Oscar always in hiding!!!

[cichlid tank]

in my 55 gallon tank i have a 4" long oscar, 6 BA tetras, 2 red eye tetras, and a firemouth. the 55 is temporary. some of the tetras had what looked like ich so i treated with paraguard for 2 weeks but they still have the dots. anyway, my oscar has been hiding up at the surface by the filter, and the wont be his friendly self always greeting me. i added a firemouth 2 weeks ago and he is SUPER aggressive to oscar and the oscar is kinda a coward now. is this normal? also the water was at 86 for treatment and its in the process of cooling down. maybe it could be because of temp? thanks,
-jack

 

[Magnus_Bane]

in my 55 gallon tank i have a 4" long oscar, 6 BA tetras, 2 red eye tetras, and a firemouth. the 55 is temporary. some of the tetras had what looked like ich so i treated with paraguard for 2 weeks but they still have the dots. anyway, my oscar has been hiding up at the surface by the filter, and the wont be his friendly self always greeting me. i added a firemouth 2 weeks ago and he is SUPER aggressive to oscar and the oscar is kinda a coward now. is this normal? also the water was at 86 for treatment and its in the process of cooling down. maybe it could be because of temp? thanks,
-jack

Oscars are not all exactly like the big bullies they are made out to be honestly. I had allot more cowardly Oscars compaired to the only one that was mean. Oscars are kind of push overs usually when it comes to confrontation. So to me it sounds like normal behaviour that he is hiding away from the more aggressive fish in the tank.

 

[cichlid tank]

Oscars are not all exactly like the big bullies they are made out to be honestly. I had allot more cowardly Oscars compaired to the only one that was mean. Oscars are kind of push overs usually when it comes to confrontation. So to me it sounds like normal behaviour that he is hiding away from the more aggressive fish in the tank.

but he used to be out and about and all happy, but will he go back to that?

 

[cichlid tank]

i just threw a pellet in there and it sunk right before his eyes and he didnt go for it... could this be anything??

 

[Magnus_Bane]

but he used to be out and about and all happy, but will he go back to that?

He should once he is larger then the firemouth. Oscars grow insanely fast for the first couple of years so it shouldn't take him too long to out grow it. Also firemouths tend to be more of a shoaling fish and tend to take their aggression out on eachother rather then other cichlids for the most part, so another idea ya could do is had in a handful more firemouths and see if that does anything with the whole situation.

Also don't be surprised if the Oscar doesn't eat right away, he is probably stressed out by the new guy and isn't feeling upto it atm. I would give him a few days to adjust and then if he still refuses to eat you might have to house the firemouth in a separate tank.

 

[cichlid tank]

He should once he is larger then the firemouth. Oscars grow insanely fast for the first couple of years so it shouldn't take him too long to out grow it. Also firemouths tend to be more of a shoaling fish and tend to take their aggression out on eachother rather then other cichlids for the most part, so another idea ya could do is had in a handful more firemouths and see if that does anything with the whole situation.

Also don't be surprised if the Oscar doesn't eat right away, he is probably stressed out by the new guy and isn't feeling upto it atm. I would give him a few days to adjust and then if he still refuses to eat you might have to house the firemouth in a separate tank.

the oscar is 4 the firemouth is 3 iches

 

[tlindsey]

The Oscar may be getting sick from stress and possibly Ich because you stated your Tetras were treated but still have dots on them.

 

[esoxlucius]

First off you need to establish what the "white spots" are on your BA tetras. You say you've already treated with paraguard in another thread but they are still there. I'm tempted to say treat the whole tank again but the way things are going it sounds like your oscar may not last much longer if left in there with the firemouth. If you have another tank it may be best to take the firemouth out and treat both tanks, just to diffuse the stress.

You don't test your water so we can't say with any degree of accuracy whether the "disease" can be attributed to poor water, or whether your newly purchased firemouth has brought something to your tank. Did you quarantine it? Also you say you can't take pics of the "spots" because your camera's broke.

We don't have a great deal to work with really.

 

[cichlid tank]

First off you need to establish what the "white spots" are on your BA tetras. You say you've already treated with paraguard in another thread but they are still there. I'm tempted to say treat the whole tank again but the way things are going it sounds like your oscar may not last much longer if left in there with the firemouth. If you have another tank it may be best to take the firemouth out and treat both tanks, just to diffuse the stress.

You don't test your water so we can't say with any degree of accuracy whether the "disease" can be attributed to poor water, or whether your newly purchased firemouth has brought something to your tank. Did you quarantine it? Also you say you can't take pics of the "spots" because your camera's broke.

We don't have a great deal to work with really.

well you see, the spots i thought were ich. the firemouth was in a ten gallon tank that my brother owns, and it was in there for a year. i convinced him that that tank would stunt it, so i moved it. i havent tested it since i had the ich or whatever it is, and my camera is cracked and so i unfortunately cant take pics. sorry dude. ive treated the whole tank for 2 weeks

 

[duanes]

To me fire mouths don't belong with oscars, FMs are on the low end of the aggression scale compared to most other Central American cichlids, but they are much more aggressive than your average oscar, or most other South Americans.
Especially if the tank has been compromised with ick.
Without another territorial species in the already small 55 gal tank, the oscar was alpha, the new addition of the much more dominant FM has reduced him to a subordinate, and stressed him to the point of becoming unhealthy.
There is no room in a 55 for more than just the young oscar and tetras.
And if there is even one ick spot left, you must continue to treat, one spot will soon erupt into 100 new ick.
If it were me, I'd do a large water change (maybe 50%, and vacuum the substrate), and put 1.75 lbs of salt in the tank, keeping that salinity for the next 2-3 weeks.