Troubles with new oscar

[martysha]

Try lowering your pH... Mine was 7.0 and My oscars did not like that one bit, now it is 6.7 and they are happy as clams....
also you will eventually have to get a larger aquarium

u probably gonna hate me now, but how to lower the pH and will it affect my other fishies?

 

[olllie]

Thats my point... i got him as a bday prezzie from me to me, but my local LFS's knowledge is i guess on my level ( = proper beginner). I build the tank with my fiance, i guess we gonna need more glass then soon....

You got the Monsterfishkeepers mentality, I see..

I dont wanna be a wise ass, but the water parameters are important, but the pH can be 6,5 as well as 7,5.
Waterchanges, weekly 1/3. That is of importance for your O.
So excrements do not pile up in the water.
Check your tapwater parameters first tho.
And take care of a good filter.

And congratulations!

 

[martysha]

You got the Monsterfishkeepers mentality, I see..

I dont wanna be a wise ass, but the water parameters are important, but the pH can be 6,5 as well as 7,5.
Waterchanges, weekly 1/3. That is of importance for your O.
So excrements do not pile up in the water.
Check your tapwater parameters first tho.
And take care of a good filter.

And congratulations!

Im always preparin water in buckets 2 days before putting it in a tank (dechlorinator and bactalife), is it good? What other parameters shall i check?

 

[burntrubber]

I hope you realise that Oscar's gonna eat his little friends eventually.

 

[Pharaoh]

You need to get a test kit for your aquarium. You need to be able to test for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. These will indicate the establishment and effectiveness of the beneficial bacterial within the system.

As stated above, it sounds as though the Oscar might just be a bit stressed from the move. Give him a few days to settle in.

As far as the PH of the tank, I would not worry about changing it. It is better to keep the PH constant in lieu of bumping it up and down. It is a lot harder on the fish to have the PH bouncing up and down.

 

[martysha]

i guess that evil fish is feeling much better today cause both guppy and platie are missing :/

 

[Natural_Born_Killer]

O's are not evil... they are just doing what is in their nature. To eat fish smaller than themselves.

It is like calling yourself evil for eating a chicken (assuming you are not vegetrarian).

 

[martysha]

O's are not evil... they are just doing what is in their nature. To eat fish smaller than themselves.

It is like calling yourself evil for eating a chicken (assuming you are not vegetrarian).

ok, calling him evil is just my sense of humor, but on the serious note (blaming pregnancy hormones) i found my O swimming around with platies tail sticking out of his mouth... (funny, but it made me sick.....)

 

[olllie]

Told ya Oscar sgonna be well fed.

Maybe I had to tell you to choose (which to keep), but I guess you made the choice already.
Its no easy one. Realizing you start to more or less prefer big cichlids above smaller characins.
Gongrats with your wise decision.

Guppies are not the whole chebang, so try pellets with added vitamines.
I have Guppies and other small fastbreeders on the side, so the Oscars have some little fish in their tanks. Keeps them alert.

 

[Natural_Born_Killer]

ok, calling him evil is just my sense of humor, but on the serious note (blaming pregnancy hormones) i found my O swimming around with platies tail sticking out of his mouth... (funny, but it made me sick.....)

well they are notorious eaters!

my bf has a daughter, and i bought her a siamese fighting fish. i knew it wouldn't make it long and i explained to her it would get eaten - but she wanted it.

the poor little bugger only lasted about an hour in the tank. and this was when my O was only little as well.

the image of this alibino O with this beautiful red trail out of its mouth i'll never forget.