Lathargic Oscar

[Ethan]

Hello I'm new to the site. I just bought an Oscar I love having tanks and I work at a pet store, but this is the first time I have owned an Oscar. He is a pup and I've notice he just lays on the bottom kinda on his side, also when I turn off the light he really gets active. But I don't want to have a dark tank anyone have any suggestions???? Another thing he's not really eating except I put A cricket in the tank and he swims to the top looks at it but swims away. I did get him to eat a worm a couple of days ago. I put a heater in to bring the water 80 degrees hoping that will motivate his eating habits.

[callen]

Hi and welcome to the site

O's are drama queens and is most likely sulking and many take a while to adjust to a new tank. But to be on the safe side can you give us more info on your tank and water quality please.

Tank Size:
How long has it been setup:
How many fish:
Type of fish:
Size of fish:
Filtration:
Ammonia Reading:
Nitrite Reading:
Nitrate Reading:
PH Reading:
Temperature:
Any recent changes in tank decor or tank mates:
Any medication:
Food what kind how often:
When was last water change and how much:

While he is young it's good to start him on a well rounded diet...take a look at this link viewtopic.php?f=3&t=13487

[Gerry]

the above questions will help us make sure nothing is wrong, but if you have just got it then it could well just be a setteling in period as O's sulk at the least little changes

[donsfish]

You're in good hands here to take care of your new Oscar, answering those questions will help a great deal for the best advice.

[Ethan]

Hey guys thanks a lot for the info, hes doing much better now. Ok hear me out first before you flip out on wut im about ta say. I have a 55 gallon and it has some other community fish in it and then i have a 15 gallon tank with a couple pepper cory cats that i put to feed omn the bottom. My new O is only a little over an inch so I have him in there I will move him later when he gets about ohhh 5 inches even then he would be within size for a 15 gallon. As fare as the water quality i dont havre the exact numbers right now but when I tested it with the test sticks the nitrates showed there was none i keep up on my water changes and filter changes. I have never had a fish die on me and I have them all for about 6 months now. When I do water changes i take about 15% out. I know I"ll need a much bigger tank even when i move him to the 55 gallon, I also have a Knife Clown fish in there with a couple gold barbs and a couple panda corys, and believe it or not a female guppy who some how has kept her distance from the clown knife lol. But will the clown knife and the Oscar do fine together if i wait till he is 5 inches before I put him in there????

[Tim]

clown knife fish have the ability to grow over 3 feet, so short answer is no.
You could get by for a while with just the 2 of them in a 55 but i wouldn't be expecting to get any more than about 12 months out of it without needing a larger tank.
This is assuming they get along, Oscars can be aggressive and downright annoying to other fish and clown knifes are shy. Would love some pics of the clown knife, have always liked them.

[OinKY]

Clown Knife...shy

5" O,15g....Lots of water changes to pull that off. Pulled this part out...

... when I tested it with the test sticks the nitrates showed there was none i keep up on my water changes and filter changes. I have never had a fish die on me and I have them all for about 6 months now. When I do water changes i take about 15% out.

Test strips are notoriously inaccurate. You should have a nitrate reading if tank is fully cycled and filtration is correct. Changing filters says you are using disposable cartridges which means you throw away about 80% of your biological filtration each time you toss a cartridge. 15% water change (the "when I do..." part bothers me) is a negligible amount and it takes little more of your time to do 50% while you are at it which,hopefully, is once a week.
Congratulations on 6 months,no losses. Now welcome to cichlids where maintenance has to be tip-top and no room for sliding by. So far you are dealing with smaller,low bio-load,fish.

[Ethan]

Thanks again guys. yea im doing cleaning and maintance on tanks Once a week, I"ll start taking more water out then just the normal 15%. My O is now doing much better i put a couple small crickets in today and he ate the quick, Iv also givin blood worms and brime shrimp, he seems to really like the brime shrimp.Although sometimes when I put the crickets in the tank he wont go after them unless i turn off the light, is that normal?????

[donsfish]

I think you'd be better off considering the minimum 50% as "normal" from here out. 15% just isn't enough for the higher bio load fish. You can (and should) use liquid test kits and let the nitrates determine how much water needs to be changed to keep the nitrates less than 20, lower than that even better.

[OinKY]

Iv also givin blood worms and brime shrimp, he seems to really like the brime shrimp.Although sometimes when I put the crickets in the tank he wont go after them unless i turn off the light, is that normal?????

Waiting on "lights out" just means it's still a little shy...or those are some ugly crickets. Some Os are a little light sensitive,but if he comes up to the top near the lights at other times that probably isn't the case here.
The diet is a little high in protein,which isn't a bad thing while small,but now's also the time to broaden his diet and get him to try more things ,especially vegetable matter. Young Os are voracious eaters....they can get picky as they get older.
You might try mysis shrimp over brine shrimp...it's a little more nutritious,more of a "mouthful",and less messy with Os.

[Ethan]

Yea im gona try that with the food, I work at "The other pet store" so im able to get just about anything for my pets for reall cheap. Thy might not know everything but working there and having all the bets I have, an employee disount comes in handy. I am aslo feeding him pellots he gos for them but I think because there so hard they come right out of his mouth when he trys to swollowthem, So I think im gona try and soak them first then put them in the tank that way there already soft for him. I want him to be able to eat them because they have a lot of what he needs along with the crickets, bloodworms exc. Mabey you guys could suggest a brand of pellats that you have had much success with I could try???????

[bigoscarmom]

The tetra brand is readily accepted by most O's, however it is lacking nutritionally. New Life Spectrum is absolutely perfect nutritionally, but most O's that I have heard about ,including mine, don't like them. I have bypassed my O's taste buds by packing crickets chock full of soaked NLS, and she can't tell that it's even in them.

I totally agree with everyone else as far water quality. You can not get away with the same maintenance regimen with large fish as you can with the small community fish. The "I work in a pet store so I know what I am doing" is wrong. Taking care of fish for a few days while they are waiting to be sold is a whole different thing than taking care of that same fish over the span of it's entire life and meeting ALL of the many needs that arise, as far as water quality, food requirements, tank size, enrichment, etc.

I used to use the dip strips, until one read 5ppm ammonia. I went ahead and did a 95% water change, just to be safe, but I saved some of the old water and bought the API master kit, and re-tested. It was zero. It is not an overstatement to say these test strips are dangerously inaccurate.


I am not trying to jump down your throat, but all of us on this site are Oscar lovers and some of us(me) have fought hellacious battles to save our babies lives and have truly fallen in love with our little blighters and want the best for all O's, and if we can stop someone from maybe making the same mistakes we did, well, we accomplished what we joined for.

[OinKY]

Os are chewers,seldom swallow anything whole (except what they aren't suppose too),so softening up the pellets a little should help.Too soft and they disintergrate when chewed leading to possible water quality issues.

I use to recommend "Brand H" (still use it) but don't see endorsing anything as it really comes down to quality ingedients and reading the labels before feeding anything to your fish. Lots have quality ingredients,but some contain other things you don't need. When in doubt,google an ingredient...especially ones labeled as dyes or perservatives.
Home-made is probably better and more healthy ...can be cheap and store well too.

[Ethan]

Well just so im clear never did I say Because I work at a pet store i know everything about fish.I said because I work there i get a great discount, i'm sorry if that some how mislead you in some way. But iv had these fish for 6 months and never had one die, so i suppose im doing soemthing right lol. Thankyou all for the info on food it's a great help. I'll be bringing some of my water to work, we have liquid test kits for a more accurate reading.

[OinKY]

Related to the pellet softening mentioned earlier....
Make good use of that discount and use a liquid vitamin for fish (Zoe,as an example) to soak the pellets. Using one with garlic as an additional ingredient is a big bonus.
Kill two birds with one stone...soften pellets and enhance nutrition.