Fish trauma

[akagochi]

Just brought home an albino oscar from the LFS. He was really peppy at the store and even when i was acclimating him to my 125. After about 15 min acclimating to the 125 I decided not to put him in because I was nervous that his smaller size would be an issue. Instead I put him in a ten gal isolation tank with water transferred from the 125. Since then he has just been hanging out at the bottom and not swimming around very much. I notice when I get close to the tank he starts to hide and becomes skittish. Is there such a thing as fish trauma, and what can I do to help this Oscar along? Ideally I would like to get some more size on him before putting him in with the rest of the junior cichlids in the 125. He is about 2 in right now.

Your insights are appreciated.

 

[emerald76]

He's stressed
Move him to the 125 in a few days and in the meantime do LOTS of water changes
The longer you wait,the more traumatized he will be when added

 

[akagochi]

what about the other cichlids? Isn't he in danger of being killed?

 

[absolutangel04]

Oscars are known for sulking.
What else is in the 125?

 

[5x5]

Is there such a thing as fish trauma, and what can I do to help this Oscar along?

Your insights are appreciated.

I hope this picture puts your mind at ease.



This was after I moved the Oscar. This type of behavior went on for over a month before he realized the sky wasn't falling.

Just relax, sit back and watch how emotional this fish can be.

 

[akagochi]

1 JD, 1 Oscar, H. PEarsi, red devil, parrot fish, pictus, marble horn, 2 humbacks, 1 gold severum, chocolate. They are all juniors but steadily getting bigger. not big enough to swallow the new oscar, but definetly big enough to bully him. Should I perhaps put him in a community tank to liven him up, then switch him before things get ugly? MAybe put another fish in there with him?

 

[akagochi]

Wow, great looking fish, and what a drama king/queen indeed! Geez, I had no idea.

 

[5x5]

1 JD, 1 Oscar, H. PEarsi, red devil, parrot fish, pictus, marble horn, 2 humbacks, 1 gold severum, chocolate. They are all juniors but steadily getting bigger. not big enough to swallow the new oscar, but definetly big enough to bully him. Should I perhaps put him in a community tank to liven him up, then switch him before things get ugly? MAybe put another fish in there with him?

I don't think your Oscar is going to do well in that tank either short or long term. You have larger and more aggressive fish that are likely going to bully him and stress him out. You could get lucky, but the JD and RD could be problems.

I'm also curious what your long term plan is for the fish in this tank? When they get larger, you're going to eventually run into an overstocking situation. The JD, RD and Oscar get very large and the chocolate, severum and parrot won't be far behind.

 

[akagochi]

You're right these fish will get big.
Running 3 canister filters: fluval 405, Rena xp3 and and eheim 2215. Moving some out may have to happen too depending on aggression. My h. Pearsi and red devil are kinda grumpy so we will see. What do you think Is a reasonable amount of these types to have in a 125? As far as inch per gallon I'm still ok I think but I can not put anymore for sure.

 

[emerald76]

You're right these fish will get big.
Running 3 canister filters: fluval 405, Rena xp3 and and eheim 2215. Moving some out may have to happen too depending on aggression. My h. Pearsi and red devil are kinda grumpy so we will see. What do you think Is a reasonable amount of these types to have in a 125? As far as inch per gallon I'm still ok I think but I can not put anymore for sure.

The inch per gallon is generally disregarded on AA as useless because it suggest crazy stocking like 1 inch common goldfish in one gallon bowls and oscars in 10 gallons
It's just not a true rule
It works a little bit with one inch or less fish but even then the bare minimum for most of the nanos is 5 gallons even though they max out at around 3/4 in
Plus the more active inch long schoolers like neons and danios need 20 gal long tanks at the minimum not 1 gallon tanks

 

[akagochi]

I had a feeling this would be the case. This is my first time keeping cichlids. It's been community fish till this point so this is all a learning experience. They have some great personalities though. I'm just going to keep observing them
And see how it turns out.