Actually, your tank is cycling. You will need to do regular water changes and make sure the dechlorinator has kicked in before letting the water circulate through your filter.

Ammonia and Nitrite should always be at zero on a cycled tank. Change water to keep nitrates below 20, below 10 if you can.

As the cycle kicks in, nitrites will start to rise and the ammonia will start to go to zero. Then after a bit longer, nitrates will start to rise and nitrite will start to zero out.

To help, you can feed lightly, make sure all uneaten food is removed ... so them not eating is not a bad thing.

Oscar have a lot of personality, so the hide, play dead - sometimes stopping mid swim, turning on their side and floating down like a leaf.

Some are more apprehensive to new environments and new owners than others. Some, the water parameters affect them more.

Give it some time for your tank to cycle and them to get used to you. Soon enough, they will be begging all the time. Also, check what kind of food the store fed, not that you need to switch to it, but in the rare occasion they gave them 'treat' type food, the initial transition can be harder. Most places don't because bloodworms, krill, daphnia, and all that tasty to Os stuff is more expensive.

They won't starve themselves, trust in that. You might see them hungry today if they haven't eaten anything yet, if not the next couple days. I say stick with the pellets, they are much better nutrition wise.

They will soon associate you with food, I have train mine to recognize the different containers. He knows which pellets come from which bags, knows the freeze dried krill container, knows the frozen bloodworm foil pack, and exhibits different levels of begging for each one

Try to be patient at first, and keep you eye on that ammonia and nitrite.

Best wishes.

Thank you.

How often should I test the waters? Should I purchase and use any of the "conditioners" or let the tank run its cycle?

Also I bought frozen tubiflex worms. They came in like small cubes... but my fish are only about 2 inches long so I am not sure how much I should attempt to feed them? I have not tried them yet. Is this a good idea to try to get them to eat if their lack of eating continues?

I have never known an Oscar to eat those dry tubifex worms The frozen ones, yes, but not the dry ones. Hope yours will fair better Finicky fish. Youth and hunger are on your side though!


As for conditioner, just a good de-chlorine/de-chloramine product, preferably one that also neutralizes heavy metals. StressCoat+ (PondCare by API) is great, since you can save money because it is concentrated to use with larger amounts of water. 15 mL to 60 gallons.

Stuff like StressZyme, although they have bacteria in them, it is a different kind. It may help levels a little, but it can sometimes be at the cost of the right bacteria growing. It smells like grape drink to me

There are products that have the correct bacteria, like Bio-Spira ... but these products must be handled properly from factory to you. The bacteria are dormant. If the package ever gets above a certain temperature during shipment, then they come out of hibernation and will start to starve without a food source. When purchased, it claims on the package you have a 5 hour window or something to that effect. It gets poured in the tank and hopefully the bacteria attaches to the bio-media in your tank and you are good to go. It is an expensive crap shoot (you know Las Vegas dice reference, not the other usage of the word). So, use your discretion whether you wish to try it or not.


Test at least once a day. You want to keep the ammonia and nitrite low to prevent the gills from burning and other discomfort, those levels are not too bad for cycling, enough to feed the bacteria. Below 1 ppm ammonia is definitely better in this situation. Nitrite is only slightly less toxic, so I wouldn't want it to get above 1 ppm either personally.

I am sure some cycle experts will chime in, it has been a while since I studied it and I am a bit rusty. I am rather sure that cooler temps make ammonia less toxic, but, I also believe is slows down the bacteria growth and would make the cycle take longer. When you don't use the info for a while, it starts to fade a bit

If they don't eat for a week, then I would start to worry a bit. I doubt it will get to that point. I think it is more the new tank and new person that is making them apprehensive more than them refusing to eat.

Ok, I put those tubiflex worms (purchased frozen, put in thawed)... and they went for them. It was the first time they did not retreat and hide immediately on sight of me. So I hid and watched them and they went all over the tank and ate them all.

So I guess it is just the pellets that they will not eat. Or they are still just warming up to the tank and the worms were just to irresistible and they had to go for them anyways.

I have an one Oscar in a 125 Gallon fish tank with one sun fish usually hiding under the plant. I noticed the Oscar has been really bloated and hasn't ate in one week. When he sees me, he still gets excited, so i know it can't be that major. Should I feed him frozen green peas to help his digestion? The Oscar is about 4-5 years old and is probably 10-12 inches long.

If he hasnt eaten in a week then he will probably not eat the peas. Can you start a new thread and post the actual test results for ammonio, nitrite and nitrate