I have several albino fan tail Oscars and the other day I noticed that one of my larger Oscars was missing his top lip. Today I saw that that the 2 largest Oscars were fighting and biting each others lip. They are in a 700 gallon indoor pond with other cichlids. Anyone have this happen to them?
Oscars fighting
- Thread starter n2extreme1
- Start date
They are in there with about 30 or so mixed cichlids, some Demseys and a couple cats. They have been house toghether for the past 3 months or so with no issues. This is only recent. There are also plenty of hiding places. I have separated the 2 fighters.
a friend of mine told me he went on vacation and put a badly injured oscar (i don't condone this and think its cruel) in a tank with a group of 3 piranhas and came back to find that the oscar ripped apart the piranhas. so in short, any aggression from oscars seems about right to me
Per request here are some pictures. Sorry about the quality its from my phone.
Here is a panoramic view. Still trying to get the hang of it.
Ok not my pond but thought it was cool. This picture was taken at Epcot a couple weeks ago.
Here is a panoramic view. Still trying to get the hang of it.
Ok not my pond but thought it was cool. This picture was taken at Epcot a couple weeks ago.
The Oscars probably just hit the maturity level. They go through a "sulking" period in which they won't really do much of anything; fighting, eating, moving, or even swimming. Once they are out of their sulking stage, if they still don't fight, they're definitely not mature enough yet. In time they will. No matter how many hiding spots you have, the Oscar always wants the territory the other Oscar has. Once they hit maturity, fights are almost a 24 hour thing. They usually don't fight until death, but it is a possibility. Since one is missing his lip, I would suggest taking him out and trying another Oscar. The one who tore his lip off will always present a problem for you though. Like an angry dog, an agressive Oscar can never be tamed enough to not fight at first sight. I would try two new Oscars and put the one with no lip in a tank by himself so he can recover.