Oscar has gone Psycho!

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C

CODzilla

Gambusia
MFK Member
Jul 28, 2009
726
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UK
I have a pair of Oscars (one tiger one common) that have been pals since they were tiddlers about 9 months ago, they are now about 9 inches and one has decided to turn on the other tonight! The Common O's gills are flaring right out and he is having a go at the other O, lip locking, tail shaking and some sort of twitch around the head. He is also going for the Silver Dollars and anyone or anything that dares get in his way including plants/wood/sand.

It's been a hot week here in the UK (by our standards) and the tank temprature has risen from 27 to 29/30, could this be the reason? I have done a water change to bring it down a bit and i'll be keeping an eye on them.

Tank size is 5x2x2.
 
if he is twitching like a kind of shaking dance then that sounds like they are a pair and he is showing off for his girlfriend how tough and hansome he is lol. it could also be aggression triggered by the warmer temps but if he is twitching then my bet is on mating behavior and you may have some eggs soon :) though i think 9in is a bit small for Os to breed i didnt think they became mature until they were pretty much full grown...
 
Sarah88;4155709; said:
if he is twitching like a kind of shaking dance then that sounds like they are a pair and he is showing off for his girlfriend how tough and hansome he is lol. it could also be aggression triggered by the warmer temps but if he is twitching then my bet is on mating behavior and you may have some eggs soon :) though i think 9in is a bit small for Os to breed i didnt think they became mature until they were pretty much full grown...
Click to expand...

It's a conservative guesstimate, 9 inches at least.

Do they need a rock for eggs? I put a slab of rainbow rock in before but they just attacked it cutting themselves up in the process then buried it in sand.
 
Agreed. Either he's flirting or he finally figured out that it's HIS tank and everything else needs to clear out or die. This should come as no surprise, though. It's pretty typical cichlid behavior.

Give it a few days if there isn't any real injury being done. They might get along after this spat. Typically, though, when this comes up it's a permanent thing. Which is why the guidelines for Oscar care usually include that bit about keeping one in a tank alone, or more than six per tank.

Be ready to separate them if they really start tearing it up.

You could also try a drastic rearrangement, including adding plants and rocks to totally confuse them for awhile. They'll probably behave themselves after you do this. This is only a short-term solution, though, if the more aggressive one is aggressive for completely natural reasons.
 
yeah you could try putting a slab of slate or something in there, and yeah like knifegill said, just watch for a couple days and as long as no actual damage is being done then they should be fine but if it doesnt settle down then you may need to separate them or at least try drastically rearranging the tank
 
He is either getting ready to pair up with the other one or take the whole tank. I'd bet pairing but having said that it doesn't preclude killing if his partner isn't receptive to his advances.
 
Thanks for the replies everyone!

The O's are swimming along like best buddys again this morning, I left the heater unplugged and it dropped to 26 over night.

The Tiger O is pretty bashed up along his left side, but it doesn't look serious and should clear up in a couple of days.

This is the one that lost the plot:

ncauk4.jpg


Here he is with the Tiger O:

kakxmd.jpg


Pics are about a month or two ago.
 
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