Oscar on rampage! any ideas?

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Filthy Punk

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 28, 2010
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New Zealand
I have a pair of Tiger Oscars and the bigger of the two has decided yesterday that it wants to beat the heck out of the smaller one, they are in a 400L tank with a Pleco a Jewel Cichlid and a bandit cichlid. He ignores the other fish and just beats up the other Oscar. Is it time to seperate them or will it pass once he is sure the tank is his? What do they do if they are ready to spawn?
The bigger one is about 250mm think thats about 10inches or so and the smaller of the two is about 200mm think is about 8 inches, They have had a bit of biffo before but this is alot more agressive and doesnt stop for very long. He couldnt care less about the other fish at all. They have shared a couple of diferent tanks over almost a year happily.
 
How big is the tank? DO you see either of them showing their breeding tubes? I don't think they are trying to spawn. These kind of situations are normal for Oscars and cichlids when they decide they don;t want a certain fish in their tank anymore. Reason the Oscar is ignoring the other fish is it does not see them as big as a threat as the other Oscar. But maybe eventually the Oscar will go after them.


What kind of fighting and damage do you see? If it isn't too bad you can wait it out and maybe the Oscars can settle it and then be able to still live together. But if it's to the point where the smaller one is getting really hurt them you gotta separate.
 
The tank is 400L not sure in gallons as we use metric in New Zealand, The damage to the Oscar is not to bad a bit of a torn fin and quite a few lost scales but no bleeding or seriouse wounds.
 
The aggressor may back off eventually, but not likely. Oscars are funny that way, in that you never know. Often a breeding pair will tear each other apart. If you have two males(you would have to"vent" the fish to find out) you may not ever see these fish get along. An important thing to remember with an overly aggressive fish is that they dont have remorse or excersize restraint so often a fight will be fatal. Try removing the aggresive fish to a "time out" tank for a few weeks, that has worked for me in the past. Offering cover to eliminate "line of sight" also helps. If you suspect the aggression to be over territory, rearange the tank decor, often. Oscars, however,in a tank that size, will consider the whole tank theirs.
My 2¢
 
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