oscar behavior

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I had been asking around about a fish I was interested in (Pearsei) which are known as gentle giants. Even this fish went after the silver dollars that were its tankmates. I'm not sure if the balas will work out with that particular ocsar or if you will find that as a cichlid he will just need to get his aggression out on occasion and just chase something.
 
It is a hit or a miss with any cichlid to be honest,you may want to try out a Jack Dempsey,I have one and he is quite laid back and doesn't really bother any other cichlid,except when the cichlids are trying to fight with him,then he goes ballistic on them and proves a point not to mess with him.
 
I think I have a CRAZY one, I can't take it anymore. My Bala's seriously look beat up, I'm not risking their health, he has to go if he doesnt stop soon. I think he already killed my black neon.
Well hes definatly going to eat the neon and he will eventually eat the balas when he gets bigger but it doesnt make sense that hes beating them up right now cuz balas should easily out swim an oscar? Is there enough hiding places in the tank?
 
I had been asking around about a fish I was interested in (Pearsei) which are known as gentle giants. Even this fish went after the silver dollars that were its tankmates. I'm not sure if the balas will work out with that particular ocsar or if you will find that as a cichlid he will just need to get his aggression out on occasion and just chase something.

He's not just occasionaly getting out his aggresion, its constant.
 
He's not just occasionaly getting out his aggresion, its constant.
Do you have enough hiding places and if the oscar is small you should put rocks and stuff so he can clame a territory instead of the whole tank. Sometimes they grow out of this phase. When they are small they attack things of the same size.
 
Well hes definatly going to eat the neon and he will eventually eat the balas when he gets bigger but it doesnt make sense that hes beating them up right now cuz balas should easily out swim an oscar? Is there enough hiding places in the tank?

I doubt he'll end up eventually eating the Bala's when he's older, they will be too big. There is plenty of room for them to swim away from the oscar, but he sneaks up and corners them and since their all together he can nip at at least one of them. Since he is constantly chasing them, the damage builds up.
 
Do you have enough hiding places and if the oscar is small you should put rocks and stuff so he can clame a territory instead of the whole tank. Sometimes they grow out of this phase. When they are small they attack things of the same size.

Yeah there are plenty of hiding spots, but the Bala's don't use them. All the other fish do though, and there is plenty of rocks that he could use to claim as his territory, but he's not.

He's not just attacking things his own size, its fish smaller and fish 2X his size. The fish he attacks the least (the rainbow shark), is the one most similar in size to him.
 
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