The Infamous Oscar Appetite

[Serpentine]

We had 3 juvie Oscars around 6 inches in a nursery tank with a juvie silver Arowana, 1 foot long or better.

I went to feed them last night and Dragon the Aro was missing. I thought he had somehow jumped out through a tiny gap and looked all over for him. Nothing.

One of the Oscars burped out a piece of fish skin and what looked like a scrap of liver. None of them touched their food, which was a definite first. They had fat bellies and looked completely content.

One little O against an Arowana won't win. 3 together though.... I didn't think they would do that but there's no other explanation.

Dragon was beautiful. He was growing like a weed and showing spectacular pinks and blues. I raised him from a tiny worm and oh, man, I loved that fish. He was the primary driver of our monster tank project. I cried like a baby.

There was a dark moment when I briefly considered seeing just how far off the porch I could hurl those frigging Oscars. But they were just following their nature I guess. They realized that if they worked together they could take him and what a splendid meal that would be. Oscars always think with their stomachs. Damn.

It's been a rough week.

 

[twentyleagues]

Wow weird never saw an O eat something bigger! Wonder how they "divided" it up? They don't have teeth to tear with theirs are for gripping and then the ones in their throat grind, you've got some little savages there.

 

[Serpentine]

The Aro was longer than the Oscars but not bulkier. He had quite a bit of growing left to do. Think of a gangly teenager. I still didn't think that they were any threat to him. Guess if we try again we grow the Aro out considerably more before putting him / her with the Os. I don't know how they did it. I wasn't there when it happened or I would have put a stop to their shenanigans. And if the albino hadn't burped out scraps I'd still be convinced that he jumped and had flopped underneath furniture or something.

Yeah, little savages is right.

 

[duanes]

It is possible that the arowana was weak, and or died of something else, and the oscars took to scavenging.
Not that this is the same scenario, but.....
I have a tank of a dozen 2-4" Andinoacara coeroleopunctatus, these fish have a mouth, about half that of an oscar.
I added some 5-6" crawfish thinking they would be too large to be eaten by the cichlids.
The Andinoacara attack as an almost organized pack if the crays look the least bit compromised, and make short work of the well armored crustaceans.

 

[Serpentine]

He was robust and healthy the last time I saw him.

The pics of your fish taking apart the crays does remind me of some feeding behaviors I've seen. The Oscars grab worms or feeder fish and pull them apart between them like they were playing tug of war, each grabbing a piece of the prize. I hate to think of Dragon going out like that.

 

[twentyleagues]

I had a rope fish go out that way when my teugs went rogue.

 

[TheReefer]

I'd imagine a silver arowana of that size would be strong and quick enough to hold his own against 3 oscars of about half his length. I think the arowana likely got injured or something and got eaten, I find it hard to believe 3 well fed oscars would attack a healthy silver arowana twice their length unless they were starving, but even then I think they'd go after eachother first.

 

[Jexnell]

WOW!
That's crazy

Now you need a big bad wolf to put them pigs in check, I vote Dovii.

 

[TheReefer]

WOW!
That's crazy

Now you need a big bad wolf to put them pigs in check, I vote Dovii.

Oh man, I have a love hate relationship with them, I had an 8 inch one break through an egg crate (he was 6 inches) to kill a 14 inch oscar next to him, I moved the dovii into a 240 we had with some peacock bass (he was around 10 inches then, the bass were around 16 inches) because his tank was leaking and he almost killed one of the bass, then he nearly killed a red devil on the other side of the egg crate in the tank he was in, luckily someone bought him after that. I was not looking forward to having him much longer

 

[Serpentine]

I'd imagine a silver arowana of that size would be strong and quick enough to hold his own against 3 oscars of about half his length. I think the arowana likely got injured or something and got eaten, I find it hard to believe 3 well fed oscars would attack a healthy silver arowana twice their length unless they were starving, but even then I think they'd go after eachother first.

Maybe something did happen to injure Dragon and leave him vulnerable to attack. I will probably never know.

One thing I have been pondering is that these 3 have very strong predatory instincts. I tried putting our fire eel and some juvie cichlids in with them (all too big to swallow) and ended up taking them all back out because the Os were chasing them. But I left Dragon there because they had never shown him any aggression and because of his large size. Now I wonder if those recent experiences chasing "prey" didn't sharpen their instincts and inspire them to team up on him. It's all speculation.

WOW!
That's crazy

Now you need a big bad wolf to put them pigs in check, I vote Dovii.

You know, either Caligula (red Texas) or Nero (red Devil) would love some chew toys.

Kidding, but only just a little. I am still raw and grieving. It would be vengeful, cruel and petty to throw a hardcore predatory CA glassbanger in with them. The dark side of my soul says, "Yeah? And...?"

No dovii here. Hubby put his foot down on adding any more wet pets that require large solo tanks. In his defense we do have a LOT of tanks.