Wierd Oscar

[tmunkis]

hi-
i have had my oscar for about a month now and he is in a 55g by himself. the water parameters are fine and i do 15-25% weekly water changes, the guy was swimming around alot until about 2-3 day ago. now he just lays on his side at the bottom. i have had people tell me that that is just what oscars do, but i dont know.
he is just laying there. when ever i open the hood of the tank he swims up and swims around, but then he is back on the gravel in a few minutes. he rarley swims during the day. someone at a different forum told me that that means he swims at night, but im up most of the night and he is still just doin the same thing.
could he be bored? he is about 4.5 inches long and i dont think he will swim to the surface to play with a ping pong ball. should i be worried or is this just a phase? right now i feed him pellet food once a day. if i know that they are clean should i throw in a few guppies so he can play or eat them?
sorry for typing so much, but thank you for all the help...
-munki

 

[afireinside]

hi-
i have had my oscar for about a month now and he is in a 55g by himself. the water parameters are fine and i do 15-25% weekly water changes, the guy was swimming around alot until about 2-3 day ago. now he just lays on his side at the bottom. i have had people tell me that that is just what oscars do, but i dont know.
he is just laying there. when ever i open the hood of the tank he swims up and swims around, but then he is back on the gravel in a few minutes. he rarley swims during the day. someone at a different forum told me that that means he swims at night, but im up most of the night and he is still just doin the same thing.
could he be bored? he is about 4.5 inches long and i dont think he will swim to the surface to play with a ping pong ball. should i be worried or is this just a phase? right now i feed him pellet food once a day. if i know that they are clean should i throw in a few guppies so he can play or eat them?
sorry for typing so much, but thank you for all the help...
-munki

Yes, if he's by himself, I'd say he's bored. Give him a ping pong ball. Maybe a few feeder guppies and other live foods could perk him up.

 

[freddyk]

Does he have anything to hide behind? Usually the lying on the side indicates a discomfort in the fish, a sort of act of trying not to be seen. Either way it's just a fish and while he'd love a guppy treat they don't really play or get bored.

 

[cinderblock]

oscars tend to sulk
he needs mental stimulation. try adding some fish playmates even if he eats them its still something to get him out of his sulking behavior
if you want a more permanent fish try about 3 female convicts. the females stay pretty small and wont be of any harm to the oscar and also wont be eaten by the oscar.
i wouldnt get a male convict because they grow larger and may beat the heck out of the oscar in time.
females are easy to spot by their red orange belly
you can add any larger schooling tetra but they will become dinner one day or another. tetras at least last longer than goldfish

 

[tmunkis]

in the 55g he has a fake amazon sword and a medium sized river rock to hide behind.

 

[Rust]

in the 55g he has a fake amazon sword and a medium sized river rock to hide behind.

does he do it before or after feeding time, as mine does it after he has eaten to much he just lies on his side untill he can swim again, other than that he need some more things to explor like caves and new decorations, etc etc.

 

[tmunkis]

thanks so much everyone, but.....he died

 

[saboy]

ahh, thats a real shame that he died, sorry about that ,


are you gonna get another one ? , i think you should try to find out whats the reason he died so you could possibly prevent it happening to another one if you get another that is

 

[tmunkis]

i dont know if i am going to get another one. i think he had hole in the head or a parasite. i am going to clean the tank with bleach since my water parameters are fine. i took a sample of water and compared it to the water levels in my other 3+ tanks and they were all almost the same. and i have had those tanks et up for a very long time. any suggestions for a good fish.
thanks so much everyone

 

[Ogrt48]

i dont know if i am going to get another one. i think he had hole in the head or a parasite. i am going to clean the tank with bleach since my water parameters are fine. i took a sample of water and compared it to the water levels in my other 3+ tanks and they were all almost the same. and i have had those tanks et up for a very long time. any suggestions for a good fish.
thanks so much everyone

Get another oscar, not another fish type. Oscars are one of a kind, theres no replacing their personalitys.

 

[kubora666]

they are yes but you could get a similar fish ? i.e a severum ?
maybe a chocolate cichlid !

 

[tmunkis]

yeah but my lfs doesnt sell those and can those be kept alone like an oscar can?

 

[HendrixTheOscar]

yeah but my lfs doesnt sell those and can those be kept alone like an oscar can?

In my opinion and experience it's never good to keep an Oscar alone. Think about what it would be like for a human. When you get another (that's right when, not if) get him a play mate.

Personally i had two oscars which grew u together from being an inch or so to 8" a piece in less than a year. Unfortunately i had to drop the slightly larger of the two (Lemmy) and just keep Hendrix as Lemmy was attacking Henrdix really badly. When i removed Lemmy, all Hendrix could do was search for his friend which i found a little strange given the beating he was taking.

I took Lemmy to my lfs and after that considered getting him back but it was too late. Anyway i have since replaced him with Barney a 4" Green Terror and Bruno my plecostomus. They all get on like a house on fire there's always something going on in there.

These fish are such good characters and really worth investing the time and effort in.

Good luck with your purchases in the future.

Cheers,

Pete 8)