Is my Oscar afraid of me?

[ozzydafish14]

Whenever I walk into the room, I see Ozzy swimmin around, chillin. But then I walk up to the tank and eighther he gets really mad and tries to attack me, or he sitts at the bottom and waits for me to go away. So this has effected his eating, which I'm concerned about. Also, when I turn on the light in the morning, he attacks his reflection, and if he sees me, he freaks out. Maybe the light is too bright? Does anyone have any clue what's wrong?

 

[Cichildlife]

Did you just buy him, kinda sounds like he needs time to get used to his new suroundings but wait for an expert to furthur information. Good luck

 

[IvanMike]

How long have you had the oscar? What size tank? How often do you change the water and how much? Do you vacuum the gravel when you do so? What kind of filtration are you using? what temp is the tank? what do you feed "him" and how much? any other fish in the tank? What are they?

Attacking their reflection is normal, especially when kept alone and the room is a bit dark but the tank light is on. Are you sure the fish is trying to attack you or just wagging around begging for food?

Oscars sulk for a lot of reasons, poor water quality is #1. When I have oscars I change the water once a week, anywhere from 50-80%, and always vac the gravel.

 

[ozzydafish14]

I've had him for almost a year (a year on the 29th). I change his water weekly, (about 25 or 40%) and i vacuume the gravel. Its a 55 gallon tank. I feel him tetra cichlid sticks or hakari cichlid pellets. He only eats the chichlid sticks though. He doesnt have any tank mates except for a nocturnal snail. I read somewhere that oscars dont really like bright lights, so maybe that has something to do with it

 

[IvanMike]

IME oscars could care less about lighting.

FWIW, he will eat the pellets if you don't feed him for a week and raise the temp slightly (how high do you have it now? they like slightly higher temps, I always had good luck with 78 F). - BTW, you didn't mention what kind of filter(s) you use.

I would change more of the water per week - 50-80% works really well with oscars, they are quite sensitive to dissolved metabolites - they perk up quite a bit after a big water change. See if that helps.

You can also try giving him a tankmate (although he may beat it up). My favorite tankmates for oscars are full grown convicts. They can dish out quite a bit and take quite a bit as well. If the convict has a place to hide in that the oscar can't reach that helps as well. The other big benefit to having a convict is that he (or she) will eat all of the crap that the oscar blows out of his gills when munching on the pellets.

Also, try some earthworms - oscars love them and they are really good for them (although they tend to make the water a bit cloudy due to the silt portion of the dirt in their guts, but water changes eliminate that).

Oscars can be moody fish. Have you noticed him sulking more when it is about to rain? They tend to do that. I had one pal that would decide to go fishing or not depending upon how his oscars acted that day - really.

In the future a 75 or bigger tank would be better for Ozzy. He will get 12" long, which makes a 55 a bit tight.

 

[HUKIT]

Tankmates is not the answer with a Oscar in a 55g and it's a bad idea since water quality is important to prevent inherent health issues like HLLE which will be compounded with additional fish. Then there is the obvious aggression issues having two aggressive fish in close proximity...not a good idea.

I would first check the actual water chemisty to rule the envioremental issues out, then start to consider your fish is starting to reach sexual maturity and his/her temperment will change drastically over the next few months(18 months is the normal). During this time the mood swings and aggression will peak, like the attacking his reflection and you...these are all normal signs of a fish reaching maturity.

I only feed and recommmend NLS and at his age the 4.5mm or 7.5mm floating pellet would be best, there should never be food expended out of the gills and if your seeing this change pellet size where the fish swallows it whole which eliminates expended food.

 

[ozzydafish14]

Okay, im not sure about the tabk mate, but everything else is great advice! Irene is gunna make landfall in NH tomorrow night, so that makes alot of sence. I use 2 aqua tech 30-60 power filters. I was just observing him and I'm probably going to get a bigger tank.

 

[IvanMike]

tank mate was just a thought, but H is right that that can be a small tank for two aggros (though I have had great success with oscars and convicts). Oscars raised alone can show some really odd behavior. (so can other fish and especially cichlids).

Do you keep the same filter media and rinse it in tank water or do you change it? I really hate the whisper type media like aqua tech uses as you almost have to replace it as the holes are so small, so you are constantly throwing away your nitrifying bacteria. When I used whisper filters, I purchased aquaclear and/or fluval foam media larger than the whisper ones and cut them down to size and replaced the whisper media with those. You can use those aquclear/fluval foam blocks for years and just rinse them in tank water with every water change - keeps a nice colony of nitrosonomas and nitrobacter working for you all the time.

 

[Bl80]

Or like I do with my canisters, I always have 2 and rotate the ones I clean when necessary. Always doing left side tank one time, next canister maintenance is the right hand side of all the tanks.... So I don't get confused you always have one with a good colony while the other builds it.

 

[foster53]

If you think the light is too bright, try using some floating plants to diffuse some of the light. You might try turning on the room light a half hour before you turn on the tank light, gives him a little time to adjust to light before the brighter tank light comes on.

 

[TheCrazyFishLady]

I think you should try interacting with him more often. My FH was having a similar issue of hiding when I first got him. So, I read some stuff on flowerhorncraze.com about helping to get them used to you. When you clean, have your hands in there for longer, spend time next to the tank, try running your finger on the glass to interact, always walk up slowly at first, etc.

When feeding, I place the container up against the glass for a minute before I put the pellets in. I leave my hand rested on top. You can also try signalling by splashing the water with one finger before feeding. This not only trains them and allows you to see their hunger-schedule, but gets them used to your presence.

Oscars have a similar intelligence and social interaction to FHs, so I would guess that this would work also for yours. The light-thing, I'm not sure. But, you can always try these things. When you have a fish that is going to get big and aggressive, it is safest for you and the fish to have a comfort level and some minor training. Makes for a happier fish<3

 

[ozzydafish14]

I change the filter media every month. I got the tank used and the two filters came with it. A little while after I got it i discovered that there was some bio filter that has to be in it. So should I just use the same filter media over again?

 

[Bl80]

Ya rinse them out in some of ur tank water in a bucket NEVER with tap water...re use Till it falls apart...when I had HOB filters I made my own with filter pad material ( wet dry) cut the old away from cartridge and put pantyhose over it to hold it together. Worked awesome and a huge fraction of the cost if store bought.

 

[ozzydafish14]

Oohh, okay, that should save me alot of money!

 

[IvanMike]

Oohh, okay, that should save me alot of money!

the only problem is those close mesh filter media clog easy and never seem to get all the particulate matter out - that's why i switched to aquaclear/fluval foam cut to size. If you do this, replace one at a time so there is always a viable bac colony. you can rinse the media in tap water each water change - the bacteria colony is on the surface of the media, not on all the "crap" in and on it. One thing to remember about mechanical filtration is that the waste is still "in the tank" - you just don't see it. It's being broken down by heterotrophic bacteria and converted to ammonia/nitrite/nitrate as well as a host of other organic compounds.