Help! Oscars Fighting

OscarsLoved · 05-21-2007, 12:13 PM

Help. I bought an albino oscar 1 month ago and a couple days ago a tiger one. Both of them are now in my 65 gallon tank. The tiger oscar is getting beat up by the albino and it is worring me. They are chasing each other and sometime their tails will vibrate. The tiger one (Trigger) keeps "eating" the rocks off the piece of shale i have in there while the albino (Cupcake) one mouths it's side. What should i do and why are they fighting?

phahiki · 05-21-2007, 01:10 PM

The tank might be too small for two oscars, believe it or not.

regulatorocks · 05-21-2007, 02:37 PM

you might have had better luck if you added them at the same time and dropped a bunch of dithers in there too

put some tetras/barbs/bala sharks or some kind of schooling fish that will distract them from eachother. if aggression continues you will have to find a new home for one of them

OscarsLoved · 05-21-2007, 03:46 PM

If i put neon tetras in with my 4 inch oscars they will get eaten. I don't want to do that. I thought it might be a prespawning thing. If anyone else has any sugestions i would be happy to listen.Thanks for all the help.

regulatorocks · 05-22-2007, 02:19 PM

look at the bright side..the oscars will be focused on chasing dithers instead of eachother

you can get big tetras that wont get eaten, or maybe some bala sharks

Sniperelite8243 · 05-22-2007, 02:53 PM

try adding some big live plants, my gold gouramis were really viol;ent towards each other. but after i added enough plants they stopped bothering each other.

weorth a try but be carefiul of snails.

good luck

Andyoybna · 05-22-2007, 03:30 PM

Well, the source of your problem, is most definately 65 gallons is MUCH too small for 2 oscars, realistically, it is too small to keep even one full grown oscar, a standard 90 gallon tank for one oscar would be reccomended, a 75 would be acceptable. I highly advise you to get another tank, or to get rid of one of the oscars ASAP, before one kills the other.

Also, IMO, the only dither acceptable (or any tankmate for that matter) for an oscar, is one that they can eat, rosy red minnows, and feeder goldfish. Oscars will eventually kill of of their tankmates unless kept in rediculous gallonage tanks. I have heard of an oscar killing a 10" pleco, just slowly ripping it apart and eating pieces of it.... It is possible to get lucky, but.... to be safe in most home aquariums, it isn't practicle to keep anything with an oscar, or more than one oscar per tank. It really angers me that a fish like this can be so widely available, and so cheap.... Not to mention how quickly they grow, compared to other fish that get very large, such as even other SA cichlids, balas, clown loaches.... etc.

OscarsLoved · 05-22-2007, 04:18 PM

Thanks for the suggestions. Well, I can't get another aquarium. The fact that a got a 65 gallon is great. I was going to get a 36 gallon (at the time I only had 1 Oscar named Jack who died Friday). Jack hade been sick from the day i got him over three months ago. I knew the 36 was to small so I figured a way to get a 50 gallon and I was happy with that. I did some more research and then learned that the 65 gallon is only a little bit taller than the 50 so I got that one. I'm not made of money or space so getting another 10 gallon would be impossible. I already have six aquariums all in my room.I talked to someone at PetSmart and they said it would be fine to have 2 Oscars in a 65 gallon, since I would be changing 10% of their water every day (give or take a little). Trigger and Cupcake are not fighting as much as they were yesterday. I just didn't know if it was them "pre-mating" because that's what I've heard they do when they are going to mate. They are only 4 inches so they couldn't breed yet, but they could have been "pairing off."Thanks again for the help. If you have any more suggestions I would be glad to listen.

phahiki · 05-22-2007, 04:21 PM

People at PetSmart don't know anything, and will do anything to make a sale.

Sniperelite8243 · 05-22-2007, 06:26 PM

Quote:

People at PetSmart don't know anything, and will do anything to make a sale.

yeah i agree, also our good old friends

at walmart do the same. and for the new members here walmart is fish keepers biggest enemy. they are the downfall to fish every where. but if you want too disease your tank, i highly recommend them.