Why Why Why

[jspatriots]

Woke up this morning to find my iradesant shark hanging out of my oscar's mouth
They had been in the same tank for over a month. I keep the oscars well fed. Don't know what made him go after it.

 

[Scottfree]

Oscar's albeit not normally agressive, they will eat anything that is avaialble to them....How big was your IR?

 

[jspatriots]

he was about 4"

 

[Daniel Machado]

I had the same problem a while back... Oscars are very prone to eat their tankmates, especially the thin-bodied ones. I lost a pictus cat to my O's once, and an iridescent shark too.

Best regards.

Daniel.

 

[ewurm]

If it fits in his mouth...My Oscar is never "well fed", he will cram food in his mouth until none will fit any more, and when he swallows that he will beg for more. He is like the Sally Struthers of Cichlids.

 

[Mourinho18]

phew, i thought you were gonna say something about the balzani or abalios

 

[Peanut_Power]

Ha!! Good thing it left the geos alone. General rule of thumb, if it will fit in their mouth, they will eat it, well fed or not...keepin them together is just pushin luck.

 

[Daniel Machado]

Oscars are just like dogs or kids... They're always ready for a snack. Especially if it's not the usual food (or the intended food).

Best regards.

Daniel.

 

[dovii88]

ur lucky the geos didnt go...bryan would have been heated

 

[croc 2-3]

The geos. are probally to high bodied if they are at least 4inches for the oscar to consider food(though they may pick on them depending on you oscars but I figure the dempseys would probaly pick on them first. The irredescent on the other hand is streamlined so was no problem to engulf. Any horizontal shaped fish is easy prey for a predator. My mom's ex had a 12inch oscar eat a 14in lima shovelnose(took todays to completly swallow & a 10in silver arrowana. yrs. ago. but never bothered the 7inch texas cichlid(high bodied). I had a managuense eat a snakehead 3inches longer then it the digestion took 3 days after the initial attack so the body was sticking out of her mouth all that time. This was 15yrs.ago when snakeheads were legal the managuense was about 5inches.