I have two Salmon (Albino Oscars). THey are both about 11" long. The tail on one of them keeps jerking really hard and when it jerks, it kind of pulls him down. It is not the regular fluttering of the tail. I am used to that already but it is a hard jerk almost like someone with an epilepsy attack. I thought possibly he is constipated but oh well, just looked at him and he/she is pooping. It can't control the jerking that is taking place. It is not something it's doing itself. It almost catches itself by surprise. Please tell me there is nothing wrong with my Oscar.

Not really sure without seeing it happen, even then I probably wouldn't be any the wiser. However, my Oscars do occasionally have intermittent jerks, I often joke that they are having some kind of epileptic fit, but they all do it on occasions so I don't think it's anything to worry about. Somebody else might be able to shed some light on this.

Maybe you could take some kind of video if possible?

OFL wrote:


X2

impossible to tell, try to get a vid

this is common in oscars normaly a sign of aggression or domanance for a better word. what tank mates has the oscar got. nothing to worry about he,s just being a oscar, i have 10 breeding pairs in my fish house and all of them have done this.

beano wrote:


I know exactly what you're talking about as I've seen it many times myself. However, I think maybe he is referring to something a little different. I've often seen my Oscars twitching erratically which is a little different from tail quivering. However, unless he can get some kind of video is going to be difficult to actually see exactly what he's talking about.

I sometimes notice my fish twitching when they concentrating on cleaning a piece of slate

chirping, quivering, jerking, or strutting is a common thing with my full grown
oscar, past and present. perhaps it is no difference with us humans sometimes
we dance even without music

PAUL wrote:


well that would be a new one for me... i have yet to hear my oscar chirp at me or any other fish for that matter.

necromancer4 wrote:

so you haven't heard yet different sound of splashing in your tank

necromancer4 wrote:


me too, Paul, did you hear the sound just after feeding your Oscars crickets?

PAUL wrote:



splashing i hear all the time its the chirping im trying to figure out

actually, i just called it chirping because the actual jerking is so short
as like the crickets vibrating their tails, it is different from strutting
or grunting (again no sound).....

thank you so much. i appreciaate you taking the time to respond. i will download video in a few.