Oscar Stopped Eating

[deogan]

I have an oscar about 9 inches. It is two years old in my tank. It was about 4 inches when I bought her. I have other fishes that grew up with him like parrots, severam, texas. I used to feed them a mix diet of pallets, tetra bits and frozen blood worms. Recently I discontiued adding blood worms to the feed.

To my surprise, the oscar stopped eating. He will go to the top as if smelling the food and just go away. There is no effect on any other fish. I have also added a small oscar about 4 inches recently. I hope this has not affected the food habits of the big one. Both of them are not fighting. On the contrary they stay together.

How can I get the big one to feed again? Of course one way is adding blood worms to diet again.

 

[Spishkey]

may i ask, what is you tank size, what filtration you are using, a list of ALL fish in the tank and if you have them ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and temperature readings please? once we know this we canhelp a bit further

 

[minxfishy]

How long has it been since he ate? At 9" he really only needs to eat once every two days, they dont need daily feeding once they reach a good size, so dont worry too much.

Basically it sounds like you've taken away his favourite food and he is sulking about it, like Oscars do. Once he is hungry enough, he will eat again, probably take a few days, maybe even a week, then eventually the need for something to eat will surpas his need to be stubborn.

btw, are all these fish in the 125g in your sig? If so, thats alot of large aggressive cichlids in one relatively small tank. I wouldnt advise you keep the smaller Oscar, also watch out for the aggression of the Texas, IME they can turn nasty, quickly.

Spishkey raises a good point, do you know your water stats, also water your water change regime like.

 

[deogan]

How long has it been since he ate? At 9" he really only needs to eat once every two days, they dont need daily feeding once they reach a good size, so dont worry too much.

Basically it sounds like you've taken away his favourite food and he is sulking about it, like Oscars do. Once he is hungry enough, he will eat again, probably take a few days, maybe even a week, then eventually the need for something to eat will surpas his need to be stubborn.

btw, are all these fish in the 125g in your sig? If so, thats alot of large aggressive cichlids in one relatively small tank. I wouldnt advise you keep the smaller Oscar, also watch out for the aggression of the Texas, IME they can turn nasty, quickly.

Spishkey raises a good point, do you know your water stats, also water your water change regime like.

I have a total of six fishes. texas is in the tank for two years. I will post water stats shortly. I change water weekly. I have two internal filters that cycle the entire tank ten times in an hour. BTW I am running this tank for over two years now without much problem. This is the first time Oscar has showed stubbornness. How long can he survive without food. I will not bother till that time. I have also bought a can of blood worms just in case.

 

[Davo86]

I have a total of six fishes. texas is in the tank for two years. I will post water stats shortly. I change water weekly. I have two internal filters that cycle the entire tank ten times in an hour. BTW I am running this tank for over two years now without much problem. This is the first time Oscar has showed stubbornness. How long can he survive without food. I will not bother till that time. I have also bought a can of blood worms just in case.

Sorry but i'm going to be skeptical here? you run two internal filters that give 10x turnover ? thats roughly 4700LPH, meaning that each of your internals does 2350lph? sorry but that doesn't add up, even arguably the biggest External filter the FX5 only runs at around 2000LPH,

Also regardless of the fact the fish are cohabiting the tank isn't big enough for 2 oscars, let alone the rest of the fish you have in with them,

 

[deogan]

OMG. After you pointed out, I recalcuated the volume. It is 425 lt tank. Some mistake I committed while calculating earlier. Now both of my internal filters are rated as 2000 LPH. I think this filteration is ok for the tank. Please advise if I need to add another filter. Also I do a weekly water change for about 60% of the water. I wash the filters one at a time every month. So effectively both the filters are washed every two months. Every month I gravel vac to clean the muck that accumulates below the upper layer of gravel. Is there anything that I can do to reduce this accumulation? The fishes are healthy, without any signs of stress or infections.

Thanks for correcting me.

 

[indigoj]

I'd consider an external filter rated for a bigger tank as well as the internals - an internal rated 2000lph? What brand? even if they are that big most filters operate at about 2 thirds of maximum capacity.

What are your water stats for ammonia and nitrIte?

I'd gravel vac at least weekly in a tank with so many big fish.

 

[shelaghfishface]

i suspect water quality,so you need to post your stats, with that many fish in such a size tank im almost certain your going to issues that coupled with irregular vacs can cauce mayhem ( youd be surprised how much crap stores in the gravel)

post the test results and we can go from there, other wise we are just guessing which is no good for the fish

 

[Spishkey]

judging by the info so far i too would say this is going to be water issue related. too many fish in too small a tank with inadequate filtering and cleaning regime. you really need to have a large exteranal running at least. internal filters are rarely adequate for an oscar! they make sooooo much mess especially when eating. gravel vaccing needs to be done at least weekly, if not twice weekly seeing as your filter are struggling. we really really need your water stats in ammonia nitrite and nitrate. also what temp are you keeping the tank at? there is no way to stop this accumulation of dirt on the gravel, you can only remove it with a gravel vac. a stronger, bigger filter will help

 

[deogan]

Nitrate 30
Nitrite 0
Temp 28 C

BTW I bought a new internal filter of the same quality. Now three of them are running and all r rated 2000 lph.

 

[Davo86]

What brand of filters are these?
Also what is the ammonia level?

 

[shelaghfishface]

3 internals? do u have any room left for the fish ?

ammonia reading plz?

 

[deogan]

What brand of filters are these?
Also what is the ammonia level?

These are Bodyguard 2200 F filters. These are with double chamber and the chambers are stacked one below the other so it occupies a little space. the chambers are about 2"x2"x12" (LxBxH)

I believe I have an ammonia spike. The fish are restless and dull color. Before I check stats again I am going in for a water change.

 

[indigoj]

You should check your water BEFORE doing a change so you know what is going on.

 

[shelaghfishface]

agree

looks like you tried to hide the fact that there is ammonia in there, but we cant help if we dont know were here to help you,and we can`t really do that if we dont have all the info that you do,we have the fishes interests at heart and just want to help you look after them properly.

do you have an ammonia testing kit? if not please get one, with that stocking level you will definatley need one,
good on you for doing the water change as soon as you could, but i suspect you will need to do a few more ( test-water change- then test again after an hour- then water change again if need be)