Need help with my 2 Tiger Oscars PLEASE!

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Filthy Punk

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 28, 2010
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New Zealand
Hi any ideas will be great as even mt LFS is stumped? I have two Tiger Oscars that are just over 200mm and a small Fire eel and a common Plec in a 400L tank. My Oscars have been sulking at the bottom of the tank for a few weeks now but the Fire eel and plec are still happy and I am unsure why. My water was as follows a week ago.
PH was 7.2
Nitrite was a little high due to my over feeding a little
Nitrate was a little high also
KH was 2
NH3 was showing a very little maybe 0.1 maybe less

Not sure how to raise my KH without raiseing PH. Done a few water chages to sort out Nitrite, Nitrate and ammonia, a 50% and two 25% over a week, Conditiond water with aqua one water conditioner and added in API proper PH 7.0

I did have an ammonia spike about a month ago but picked it up and treated water with Zeolite to bring it down a little, did major water changes every day, 50% first 2 days and 25% for 2 days after and added liquid bacteria with water changes and it sorted it out pretty quick. Cleaned out under and around all plants and rocks. I have an air pump pumping 300L/ph.

Went to my LFS yesterday and tested water again and eveything is fine, just my KH is still 2????
My little mates still sulking at bottom of tank. They will always come up to the front and beg for food when I am there and always feed as per normal greedy Oscars do swim around for a bit then back to their nest.
New to keeping fish so any help welcome.
 
how long has the tank been set up? and what kind of filter do you have on it and how is your filter set up(i.e. what do you have in it and proportions of everything) you really shouldnt be getting any measurements of ammonia or nitrate even if you are overfeeding a little unless you are vastly overfeeding. at that size with the pleco and the fire eel you may need to be doing more water changes, oscars and plecos are huge waste machines even without overfeeding, i would look into getting like a 150g at least if you want to keep all of them, you might be able to get away with your tank if there isnt any aggression but i dont see it working unless you do at least 50% changes twice a week and at that size they can now just be fed once a day
 
I'd like to touch on a few things here. First off you need to drasticly simplify your fish keeping. Oscars DO NO CARE what PH or KH they are in. They will thrive with one major water condition.... CONSISTENCY. Consistency is KEY!!! You have roughly a 50 gallon aquarium, not big enough for your current fish once they are full grown. In my opinion 50% twice a week is a bit much, I'd say no more than 30% every four days. Stop testing your water for PH and KH, the fish you are keeping have been captive bred for hundreds of generations and do not have the slightest idea of the "kind of water" they're "supposed" to be in. My PH is 8.1. I've been breeding oscars in this water for 20 years with ZERO issues.

Here's the thing, oscars hate change, hate it with a passion, so much so they will sulk for weeks on end if things like their water condions change constantly or even if you move their favorite rock. They are drama queens, and should be treated as such. Use of the K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid) method is the best advice I could ever give to an oscar keeper. If you have any furthur questions feel free to shoot me an email jjstraz@hotmail.com

Also, your oscars are old enough to start cutting back on their feeding. Once a day as much as they can fit in their mouth (which is a lot) in under thirty seconds is PLENTY! 8" oscars (200mm) are just on the cusp of maturity and a few things could possibly happen from this point on.

1.) you have a male and female and they will want to spawn and attempt to kill their tank mates.

2.) you have a male and female and due to the crowded conditions the male will kill everything in the tank.

3.) you have two males and one will kill the other and possibly tolorate the tank mates... possibly

4.) you have two females and a 50/50 shot they tolorate each other.

Keeping two oscars in the same tank is risky in it's own right, even in an 8x2x2 tank.

I keep five in 4800L tank. (1200 gallons)

Sorry for the lengthy post, I have a soft spot for oscars and I'd like to see you succeed in keeping them. :)
 
yeah i forgot to mention not to bother with worrying about things like pH and kH, just make sure to get rid of chlorine, and i was saying the 50% 2x a week in order to keep nitrates down enough with that much stocking,

and fishguy, i think 400L is a little over 100g not 50g

but yeah he is right about them being drama queens these guys hate change especially as they get bigger
 
TheFishGuy;4670659; said:
I'd like to touch on a few things here. First off you need to drasticly simplify your fish keeping. Oscars DO NO CARE what PH or KH they are in. They will thrive with one major water condition.... CONSISTENCY. Consistency is KEY!!! You have roughly a 50 gallon aquarium, not big enough for your current fish once they are full grown. In my opinion 50% twice a week is a bit much, I'd say no more than 30% every four days. Stop testing your water for PH and KH, the fish you are keeping have been captive bred for hundreds of generations and do not have the slightest idea of the "kind of water" they're "supposed" to be in. My PH is 8.1. I've been breeding oscars in this water for 20 years with ZERO issues.

Here's the thing, oscars hate change, hate it with a passion, so much so they will sulk for weeks on end if things like their water condions change constantly or even if you move their favorite rock. They are drama queens, and should be treated as such. Use of the K.I.S.S. (Keep It Simple Stupid) method is the best advice I could ever give to an oscar keeper. If you have any furthur questions feel free to shoot me an email jjstraz@hotmail.com

Also, your oscars are old enough to start cutting back on their feeding. Once a day as much as they can fit in their mouth (which is a lot) in under thirty seconds is PLENTY! 8" oscars (200mm) are just on the cusp of maturity and a few things could possibly happen from this point on.

1.) you have a male and female and they will want to spawn and attempt to kill their tank mates.

2.) you have a male and female and due to the crowded conditions the male will kill everything in the tank.

3.) you have two males and one will kill the other and possibly tolorate the tank mates... possibly

4.) you have two females and a 50/50 shot they tolorate each other.

Keeping two oscars in the same tank is risky in it's own right, even in an 8x2x2 tank.

I keep five in 4800L tank. (1200 gallons)

Sorry for the lengthy post, I have a soft spot for oscars and I'd like to see you succeed in keeping them. :)
Click to expand...
^AGREE^
To complicated. Change water, often. Keep temp @ 80º-82º Feed every other day or every third day once they are mature.I keep one in a 210g with 30 other fish...no probs. I've raised him from 1" with said fish. I think with Oscars, if you dont raise them with the fish and just add fish one at a time, they get all pouty.
 
Even as adults they no longer need a heater. 3/4 of my fish room has unheated tanks... one major advantage at keeping the temps that high is warding off disease, but if you're smart about things and not over feed and keep up on water changes then a heater at maturity is unnecessary.... unless you want eggs... My 1200 is kept at 82... Oscars spawned last nite. :)
 
is your tank overstocked with a lot of plants, rocks etc. if so your fish might not have the room to swim. i had the same problem with the same fish.
 
Hi and thanks for all of you input I have found it all very helpfull. In reply to the question of my filter I am running 2 aqua one C1200s, My tank has been set up for almost 2 months, I have moved house along with my fish so maybe they are having a sulk about that. Just wanted to be sure that they are not having health issues due to my incompitance. i have raised them for about 1 inch. I have a few rocks and plants but have made sure to leave the top 2/3rds of the 600mm of the tank mostly free of anything apart from the tops of a few plants which they swim through without any problems.

Thanks again. BTW they are still sulking might add some prozac on next water change
 
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