hard water = lazy oscar?

[Conor1148]

hey everyone, i just had a little question.

would having hard water (which i believe is slightly acidic?) cause my oscar to be inactive?

why im asking:
right now, i have a 3ish inch long oscar in a 20gallon. im just waiting on my 55g to finish cycling before i put him in there. now, in my 20 ive had an assortment of decorations, mostly different rocks and such. I added a piece of driftwood that released a good bit of tannin into the water, and since i added that and the tannin was released, my oscar went from being lazy and not moving around alot and only moving when needed to pretty much swimming nonstop buy slowly.

i went on youtube and it seems most oscars swam like that, slowly "patrolling" the tank. like what he was doing after i added the driftwood.

i dont think it was a matter of having cover to hide in, as all my other formations of rock and such added MORE cover.

was it a matter of the tannin lowering the ph or was it just that rocks didnt meet his fancy?

edit- i havent tested in a little while (no ph tests), but last time i remember checking, my ph was i think 7.4?

 

[bigspizz]

I think he just needs to settle into his environment.

 

[GhostShrimpMan]

 

[Conor1148]

but thats the thing, he's been settled in. it started out for a week of just bare bottom and some 4" pvc, he became lazy. then came rocks and things, still lazy.

i left those rock and pvc in for about 3 weeks at a time, i put the driftwood in and i notice a difference in a week.

 

[Natalie]

It sounds like you've found the right combo of decor for him. In my limited experience with Oscars, they tend to mope and sulk when something isn't how they want it. I rescued a 10" guy who just laid on his side in his smaller quarantine tank until I put him in my 90g, where he perked right up. For some reason, they'll act like it's the end of the world if they're not happy.

If it were me, I'd go ahead and put him in the 55g. He'd love the extra room. FYI, you can instant-cycle that tank by transferring all your filter media from the 20g to 55g, along with the decor.

 

[Otherone]

I'm thinking the samething - the inactivity might be due to low water volume more so than KH/GH and PH however if these elements aren't stable it could be throughing of the fish.

 

[thedarkone]

If it were me, I'd go ahead and put him in the 55g. He'd love the extra room. FYI, you can instant-cycle that tank by transferring all your filter media from the 20g to 55g, along with the decor.

+1, Also just so you know. If your PH is above 7.0 (which is neutral) your water is alkaline. Under 7.0 is acidic.

 

[Noddy]

hey everyone, i just had a little question.

would having hard water (which i believe is slightly acidic?) cause my oscar to be inactive?
edit- i havent tested in a little while (no ph tests), but last time i remember checking, my ph was i think 7.4?

hardness of water (kH) is a different thing than acidity (pH)
However keeping you kH steady at 7, will result in a steady pH.
Your Oscar wont mind a pH between 6-8, as long as it's steady.
Our tapwater comes out at kH of 3 and i add calcium to get it at 7kH