I think my Oscar is a moron

[atetsade]

Hello everyone, this is my first post.

I'm a little disappointed with my Oscar. He's about 6 months old and about 8" long. He's a pretty fish but utterly boring and antisocial.

I've had him in 3 different tanks and moved 30 miles once. He is in a 55 gallon tank with a pair of smaller cichlids I added recently. He's always been a solitary fish. Good health, almost zero hole-in-the-head troubles.

This fish is extremely shy and sulky. He's shy to take food, he doesn't eat much for a week or two at a time, he's wary of an open tank lid, lays flat on the bottom when I freshen up the water, he doesn't move anything around in the tank. Sometimes he will liven up a bit and swim around with gusto, but as soon as he sees a human he'll stop and hide.

I see videos and descriptions of Oscars that love their humans, that will be pet, handfed, leap at food, race around the tank, this fish does nothing like that.

Does anybody else have an Oscar like this? Can a fish be traumatized or something?

 

[atetsade]

the name is Cookie Monster. this is Cookie Monster slowly running away to hide.

 

[Honda12]

To better help with some of your questions. Letting us know what you use for filtration and what your water parameters are will really help.

From what you describe on the way he acts, it sounds like there may be some problems with your water. Oscars, let alone most fish tend to be sluggish, shy, and not eat well when water quality is poor. You also mentioned HITH which can be caused by poor water quality which also leads me to this conclusion.

 

[atetsade]

I'm pretty sure he does not have HITH. From what I've read on the internet, it seems that all Oscars have somewhat depressed nodes of flesh with pinhole pores around the perimeter. I also see little groups of pores along the lower jaw and they look natural, symmetrical.

I'd like to see a really good photo of an Oscar's head that does not have HITH.

I change the water 33% every week with store bought spring water. This was the only course at first because the last place I lived at had swamp gas for water. Now I'm on city water, and it's so much easier to buy spring water than try dechlorinating a bunch of crappy tap water...

 

[atetsade]

The filter is still just a basic siphon and spill thing with filter cartridges. Like I say, I change the water and filters alot and suck all the crap out of the gravel. Once I cleaned the tank so well that the water got cloudy again, oops. He lived. He's still boring.

 

[balton777]

Sounds like you're not a fan for a slow moving, easy going Oscar. For a big interactive, glass banging fish, trade that guy in for a Trimac or a Midas.

Definitely not boring.

 

[CichlidAddict]

Like I say, I change the water and filters alot and suck all the crap out of the gravel.

Don't change out the filter pads unless absolutely necessary. Just rinse them in non-chlorinated water and put them back in. They contain a lot of beneficial bacteria.
Also, does your filter have a plastic insert with holes in it that slides in next to the filter pad? If so, fill it with some type of bio-media.

Once I cleaned the tank so well that the water got cloudy again, oops.

This means you killed off too much of the beneficial bacteria and your tank cycled again.

 

[thebestincali2000]

i wouldent get rid of him as someone stated above.spend alot of time by the tank,and eventually he will start coming out and enjoying your company.feed him alot of different foods,like brineshrimp,bloodworms,earthworms,
goldfish(not too often though)as well as pellets.loud noises can scare them too because fish hear alot better than people because of the water.what temperature is your water at?purified water is what i use to do my waterchanges.basically there are alot of reasons that your oscar could be timid,it could also just be your fish.

 

[balton777]

Hello everyone, this is my first post.

I'm a little disappointed with my Oscar. He's about 6 months old and about 8" long.

He is in a 55 gallon tank with a pair of smaller cichlids

The filter is still just a basic siphon and spill thing with filter cartridges. Like I say, I change the water and filters alot and suck all the crap out of the gravel.

For a 55 gallon tank with an Oscar and a couple of other cichlids, you don't have nearly enough filtration. You need to add a good canister filter in addition to your HOB.

With 2 filters going, you can clean one every other time and won't kill off all your good bacteria at the same time.

 

[Chago09]

no offence but your Oscar is not a moron. I think it's you who is the moron. For one your tank is tooooo small to have a Oscar and "other cichlids" like you say. A 55 is barely enough for one Oscar all by themselves. Your filter by the sounds of it is probably some crappy whisper or something. Go out and buy a real filter like a Aqua Clear 110 which is like $50. If you want to spend even more look into a canister filter.

Don't change the filter cartridges...... you need that bacteria to filter your tank. Go to google and type in the words nitrogen cycle. Read this and you will then understand why you don't just replace cartridges.

Once again your Oscar is not a moron but you need to learn on how to care for him. Your Oscar is just suffering because the tank he is in is overcrowded and there is no biological filter, which in turns causing the tank to have excessive amounts of ammonia and nitrite. Picture living in a 10 foot by 10 foot room with 10 people with absolutly NO air circulation or filtering. Imagine what it would be like when everyone takes a crap in the corner. Thats basicly what your Oscar is living in. If that 10 by 10 room was a real thing I would ask what moron put them in there.