Oscars

[smooth_bourbon]

Hey Forest how are the fish doing? How long have you had the other fish in the tank? How often are you doing water changes? I would say cycled or not do some extra water changes for a while since you have added a lot to your tank in a short time.


Welcome to the Forum by the way

 

[forestfire]

got up this morning and they were together in there usual part of the tank between the plants at the bottom together, they seem they are fine, as soon as i walked in the started swimming around and i fed them a couple of lance fish each by hand and even got to stroke one who in turn came up to the top and sucked my finger which was fantastic lol.

It just seems they are resting when the light is out or something, ive had the parrotts, a plec and the oscars in for a week now they went in at the same time. the other plecs were in a week longer.

I have had a further development in my tank though, ive noticed next to one of my big rocks a big pile of gravel as been removed revealing the bottom of my tank, well the underlay bit anyway that i put the big rocks on underneathe my gravel. I think though this may be the parrotts as I did see one of them sucking gravel in there mouth the other day and spitting it out somewere else. Why is this?

The substrate needs a clean I think because of the lance fish that as been going in, am I alright doing this and refilling up with water, should i treat the water before putting it in my water?

I think im going to take out the real plants aswell because they are just dying off and not looking great, can i get realistic fake ones or is there something else I can do.

Thanx for the help

 

[MHunt]

got up this morning and they were together in there usual part of the tank between the plants at the bottom together, they seem they are fine, as soon as i walked in the started swimming around and i fed them a couple of lance fish each by hand and even got to stroke one who in turn came up to the top and sucked my finger which was fantastic lol.

It just seems they are resting when the light is out or something, ive had the parrotts, a plec and the oscars in for a week now they went in at the same time. the other plecs were in a week longer.

I have had a further development in my tank though, ive noticed next to one of my big rocks a big pile of gravel as been removed revealing the bottom of my tank, well the underlay bit anyway that i put the big rocks on underneathe my gravel. I think though this may be the parrotts as I did see one of them sucking gravel in there mouth the other day and spitting it out somewere else. Why is this?

The substrate needs a clean I think because of the lance fish that as been going in, am I alright doing this and refilling up with water, should i treat the water before putting it in my water?

I think im going to take out the real plants aswell because they are just dying off and not looking great, can i get realistic fake ones or is there something else I can do.

Thanx for the help

Glad to hear the fish are doing ok!

As far as the plants are concerned, oscars can and usually do change their decor to suit themselves, you may find the plants uprooted eventually. If you want them to do well, add some plant ferts, these extra nutrients also help the plants to grow better, absorbing nitrates from the water and reducing the risk of algae blooms. For more advice, post in the planted tank section.

 

[forestfire]

Just an update here.

The two Oscars mood appears to have changed and they are acting curiosly. One is shoveling a little gravel up at times and moving it and one is trying to move a big peice of slate with his mouth (with no luck as they are all locked in really tight), they are being a bit aggresive with other fish coming in this area chasing my parrot fish away and they are attacking there own reflections in the tank but are keeping close to one another.

The parrot fish on the other hand are not content with diggin a big hole in one part of my tank with there mouths theve started a second, its quite fascinating watching them.

 

[Jake Jackson]

How big were they?

Sounds like breeding behavior, or establishing territories. But I dunno.

 

[forestfire]

Another update, it appears they have got whitespot (ich) ive just done a 20% water change and put the treatment in, I lost a silver dollar I just bought a week ago with the parrots looks like hes brought it in with him.

I really hope they are going to be fine, im a bit gutted at the min and its going to be frustrating now waiting to see the outcome.

Am i alright feed ing the oscars today now ive put the treatment in or should I leave it until the morning, i gave them a little bit of there mix I got them but the normally have lance fish.

 

[guppy_man]

hmmm lance fish, are they live fish you feed to your oscars?, if you regularly feed them on live fish you buy from a pet store, then this could be why you have white spot. Feeder fish bought from pet stores can carry all sorts of diseases, and dont do much good for your fish.

What treatment have you used for ich?

and do you vary their diet or just feed them on live fish?

 

[forestfire]

hmmm lance fish, are they live fish you feed to your oscars?, if you regularly feed them on live fish you buy from a pet store, then this could be why you have white spot. Feeder fish bought from pet stores can carry all sorts of diseases, and dont do much good for your fish.

What treatment have you used for ich?

and do you vary their diet or just feed them on live fish?

There not live they are packaged and frozen, ive started feeding them on a special oscar mix aswell for variety.

I used Tetra Medica ContraSpot to treat it. Probaably going to do the same again after about 5 days.

 

[Jake Jackson]

Wow man really sorry to hear bout the ich. I read somewhere raising tank temps will make the ich 'hatch' faster so the meds can work. Keep us updated.

 

[idlefingers]

Another update, it appears they have got whitespot (ich) ive just done a 20% water change and put the treatment in, I lost a silver dollar I just bought a week ago with the parrots looks like hes brought it in with him.

I really hope they are going to be fine, im a bit gutted at the min and its going to be frustrating now waiting to see the outcome.

Am i alright feed ing the oscars today now ive put the treatment in or should I leave it until the morning, i gave them a little bit of there mix I got them but the normally have lance fish.

Sorry to hear about your oscar. Good luck with the treatment

Unless it says on the meds instructions not to feed, you should be fine to continue your normal routine.

When you say they normally have lance fish, does that mean you're using feeder fish as the staple diet? If so, make sure you feed them with good quality, high vitamin flake so he gets as much as poss

 

[paul-discus]

Type oscars in your searech engine and you will find a great oscar site.....Paul

 

[forestfire]

Theyve made it through the night, i wasnt looking forward to coming down and checking this morning fearing the worse, the smaller one was in the corner at the top of the water, they seem a little happier at the minute, i raised the tempreature from 24 to nearly 26 gonna raise it a little more to get these things hatched and rid of. Just had a closer look at them and the little one as quite a lot of white spots on her and the big one as a few but generally they are swimming about a bit rather than staying at the bottom or going to top gasping for air.

! thing ive noticed which seems to have happened over night is on the substrate theres blobs of brown the size of a little pebble all over the substrate what could this be, its not waste because its too big?

 

[MHunt]

Theyve made it through the night, i wasnt looking forward to coming down and checking this morning fearing the worse, the smaller one was in the corner at the top of the water, they seem a little happier at the minute, i raised the tempreature from 24 to nearly 26 gonna raise it a little more to get these things hatched and rid of. Just had a closer look at them and the little one as quite a lot of white spots on her and the big one as a few but generally they are swimming about a bit rather than staying at the bottom or going to top gasping for air.

! thing ive noticed which seems to have happened over night is on the substrate theres blobs of brown the size of a little pebble all over the substrate what could this be, its not waste because its too big?

If it doesn't look right i'd do a gravel vac and get rid of it. A good gravel vac is a good way to remove as many of the ich spores from the gravel especially if the infestation is quite severe.

 

[forestfire]

Another amazing update.

Came downstairs this morning and the Oscars have laid eggs all over a piece of slate and they are guarding it for life lol, the white spots have about gone on the big one (he only had a few anyway) but the smaller one (i believe is the female) as lost loads as she was covered in them she as a few on her tail thats about it.

Looks as if the big one as been fighting as he as a piece out of his face and a bigger piece out of his side were it looks like hes been bitten.

I havnt got a spare tank but will have one tommorrow, but I will get something for now as I am going to put the slate with the eggs in a seperate tank the only problem is getting them as i put the net in to test how they would act and boy I was in for a shock, those mouths are pretty powerful.

Does anybody know how long they take to hatch.

 

[MHunt]

Another amazing update.

Came downstairs this morning and the Oscars have laid eggs all over a piece of slate and they are guarding it for life lol, the white spots have about gone on the big one (he only had a few anyway) but the smaller one (i believe is the female) as lost loads as she was covered in them she as a few on her tail thats about it.

Looks as if the big one as been fighting as he as a piece out of his face and a bigger piece out of his side were it looks like hes been bitten.

I havnt got a spare tank but will have one tommorrow, but I will get something for now as I am going to put the slate with the eggs in a seperate tank the only problem is getting them as i put the net in to test how they would act and boy I was in for a shock, those mouths are pretty powerful.

Does anybody know how long they take to hatch.

Cool!!!!!

If they've spawned once, they will probably spawn again given the right conditions. In the first instance I'd leave the eggs in there and give the parents as much space as you can. Oscars being Cichlids have generally good parenting instincts, but they will eat the eggs or fry if they get stressed, so apart from feeding time, leave them to it. I don't know the incubation period for oscars, someone with experience should be able to help, i would guess at least four days, depending on the water temperature.

This is great, keep us informed, pics of the proud parents would be great too, even a camera phone snap shot!