have a water test kit? If not, get one..the liquid kind.

How big is the tank?
Are there Tank mates?
What sort of filter set up do you have?
What is the temperature?

How long did you have the other oscar?
Was he sick before he died?

You need to post the water data after you test it..

Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, pH

Do this ASAP so that the experts on this site can tell you if your new oscar is in danger.

Get as much info posted as you can.

Good Luck

Sharyn

1. 10 gal (being upgraded SOON)
2. No
3. An inside filter, by tetra for 10-30 gal
4. I try to keep it between 72-86 but right now it is on 79 to keep him happy.
5. I had him about 2 months. I bought him as a baby.
6. He did not appear to be sick, one second swimming, next second, bam, hes dead.
After my other one died I cleaned out his tank thouroughly, replaced the water, cleaned all plants, ornaments, gravel, and filter and heater then did a full water replacement. I put water conditioner and clarifier according to the tank size.
The water seems to be fine, but I will test it tommorow.
He is not laying and his side anymore and is moving around the tank a little, but still not eating.

ok, my guess is that if he only been exposed to your tank for a day then hopefully it is sulking at this stage BUT...things are going to get very toxic for him very quickly and will certainly suffer the same fate as his predecessor. You need to read about cycling. Do you have any other functioning tanks? You can take filter media from those if you have or ask your local fish store. You can get something like Nutrafin Cycle or Stability to kickstart a beneficial bacteria colony but you are going to have to do daily water changes to get the Oscar to live through the ammonia and nitrite spikes.

The problem is you will Never Never get a 10 g tank balanced for an Oscar, until you can get him an appropriate tank you will be stuck with daily water changes...and he will be miserable. Oscars can grow an inch a month and they are messy with food and waste. You need at least a 55g tank with double filtration for that size. Are you sure you can commit to an Oscar? It's not too late to take him back to the store and get a fish that is suitable for a 10g that won't require as much maintenance. Even a 55g will need weekly or bi weekly monitoring and maintenance...

Read as much as you can on this site about keeping them, ask anything you need but if you want to keep this fella alive you need a liquid test kit, bigger tank and better filter YESTERDAY....Shaz

Hey 123 Kirby...what's happening with your O? Is he eating? How is the water quality?

hope he sticks around and didn't just look at the cycling page and

I hope he gets a bigger tank.

His water quality is great, he isn't eating yet, but he started swimming around when my friend gave me another fish to put in the. They seem to be good friends. And I am upgrading his tank soon, during my winter break. We live in a small apartment so I can't get a 55 gal now, but I have more than enough money.

Kind of. I am still learning how, but he is acting normal now, but neither of my fish are eating. (I got a baby sivler dollar)

123kirby wrote:


Really? Good. What were your readings for:

Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate