Hey all,
My two Oscar’s M&F have been behaving in an apparent breeding way, as shown in my videos below. I think they are too young to breed / spawn, but is this normal behaviour for a male and female? They’re about 18 months old now. They really starting acting this way after I gave them some frozen blood worms for dinner.
Any advice?
Do I have anything to worry about?
I see something a little different in video #2 than Colin. In my experience breeding multiple pairs of Oscars, what I'm seeing is normal. Pre spawn breeding behavior is not slow or gentle. Quite often, but not always, there are body wounds , ripped fins, torn lips, etc. Lip locking is the first major sign of pairing. Of my 13 pairs, only 2 pairs showed no signs of damage so it does happen.
Aggression with Oscars is not usually a slow process. There will be quick bashes to the attacked fish from the attacking fish. There will also be head shaking with mouth open before these attacks.
What I saw in the video was just the larger fish reminding the smaller fish who is bigger. He/she may have been reprimanding the smaller fish for stealing some food or some other offense. That said, if this behavior is making the smaller fish stop eating or hide more, then it's a problem and the fish should be separated.
As for breeding, at 18 months the fish are old enough to spawn but if this is their first attempt at "pairing", it may look clumsy and awkward. If you place some kind of large flat rock on the bottom of the tank, this will supply a nice surface for them to spawn on. ( I mainly used large shale rocks or slate but any rock with a large flat surface should suffice. ) Oscars can lay 1,000 + eggs as they get older so you'll want to make sure the rock has a surface large enough to handle this. If the fish do want to spawn, they will start with cleaning the rock, often together, or each will take a turn at the job.
You'll want to give your fish some good high protein foods to get them into spawning condition. I used shrimp( prawn), fish and earthworms to get mine ready. Insects like crickets, roaches and grasshoppers can also be fed. Make sure you get some greens into them as well to prevent constipation.
There are pelleted forms of food today that weren't around when I was breeding Oscars so if you use them, make sure they are higher in protein and provide some form of vegetable matter or roughage for their digestive health.
