I have had my oscar 2 months she is 4 inches long and there is a goldfish in there with her she doesn't want to eat recently they both stoped eating and are at the stop of the tank with their mouths out of the water the goldfish was eattign but had its mouth out ofthe water a lot for a week now I noticed he oscar wasdoing so also today
Help
- Thread starter Silvertears
- Start date
I moved them both into a 20 gallon fish tank 4 days ago as she gets bigger I am getting new tanks for her she was eatting fine in till 2 days ago along with the goldfish I have tried shrimp, krill, flakes, and cichlid pellets and the oscar wont eat any of them
Hello and welcome to MKF! For starters, a four-inch Oscar plus a goldfish equals enough waste to max out a forty gallon tank. Goldfish produce three times the ammonia as most tropical fish, ounce for ounce. The Oscar will grow faster than you can upgrade, usually adding an inch per month. For one Oscar all by itself, a 75g tank is the recommended minimum.
Buy a test kit or take your water to the pet store and get the actual numbers for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels. If they tell you, "You're water is fine.", ask again for the actual numbers. You should have no ammonia or nitrites and very low amounts of nitrates if your tank is properly cycled.
Also, goldfish are temperate and Oscars are tropical. The 77ºF your Oscar would be best kept at is too warm for long-term goldfish health.
Oh, and avoid goldfish as food. They carry too many diseases to be used safely unless you are raising them yourself.
Your fish are probably not eating because of stress, either from ammonia in the water or some other cause of deoxygenation. They are suffocating and air matters more than food.
Buy a test kit or take your water to the pet store and get the actual numbers for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels. If they tell you, "You're water is fine.", ask again for the actual numbers. You should have no ammonia or nitrites and very low amounts of nitrates if your tank is properly cycled.
Also, goldfish are temperate and Oscars are tropical. The 77ºF your Oscar would be best kept at is too warm for long-term goldfish health.
Oh, and avoid goldfish as food. They carry too many diseases to be used safely unless you are raising them yourself.
Your fish are probably not eating because of stress, either from ammonia in the water or some other cause of deoxygenation. They are suffocating and air matters more than food.
to MFK!
Thanks for the help and I don't have the money for a bigger tank atm I am saving up for it so I can buy a bigger tank and I added one of the bubble stones and they both seam to be fine and eatting and the goldfish is only a temperary tank mate I want to get another oscar when I have the money for a bigger tank I normaly feed the oscar rosy reds or fathead minnows seams how they both are the same thing I will move the goldfish to a tank by itself I did one of the test strips and the pH is a high so I am working on lowering that thank you again for the help
I was also woundering other then the minnows what would make good feeder fish that are easy to breed in eather a 5 or 10 gallon tank?
I'd go guppies on that one. And remember that Oscars are omnivores and will not survive on feeders alone. Goldfish should, of course, never eat live fish, being vegetarians. Some invertebrates now and then is a fine idea, but go heavy on the veggies. Especially peas without the shell. Good for fiber, they are.
Saving for a tank? I'd advise you to go all the way and save money by buying one ultimate tank rather than slowly upgrading. It'll mean less empty tanks laying around when you're done if you can resist adding fish to them. If you can't resist adding fish to old tanks, I'd strongly advise the purchase of a suitable tank immediately. Otherwise you could end up like so many of us with ten or twenty tanks going and no free time on the weekends. It's sooo addicting! Good luck.
Saving for a tank? I'd advise you to go all the way and save money by buying one ultimate tank rather than slowly upgrading. It'll mean less empty tanks laying around when you're done if you can resist adding fish to them. If you can't resist adding fish to old tanks, I'd strongly advise the purchase of a suitable tank immediately. Otherwise you could end up like so many of us with ten or twenty tanks going and no free time on the weekends. It's sooo addicting! Good luck.
I am trying to save up for a 180 gallon but if she gets to big for the tank shes in now i will go for the biggest I can at that moment and I also feed my oscar cichlid pellets freeze dried shrimp and krill and bloodworms I would end up filling up every empty tank I get I would do that now if I had the money and I don't feed the goldfish anything live normaly give them flakes and bloodworms thanks for the help again