my O has a eating disorder

[nobuhiko takada]

hey guys, i adopted a 10" tiger oscar five days ago.
he was at my local pet store just looking at me from a little 39 gal, my buddy who works there told me he had been there for a few weeks, so i took him home,

he's now in a 55 i have been running 10 monthes now,
he's shacked up with a 6" dempsey,, they get along well sofar... (i know)
55 gal per O,,,, but there are far worse offenders than i,,,







i have given him everything i have,

hikari gold
omega one
tubifex
crickets
beatles
meal worms
beefheart (frozen)
brine cubes (frozen)

he ate a brine cube the day i got him and has not eaten anything else sence, also he wont eat the brine anymore after that day,,, hmmm?

i threw a couple small feeders in and he does not even care about them,
after one night the Jd took them all out, silent like a hawk he swooped down and took out his prey, with piano wire!

is there some sort of end all food that O's just cant resist?

i named him douche,,


thanks guys

 

[rob0521]

i named him douche,,

all this serious talk and questions and then that made me laugh

 

[ChrisG23]

How long has ummm..... douche gone without eating?
Feeders are the favorite of most cichlids, so he may be sick. Try doing a decent W/C and add a nice dose of aquarium salt. G/L with....douche.

 

[nobuhiko takada]

he has not eaten in 4 days now, he went into the tank 2 days after a 50% WC and i have done another 20% lastnight, i have always been kinda iffy with salt, just cause i have never done it and i dont know the effects of it so well,, hes a clean healthy looking fish, i will try to get some pics,,


he is activly swiming around right now,,, also he is in a very low traffic area, (my office) se he really only see's me for a few hours, then maybe the wife when she goes online

 

[Miles]

Large robust cichlids, especially Oscars, will go on eating strikes for weeks at a time.. Usually from stress or poor water quality, they also do it when they move tanks. I have rescued a number of Oscars that didn't eat for weeks at a time..

Just starve him and make sure you get him on a good staple diet like Hikari.. Don't try to 'activate' his eating behavior by tempting him with goldfish.. just starve him until you can get him on a good food.

He probably tested the brine shrimp because of the smell, but then spit it everywhere and caused an ammonia spike, stressing him more and wanting to make him eat less.

 

[drgn1234]

give him time he will eat. i have 6 oscars and when they go on a hunger strike some thick earth worms bring them right out of it..

 

[nobuhiko takada]

thanks guys...

 

[ChrisG23]

I was iffy about the salt as well, but have since used it to cure everything from ich(no more feeders), to popeye to battlewounds. The only problem i have found with salt is that it reduces waters ability to store diluted O2. Not a problem unless your raising the tank temp to 86 to 88 deg (ich treatment), which will compound the waters lack of O2. At which time bubblers or power heads need to be introduced (i preffer the power heads). once again, G/L with your resqued O.

 

[PoopSmart]

I am having the same probelm with my oscar! I just gave almost all my fish to my g/f's 75 so I could put this oscar with a jack dempsey and a couple small sevs, and hes much bigger than all of them.

Same problem, I tried red wrigglers, hikari, new life spectrum, but I am thinking its a hunger strike as well because hes at least and im sure hes just startled.

I am doin a water change tomorrow (every saturday) hopefully he will come around.

sometimes I think he tries to get a few pellets when I walk away, but I can't tell if its him making the noise, or just the jack dempsey going up and then back down

 

[Mystix212]

This size oscar would be fine without food for up to 2 weeks. The first food you feed him should be the staple pellets. Good luck with saving your douche.