Oscar has gone Psycho!

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They don't appear to be hurting each other. Is there a good pit dug somewhere that they are playing around in? Any other behavioral clues you can give us?

And they are beautiful fish. Good job, fishkeeper.
 
8"-9"-10" size don't matter its there age counts! My proven pair do they same thing the heated water then you cooling it with water changes are triggering them to spawn!that's exactly how I do it! My pr will be all normal n nice one minute n have a fight the next.sometimes I have to break it up! They've trashed 3-4 hoods a few lights too I've picked hood out of bottom of tank many times.but just cause their doing the pre-spawn dance doesn't mean they will actually do it!it might even be 2 females! Cover one end of tank with a towel put some slate in the darker side.do daily water changes n drop your tank temp a few degrees with the new water.check slate 1st thing in mornings! They might not last long! Use a grey or blk slate or they be very hard to see! I've seen many oscars do the dance n never spawn also.so you never know till they do it!if they do spawn n eggs are always white. Either 2 females or one or both are sterile. GL
 
I'd say that the aggressor is ready to breed and trying to eliminate the competition in his perseved territory. As the O's are as of yet un-sexed it's a long shot to say they will mate - could be 2 Males. This behavior will come and go for the duration of the cichlids life. It might last a week it might last a month, you could seperate them for awhile but the behavior will continue.
 
Thanks guys, they seem calm at the moment but i'm not counting my chickens.

I have a friend that wants an Oscar so I might let the Tiger O go if they carry on. I wanted to keep them both because they got on so well but if that changes I'll be happy with just the one O.
 
4" I highly doubt that!!! That is small! That's a 6 month old fish! I'm pretty sure its 18months-2 years old n their OLD enough! My oscars fight like a old couple! I always heard keep 1 oscar or 4 or more!spread the fighting out.no way to tell if their a true pair less you spawn them n see their tubes or they spawn n the eggs are actually fertile!
 
Sounds like they're going through the courtship process as they get closer to sexual maturity. If they start beating each other up and one stays away or in a corner then thats a diffent story
 
No, it's not all one way aggression, the Tiger does a bit of body nudging and doesn't shy away from lip locking with the more aggressive Common O.
 
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