I have two Oscars that I received with a 55 gallon tank. They seem to be very attached to each other but the orange one does not seem to be able to see very well. I have not ever owned Oscars before. Is this a common problem?

welcome to OFL.

What makes you think that your Oscar has poor eyesight? I'm assuming that your Oscar is an albino/Lutino. It is true that albino creatures are more sensitive to light. have you tried reducing your lighting and see what happens then?

Take a good look at the eye, you may need to shine a torch at it. Dose the eye look clear (glass) is is there a white film or clouding that makes the eye unclear.

My Oscar is orange and white, "her" eyes are not cloudy nor do they appear to be abnormal but she does not see food when it is floating in the water, I have to almost tap her on the nose with it and she runs into the under water filter tubes on a regular basis. She stays very close to the grey and orange one, "he" is bigger than she is but she usually is right up next to him when they are swimming.

I suppose you would have to carry out extensive tests to see whether she is actually partially blind. We could do is get some feeder fish and see if she sees them swimming around.

Hi mom6: I believe that what Marcus is saying is that to consider a fish to be blind, you ought to check its pupils. Blind fish's pupils will not contract in the presence of a strong beam of light.

On the other hand, it might take some time for an Oscar(at least one of mine did) to accept food from you or even eat in your presence. I remember being worried because my young Tiger Oscar "not eating". Well when I left the room and came back, food was gone. Two weeks after that we became "close" and remain that way.

Behavioral observation is another way of exploring/ruling out fish blindness. Make some changes in the aquascaping, grab a chair and sit next to the tank, in a while they should "go on their own business" without paying attention to you. A blind fish will likely behave differently than one with good eyesight as they explore the new arrangements in the tank.

How long have you been keeping yours? If just recently, I would not worry, "she" will likely end up eating from your hand even if her vision is compromised. Blind fish can have a good life if we care for them (e.g. let them "map" the tank and not changing things too much).

What worries me is the tank size; you received two Oscars and a 55gal tank (great gift!)... is this the tank you are keeping them? If so, water conditions will deteriorate quickly as they grow, and they grow impressively fast. There may not be many real "facts" or "rigid rules" in fishkeeping, but one Oscar only in a 55gal seems to be one of them.

Pepe
Santo Domingo