Does timeout make a new king of the tank?

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Rocksor

Rocksor

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Nov 28, 2011
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So I have this Oscar that has been bullying my place nicarguense, chocolate cichlid since he got to about 5 inches. He was the second fish in the 100g tank with the place being the first.

If i keep him in a 30g for a week, and then put him back after some re decorating, will he be more submissive to the other two cichlids? I see the other two go round and round for territory.
 
I've tried the isolation/ redecorating trick with several cichlids and my success rate is about 50/50, but all iso trips were much longer. Closer to a month.....and half of those failed. It's definitely worth a shot, but no guarantees really
 
Oscars are difficult to retrain. Once a bully, always a bully is the norm. My two Oscars, the one chased him for weeks, now they are best buddies. With Oscar's it's always an IFY, you never know what they are going to do. i read that sometimes even peaceful pairing Oscars will actually turn on each other. I have mine in their own tank and call it a permanent time out box. Oscars IMHO should be in their own tank. They can be real SOB"s, my two are in with two female Convicts and a Leporinus and they all get along, still have an occasional chase. Some people believe in the territorial theory I do not. I say sometimes a fish just doesn't like another fish and wants to chase or eat them. I'll see my Oscar chase a fish who was doing nothing but just looking at him lol
 
I had an Oscar that was the meanest fish I've ever seen. He would attempt to kill anything that went near him or the tank. My hand included on several occassions. He nearly killed a 12" pleco when he was 6". I had success keeping Yoyo loaches with mine but that was about it. And they only worked because they were so fast. Other Oscars I have had in the past were very chilled out. There's an extremely wide variance of aggression in the species!
 
plecostic said:
Oscars are difficult to retrain. Once a bully, always a bully is the norm. My two Oscars, the one chased him for weeks, now they are best buddies. With Oscar's it's always an IFY, you never know what they are going to do. i read that sometimes even peaceful pairing Oscars will actually turn on each other. I have mine in their own tank and call it a permanent time out box. Oscars IMHO should be in their own tank. They can be real SOB"s, my two are in with two female Convicts and a Leporinus and they all get along, still have an occasional chase. Some people believe in the territorial theory I do not. I say sometimes a fish just doesn't like another fish and wants to chase or eat them. I'll see my Oscar chase a fish who was doing nothing but just looking at him lol
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A lot of times all it takes to spark a territorial dispute is eye contact. However i do agree with you, some fish are just plain mean and dont want anything else in their tank. Thats how my FH is, he will kill anything i have ever tried to put in his tank throughout the two and a half years of his life.
As for the OP's question, i would add the advice of leaving lights off for a few days when you try reintroducing the problem cichlid, this will sometimes keep agression levels down a lil while they all find their place in the tank.
 
Get more Oscars. You have the tank space. Oscars tend to focus on each other. Get him a fish his own size to pick on. He might forget about the rest of his tank mates if hes focused on other Oscars around him.
 
In my opinion oscars are only bullies when other fish don't fight back every time I've seen a fish fight back they back down unless it's another Oscar
 
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