Hi there!

Just bought a Tiger Oscar yesterday afternoon. I put him into my tank - which happens to house a Jack Dempsey fish. After a few hours, the Dempsey started attacking the Oscar and my Oscar became lifeless. Both of his eyes are "cloudy" and it seems as if he is blinded..Please advise!

welcome to the site.

imho the first thing you should do is take the oscar out of that tank and put him in another. if your jack is beating your o severly there is little you can do about it other than seperating them.
also on a side note how big is your tank and what kind of fitration are you running?

unfortunetly it is always a hit or miss thing when it comes to mixing large semi aggressive cichlids together.

Hi! Thank you for the welcome.

Its a 55 gallon tank... Was told by the person in the fish store that as long as the Oscar could not fit the Dempsey into his mouth, the Dempsey would be fine..Never thought the little Dempsey would bully my beautiful Oscar!

Thanks for the advice..I am concerned about the Oscar's eyes - Was reading online about how it could be the result of the ammonia and nitrate levels...Just took out 20% of the water in hopes to make it better for him as he is "swimming" sideways!

As for the filtration - its a fluval system. Do we need to do anything else to the water he "help" the oscar?

You can do a 30% water change now, and that may help. But Oscars often get very stressed in moving and the result of the stress and the JD will not help him..

I agree with Necro, you need to separate. The JD will more than likely not give up.. And if your Oscar is small, the JD could kill it..

I know this info isn't what you wanted to hear, but it isn't easy keeping these babies..

BTW Welcome to OFL!

Thank you for the welcome!

I am sad..our oscar is stressed out! ok...will do a 30% water change...

Thank you again for the help!

i do not want to bring the bad new too... but 55 gal tanks is good
for one oscar for life.... however, you can use it for a while when
fishes are still small ... mixing them together is a hit and miss
idea... perhaps you will get a better chance if your oscar comes
first instead....

Hi there and welcome, good luck with the Oscar friend....

either rehome the oscar ASAP or get a divider and split the tank until the oscar has settled in, healed up and got bigger. If you put a divider in then put the output of your filter in one side and the inlet the other

Thank you all for the input. Took the oscar back to the store this morning as it was abused by the aggressive Dempsey...Have to get another tank..until then the shop is holding the oscar and nursing him back to health! Happy Holidays!

Very wise Choice Hun! You did the right thing... Just make sure you cycle your new tank completely before you add your new Oscar!

Jim and Joanne wrote:


You can be happy with an LFS like that.

Noddy wrote:


X2

A LFS that will hold onto and heal a fish for you is definately a good on and one to shop at regularly