Are Oscars Air Breather?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
S

Sarcosuchus

Candiru
MFK Member
Oct 28, 2006
758
9
48
Everywhere
Something bad has happened. My Florida Gar attacked my 4 inches Red Tiger Oscar.

Nothing serious, the Oscar was fast enough that the Gar was only able to grab the tail, so the tail is messed because of the Gar's teeth. Other than that it's all good.

My Gar is a foot long, the only reason I placed the Oscar in is because the Oscar is large enough from being swallowed, unfortunately that didn't stop the Gar from attacking.

The tank the Oscar is in now is an over a foot long by 10-11 inches in width glass tank. When the Oscar is big enough I will place it back in the tank.

My question is, while the Oscar was in the previous tank ( 3 feet in length by 1 and a half feet in width and height ), it wasn't breathing air at the surface at all. It was just actively swimming all over the place playing here and there and when I approach, coming straight up to me begging for food.

This smaller tank now was dirty, so I did a complete water change and threw away the old ****ty gravels. Now the water is just clean with bog woods and a rock. The Oscar has a nice hiding place and is swimming just fine. What's sad is, the Oscar is not socializing with me as it did previously and the intense black and orange / red colours on him have gone pale. Black gone brown, orange / red gone pale..:(

And today when I looked at it, it is fine but was breathing air at the surface. It is just at the surface swimming just fine but keeps on breathing air...is something wrong? There is no filter in this tank, I would just manually clean it. I won't do 100% water change now of course, just suck the debris with the pump and do about 20-50% water change when needed. Is something wrong here since it is breathing air? The pH is 7.0.

Edit: The Oscar eats fine and did chase my fingers when I was to feed it. But certainly not its previous self.
 
to put is nicely, you are suficating your fish, with no filter there is no water movement, the fact that you dont have a filter isnt bad aslong as you do a 30% water change perday and vaccume the gravel. but there needs to be water movement, get a bubbler, and run it through a peat filter at the very least, your fish cannot breath air it dosnt have lungs(or a modified swim bladder), at the absolute very least you need a powerhead and a bubbler and ytou need to keep up on the water changes, something needs to break the surface tention of the water for the O2 to get in, basicly it like putting garbage bag over your head, eventuly you will use up all the o2, installing a bubbler will poke a few holes in the garbage bag, but its still there it you catch my drift.


Im not slamming you because you are abviusly trying and dont know any better but a good rena fillstar xp2 is only $60(xp3 $100 @ http://www.petsmart.com) now-at-days /w free shipping, do your poor oscar a favor and buy a filter that will solve some of your problems.

At a conservitive estimate it this continues your oscar will be dead in under a week and it WILL be your fault. sorry man, I know its not what you wanted to here.
 
:eek: Damn I will fix it right away! thanks a lot for helping! going to take care of this now. Thanks again!

Edit: Will an air stone help?
 
I am back from buying an air pump. And wow is the Oscar excited! he / she has stopped breathing air and is playing all around. It seems bubbles excite him / her, something like that fish in Finding Nemo. :D

He / She chases and attacks bubbles. His / Her colour is back intense and is swimming happily and playing. Moreover he / she is back playing with me!:headbang2
 
portabuddy;752809; said:
thats good, glad to see he is doing better, just make sure that you keep up on the water changes and look into a filter.

good luck...
Click to expand...

Yes I will:) thanks a lot again. Got some Oscar poop floating at the surface gathered at one corner because of the force of the air pump, gotta take the poop out now. Thanks again!:headbang2

I love seeing him / her like this, so active and playful. Just adorable!
 
Looks like you've got it under control with the airstone, but I'd definitely grab some kind of filter. It's not that big of a tank so a little one should do (it's just the oscar in there right?).

Yeah grow him up a little before trying him with the gar, I had a gar back in the day, I think it was a Florida...anyway he would take a snap at just about anything that was smaller than he was. I'd say at least 8 inches on the oscar before trying that again (unless your gar grows much bigger of course).
 
I would put a small filter on there too...that should really help. At least he/she is doing well. Best of luck.
 
I agree with adding a filter ASAP, till you do you must do large scale daily water changes. When you do get the filter put media in it from another filter, this will have the bacteria you need to get rid of ammonia and nitrite, also adding aged gravel fro manother tank will help. Also keep a close eye on your ammonia, nitrite and nitrates, check them daily. If the tank is only about a foot long then I suggest getting something to replace that as well. You can buy 30-50g rubbermade bins at Wal-mart for something like $7.00. They make great cheap growout/QT/hospital tanks and will take a lot of pressure off of you and stress off of your oscar.
You DO NOT want to try and keep an oscar is a small uncycled/unfiltered tank for very long.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom