HELP!!!! My Oscars have turned on each other

[Gourami Swami]

Ok, thank you everyone for all your help. I'm moving my tiger to a 55 for the time being and well see what happens, that's all I can do right now, and for the best, this is a very very difficult thing to watch, i spend many hrs a day with my fish, and they have always been best buds, doing everything together, so to see them fall out like this is really rough!!! Thanks again everyone. All of you are awesome and much appreciated!!!!

You mentioned that this happened after you changed around the décor- this is pretty common, it "tricks" the fish into thinking they are not on their old territory, and now on the "new territory" they have to work out the dominance again. It can help when adding new fish, because the old guys don't think it's their established territory, but it can also upset the balance of an established hierarchy. Chances are that once the dominance was worked out they might have coexisted again. But since they look pretty evenly matched it could have become a very violent fight. Perhaps in a larger tank they will live peacefully again. until then I think you made the right move separating them.

 

[neutrino]

I haven't personally kept Oscars but I've had friends keep them and I've personally seen their breeding behavior. I'd be content to leave it for actual Oscar keepers answer the question, but comments so far are about tank size, not Oscar breeding behavior... that does resemble the mating behavior I've seen, including the head shaking. The comparative gentleness of their behavior also resembles courting behavior to my eyes-- have you seen them when they actually want to kill each other? At some point you should see some rock cleaning, I'm not seeing that in the video, but tell me I'm wrong that the lutino one appears to be eyeing (what looks like) the flat rock in the front corner, not what she or he would be doing if this was a true fight. If it is courting behavior it doesn't guarantee a spawn at this point, they may still be a bit young.

Yes, absolutely, ultimately they need a bigger tank, but they look like they've still got a good bit of growing to do and the courting ritual would be similar even in a larger tank. It's just what they do, which is similar to other SA species I have kept. Severums, for example. It's your call, but separating them altogether may or may not upset their progress in bonding and this could start all over again when you put them back together, even in a bigger tank.

 

[Cichlidcrazy18]

I also added a piece of slate, and my blond almost instantly went right to cleaning and clearing the slate, thats when he started keeping everyone else away except my tiger, and then my tiger was being a bully and pushing him around, they weren't fighting, but just getting pushy, so I did another water change moved things again to make more room and all hell broke loose!!!!

 

[Cichlidcrazy18]

I haven't personally kept Oscars but I've had friends keep them and I've personally seen their breeding behavior. I'd be content to leave it for actual Oscar keepers answer the question, but comments so far are about tank size, not Oscar breeding behavior... that does resemble the mating behavior I've seen, including the head shaking. The comparative gentleness of their behavior also resembles courting behavior to my eyes-- have you seen them when they actually want to kill each other? At some point you should see some rock cleaning, I'm not seeing that in the video, but tell me I'm wrong that the lutino one appears to be eyeing (what looks like) the flat rock in the front corner, not what she or he would be doing if this was a true fight. If it is courting behavior it doesn't guarantee a spawn at this point, they may still be a bit young.

Yes, absolutely, they'll need a bigger tank at full size, but they look like they've still got a good bit of growing to do and the courting ritual would be similar even in a larger tank. It's just what they do, which is similar to other SA species I have kept. Severums, for example. It's your call, but separating them altogether may or may not upset their progress in bonding and this could start all over again when you put them back together, even in a bigger tank.

I just added that slate about 4days ago, because they were doing what I thought was early mating dances, and that's when I also moved the tank around, to make more room for them, but things have since gotten real bad, they are good atm, the light is still off, they havnt had any fights this morning, but neither one of them will eat or come out. I am setting up the 55, but am jinestly still hesitant because of everything I have read and seen online about their breeding and mating rituals

 

[Gourami Swami]

I haven't personally kept Oscars but I've had friends keep them and I've personally seen their breeding behavior. I'd be content to leave it for actual Oscar keepers answer the question, but comments so far are about tank size, not Oscar breeding behavior... that does resemble the mating behavior I've seen, including the head shaking. The comparative gentleness of their behavior also resembles courting behavior to my eyes-- have you seen them when they actually want to kill each other? At some point you should see some rock cleaning, I'm not seeing that in the video, but tell me I'm wrong that the lutino one appears to be eyeing (what looks like) the flat rock in the front corner, not what she or he would be doing if this was a true fight. If it is courting behavior it doesn't guarantee a spawn at this point, they may still be a bit young.

Yes, absolutely, ultimately they need a bigger tank, but they look like they've still got a good bit of growing to do and the courting ritual would be similar even in a larger tank. It's just what they do, which is similar to other SA species I have kept. Severums, for example. It's your call, but separating them altogether may or may not upset their progress in bonding and this could start all over again when you put them back together, even in a bigger tank.

I agree with you that it could definitely be breeding ritual- the reason I recommended separating the fish is that the breeding ritual can turn violent especially in a "small tank" with no way for the female to escape. Granted I have kept, but not bred, Oscars, but I've had plenty of experiences with other cichlids where mating turns into a dead female.
Perhaps Oscars are more gentle lovers than the centrals I usually breed, and my advice is overly cautious. But nowadays if I have a pair or cichlids, especially if the tank is "undersized" or if they are the only two cichlids in the tank- I keep a close eye. If the male gets too hard on the female, (which I believed may be happening, since OP's original post said "it's getting really bad"), I will separate the female, change some things up, and try again later when male has calmed down, or in a different tank with other cichlids, etc.

 

[neutrino]

I also added a piece of slate, and my blond almost instantly went right to cleaning and clearing the slate, thats when he started keeping everyone else away except my tiger, and then my tiger was being a bully and pushing him around, they weren't fighting, but just getting pushy, so I did another water change moved things again to make more room and all hell broke loose!!!!

Exactly. I thought I was seeing behavior focused on the slate. I don't disagree with Swami's comment above. It becomes a judgment call on how rough they're getting. But it can look worse than it is if you're not accustomed to it. To me it doesn't look that bad compared to what I've seen sometimes, and I'd interpret the calm periods where they hang out together as a good sign. But I'm not there, which makes a difference.

 

[Cichlidcrazy18]

On to my next question then, which one should I seperate?? because yes, I have heard horror stories of mating Oscars killing the other, I'm afraid of one of them dying, would i be better off removing tank mates, because than I can open up the tank more by removing the stuff the Oscar's dont need thts in the way?? Just want the best solution for all my fish, the last time I separated my Oscar's they both went into severe depression and stopped eating for days,lying on the bottom.. I thought my tiger was sick, me being overly worried I quarantined him, And they both layed on the bottom staring at eachother from across the room, until I put them back together, and they never separated after that, until now

 

[DawnMichele]

I hope everything works out for the BEST!!!

 

[Cichlidcrazy18]

Thanks Dawn me too!!! Its funny how these silly little fish can flip your world upside down in a heartbeat with their crazy antics!!!

 

[neutrino]

On to my next question then, which one should I seperate?? because yes, I have heard horror stories of mating Oscars killing the other, I'm afraid of one of them dying, would i be better off removing tank mates, because than I can open up the tank more by removing the stuff the Oscar's dont need thts in the way?? Just want the best solution for all my fish, the last time I separated my Oscar's they both went into severe depression and stopped eating for days,lying on the bottom.. I thought my tiger was sick, me being overly worried I quarantined him, And they both layed on the bottom staring at eachother from across the room, until I put them back together, and they never separated after that, until now

I don't know that anyone can answer that absolutely, like I say it's a judgment call, you almost have to have a feel for it, which isn't easy if you haven't seen it before-- I remember being outraged at my first severum pair when the male appeared to be harassing the female, which went on for a week, only to have them settle down and produce eggs-- something of a revelation to me at the time. But from your description and to my eyes things look hopeful. I'd be more worried if one was constantly chasing the other, but I'm not seeing that. Imo the calm periods are a good sign, as does both being in the vicinity of the rock, as opposed to one or both appearing to want nothing to do with the other. But even with those positive signs, courting behavior is more or less a test and doesn't 100% guarantee they end up bonding, so it pays to keep an eye on things.

But, as I say, a judgment call. The best someone can really do with powerful fish like that are reasonable observations. To my eyes it looks positive, I've been on the verge of separating breeding cichlids before, only to have them settle down and spawn. But they're not 100% predictable.