so, long story short, I had two oscars and a spotted eel in a 75g. at first, they were aggressive with each other, and I put a divider in for a while, once I removed the divider they did much better, although it was still a love/hate relationship, but not to the point that they needed to be seperated. My tiger oscar, Rocky, started breathing heavily, I tested the water parameters, they were fine, pH7.2, ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate less than 20ppm. Despite my best efforts, no causitive agents or diseaes were diagnosed, and Rocky died. Bullwinkle, my red oscar, is now depressed. His coloring is fine, his fins are erect, and he's eating pretty well, but he spends most of his time moping in a corner, or laying halfway on his side on the bottom. This has been going on for weeks now. So, I do not want to go through adding another oscar, is there anything that I can do to enrich his habitat to keep him more active? Right now there is a couple of pieces of driftwood in the tank, any plants tend to get "pruned". Any ideas would be helpful!
habitat enrichment for oscars
- Thread starter kzimmerman
- Start date
Maybe some dithers? Giant danios keep my oscar busy. Took him 2 months to catch one and the other he still chases a couple times a day.
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In a 75 I would say find a bigger male convict then give it a hiding spot in the corner to escape when the Oscar gets to chasing him. Other wise I think some SD's would be nice to if you can find them big enough to not fit in its mouth (min 6 SD's).
In all honesty a 75 is only really big enough for one big Oscar in the long run. I had one 13-14" O in a 75 for yrs and it looked full in there. I think the only smaller fish tough enough to survive in close quarters like that with a big Oscar would be a convict with a place to retreat. Giant Danios etc will just be eaten at night when the lights go off so I wouldn't waste my money.
In all honesty a 75 is only really big enough for one big Oscar in the long run. I had one 13-14" O in a 75 for yrs and it looked full in there. I think the only smaller fish tough enough to survive in close quarters like that with a big Oscar would be a convict with a place to retreat. Giant Danios etc will just be eaten at night when the lights go off so I wouldn't waste my money.
Oscars have great personality. I had 2 in a 55 gal for 6 years. The power went out while on vacation............
The 75 is not permanent quarters. I have a 250 gallon plywood build coming soon, after I finish collecting the bits. He's plenty big enough to eat giant danios now, I've got 4 silver dollars in another tank, may consider moving them. He seems a little bit better now, but is definately not as active as he once was. I feed him some live minnows the other day, and he perked up a little, but that supply is not consistent.
I cant imagine 2 adult Oscars in a 55, as stated above a 75 is a better size tank for a single Oscar.
The tank is small and the aggression you had stressed the fish and that may have been why he died. Your Oscar would be happier by himself in the 75g if not upgrade to something bigger. Also Oscars will rip live plants to shreds. I only recommend plastic ones, but you may find them floating. Be careful of rocks and driftwood to, because Oscars will hurt themselves trying to move things. Also fish don't get depressed lol. Their brains aren't capable of it.
Cichlidfish, do you have any verifiable scientific data to back up your assertions that their brains are not capable of being depressed? Also, note that the tank was not permanent quarters, I had a much larger setup coming for them.
