How dangerous is an oscar really?

[rba718]

This thread makes me want to get some Oscars.

 

[sevendreamz]

I agree an Oscar bite doesnt hurt that bad. Getting surprised by a bite is the worse part. I mean it can draw a little blood but thats it. Scratches mainly and yeah a large Dovii or Umbee...now thats a different ballgame.

 

[big dovii]

My old oscar used to grab and twist, the sob hurt like hell.
NOW Dovii on the other hand CAN and WILL break fingers, when my male was smaller and I
was naive, I put my hand in there when he had fry and he grabbed my pinky by the nail and
twisted and ended up breaking my finger and ripping half of my nail off!!

 

[Opiate]

haha, depends on the individual fish, i use to have a breding pair and the male was mad!! always drew blood, but every oscar since has been a pansy.. only cichs i would worry bout are dovii/umbee/butti/festae

 

[Marc280106]

They will be especially aggressive if you're in 'thier territory' of the tank. Also if you' re cleaning the tank when it's normally feeding time, all I can say is you're on your own!

In the case of my Red devil, all six feet of the tank is his territory. He can be up the oppisite end of the tank and if i have to reach in for any reason, look out! He comes charging full tilt and man does he get me out of there. When he was smaller i used to stuff around with him and let him tear my hand up pretty good, but not anymore. All those who say it doesn't hurt, i don't believe you. On the other hand, i can litterally hand feed him with no problems.

Here's a vid i took of him a while ago, messing up my hand. Like i said, not anymore.

http://www.youtube.com/v/w46qRJeya60&hl=en"></param><param

 

[chillidragon]

My fascination with being eaten alive by a small fish notwithstanding, does anyone know of a good picture of oscar teeth? I've Google Imaged it for a while but I'm suspecting it would have to be a dead/dissected oscar since the teeth are in their throat (?).

(Also it has just occurred to me that feeding time is directly after cleaning time. Maybe I've been asking for a mauling?)

 

[fourty2]

since the teeth are in their throat (?).

they have small teeth at the front of their mouths

 

[K626]

LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! I told my middle son that the bite didnt really hurt but just shocks you. so i demonstrated for him no problem. i go get a sandwich and his older brother comes running laughing hysterically. " dad shazaam wont let his finger go. i got down there and he was actually pulling the oscar around the front in tow. if i didnt know any better id swear he was teasing my son cuz he was little. me he bites

I originally bought my 2 oscars to teach my kids to keep their hands out of my tanks. They used to like to pet the fish in the 40 that they could get into. Once I put the o's in there and they got attacked for doing it, they won't go near my tanks now. They're 5, 4, and 2, and boys, but I've never heard them so scared of anything as my o's.

 

[ceeej31]

i used to have an oscar that was just sad to look at, i got him at petsmart and he never 100% health, he was very shy and almost never came out, but if he came out when we had someone visiting they would freakout when they saw him and say somthing like, "wherer the hell did that come from"
any ways hi bit me once during feeding time, i was looking over at the computer screen and he caught me off gaurd, it didnt even leave a mark but it scared the crap out of me

 

[marshallfishies]

my three, ten inch oscars usually just scare me when they bite