Oscar Fighting/mating ?

[Uriel]

My Oscars have started "fighting". They flare and swim back and forwards while facing each other and the other day they locked lips, and as my brother put it went mental flying all over the tank. Is this just natural oscar behaviour / mating ritual or will this eventually end in them injuring or killing each other ?

 

[star4]

Having recently looked after a "pair" of oscars, I never witnessed this sort of behaviour between them. My other oscars in seperate tanks will flare at their own reflections. It does sound like they are fighting, but from what I have read some pairs will fight before spawning how bad I do not know. What size are they?

 

[markandhisfish]

what size/age are your oscars?oscars will lock lips and test each others strength. but if they are under 8 inches i doubt its breeding , as they wont be sexually mature yet

 

[Uriel]

About 8-9". It isn't constant just the odd occasion at the moment. I know some fish lock lips to test there mates but wasn't sure if it was the case with oscars. Also i would guess that they are 8-10 months old so are probably coming into maturity and maybe testing to see who is the boss of the tank ? I've never had "aggresive" fish before worst thing was angels. So don't really know the difference between playing/developing hierarchy with the signs of issues that are going to lead to injuries or deaths.

 

[markandhisfish]

yes id say they were probably just about reaching maturity. have you seen the breeding tubes down? this will enable you to tell the sex of your fish. a males tube will be more pointed and almost "thornlike" in appearence, the females will be much broader/rounder.

if you have 2 males you will with almost 100% certainty have to re-home 1 as they will fight , often to the death. 2 females should be ok , as should m/f but even then there is no guarentee. try putting in a large flat rock or slate and see if they sart clkeaning it off to use as a spawning area. i would keep a close eye on them for now .

 

[Uriel]

Cheers will keep an eye on them. Can't see any breeding tubes. But not sure i would know them if i was looking at them.

 

[markandhisfish]

if tney come down they will be clear enough to see. they will be in the same general area the poo comes out . you wont be able to miss em .

 

[Uriel]

Cheers. They've started shredding all the plants which i heard they do in the wild to stop egg predators from hiding in(may be a myth). Pity thought i had the only oscars in the world that liked a nice planted tank