Hello everyone!

First off, great site. Great forum. I've been reading it for the past month and it has been very educational.

So, here's my problem. My neighbour had bought these 2 Oscars for her kids but after a few weeks she found that it was too much work for her and the kids were no longer interested in them. So she asked me if I wanted them since she new that I once had kept fish. Never Oscars, mind you. So I accepted.

When I got them they were in a 10Gal tank. They are about 4.5-5" each. I believe the are Lemon Oscars but I'm no expert.
Anyway, when I first got them, which was about 1 1/2 month ago, they were very lively. They would come up front whenever they saw me, and they readily ate whatever I gave them (Cichlid Gold). Basically, they were very active.

I did a lot of research on them, mainly on this site and found that the tank was too small for them. All I had on hand was a 20 Gal tank, so I figure it was better than what they were in. So I cycled the tank for about 1 week and moved them into the new tank. Since them, their behavior has drastically changed. And, yes, I do plan on buying an appropriate tank for them in the very near future.

They have barely eaten. I've tried to feed them but in the past 3 weeks, they have only eaten twice. They spend most of the day in one corner of the tank huddled together. I usually keep the light off during the day. My living room is very bright and the light is not necessary. I will usually turn the light on for about 3-4 hours at night. At that point they will come out of their hiding spot and swim around a bit. But If I come close to the tank, they go right back to their corner, even if I give them food. Which I usually have to remove untouched.

At some point during the evening they may start fighting a bit, lip-locking and chasing each other around. But nothing very drastic. All in all they seem to get get along.

I've been keeping a close eye on them and at some point they seemed to have some internal parasites (rubbing against plants, no appetite, rapid gill movements, etc), so I bought some internal parasite remedy and food. They've refused to eat the food. I've watched them put it in their mouth and spit it out every time.

In the last 2-3 days, all they do is hang in their hiding spot.

I've done the water changes, twice a week 25%. I've checked the water quality (ammonia: 0, nitrite: .1mg/l, ph 7.6).

There's no gasping. They just huddle together in corner barely moving for hours. Am I worried over nothing?

I've called them Maximus and Juba (from the Gladiator movie because of the way they fight and then seem to get along). I really hope they're ok because I've really grown attached to them.

Video of them fighting:
www.vidiLife.com/index.cfm?f=media.play&...E38-4B2A-4D92-ADAA-4

I can't see any serious aggression there so I shouldn't worry about that. Just keep on eye on them to make sure that it doesn't get worse. Sometimes it's difficult to determine what is aggression, and what is not. Breeding rituals can be very rough sometimes and result in injuries to both fish. I've had fish that have been much rougher than yours and I've had no problems.

Now, I can certainly see that you are going to have problems if you don't upgrade your tank very very soon. Your fish look in very good condition. Obviously there are no very close ups but all the Finns look in good condition and the fish weren't showing signs of illness and your video. Beautiful fish, they do look like yellow Oscars, however unless we could have a very close look, I'm not sure whether they have any markings, or whether they are pure yellow.

Your nitrite is a little high, it should be zero. You didn't tell us what that might rate levels work, this is where problem was well arise, keeping nitrate levels low when you're keeping big fish in a small tank is very difficult.

You can't cycle a tank in one week. Did you transfer the filter across from the 10 gallon to the 20 gallon? I'm afraid cannot really answer your question as to what and if there is anything wrong with your Oscars.obviouslywhen fish go off their food, this isn't really a good sign.it can sometimes indicate problems. You say that your fish aren't breathing heavily? This is good. What I would suggest you keep testing the water for ammonia, nitrite, nitrates and pH. Get yourself a new tank as soon as possible, make sure you cycle it properly before putting the fish in.the problem you've got though if you shouldn't cycle a tank using Oscars. If you are to cycle the new tank just using as few small fish, when you put the Oscars in, there is a very unlikely chance that you're going to get ammonia spikes because they won't be enough bacteria to deal with the amount of ammonia the Oscars will produce.. what I would suggest is not transferring both fish together, do them one at a time.Hopefully doing it this way will take some pressure off the biological filter. I would suggest getting yourself some prime, this will detoxify ammonia and nitrite which will help a lot. Anyway, I'm not going to bombard you with any more information,. We are here to help you so if you have any more questions, just fire away

I would keep an eye on your oscar to make sure one isnt getting badly injured. However i think they are just re-establishing the pecking order

Oscars often sulk and are quite shy when they are moved to a new tank, if this is the reason they are acting odd their behaviour will get back to normal soon

They may be acting the way they are because you have a reading for nitrite. The only way to get this to zero is to wait for the filter to catch up. I would increase your water changes until it is zero. You should also test for nitrate, if this goes above 40 before you do a water change then you will need to more/bigger water change

You will need a much bigger tank soon. When you get it i would take the filter from your current tank and add put it on your new tank at the same time as adding both oscars. If you add one and then add the other a few days/weeks later they may fight and not accept each other (even tho they are ok at the mo)