Oscar egg question?

[Tx Oscar Lover]

I have two oscars in a 175 gallon aquarium. About a month ago they laid eggs & the eggs hatched. About two days after they hatched they were all gone. I'm assuming the oscars ate them.

Well I went to my tank again & I actually witnessed my albino oscar laying eggs. Saw them come out the tube & everything. But I never saw my tiger oscar shoot any sperm on the eggs.

So my few questions are.

How soon would the eggs need to be fertilized by the male?

Second question, I have a few Severums in there as well. Is it possible for a Severum male to fertilize a female oscars eggs? Is that a possibility? I'm not entirely sure.

& my last question. Since I couldn't save any previous oscar fry, how should I go about it this time?

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[Andy Sager]

I have two oscars in a 175 gallon aquarium. About a month ago they laid eggs & the eggs hatched. About two days after they hatched they were all gone. I'm assuming the oscars ate them.

Well I went to my tank again & I actually witnessed my albino oscar laying eggs. Saw them come out the tube & everything. But I never saw my tiger oscar shoot any sperm on the eggs.

So my few questions are.

How soon would the eggs need to be fertilized by the male?

Second question, I have a few Severums in there as well. Is it possible for a Severum male to fertilize a female oscars eggs? Is that a possibility? I'm not entirely sure.

& my last question. Since I couldn't save any previous oscar fry, how should I go about it this time?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Congrats on the breeders
Oscar eggs need to be fertilized fairly quickly in order for them to remain viable. Usually, the male will follow the female when she is spawning and fertilize the eggs right after being laid. (I've witnessed this many times before as I used to have 13 pairs of Oscars breeding in one of my hatcheries.)
As for the Severums fertilizing the eggs, I highly doubt it's possible. There are a couple of other Astronotus species that may be able to interbreed with the Oscar but I really doubt the Severums being a good match. Keep in mind, cross breeds usually don't have successful fry or fertile fry. There are exceptions of course. To tell if the fish did fertilize the eggs, they should remain a clearish/ brown color after 24-36 hours. Dead eggs will turn white and usually do so fairly quickly. Something else to watch out for if they have been fertilized would be the eggs hatching but the fry not living past the egg yolk stage. These are all signs of a bad matching of fish.
Regarding your last question, there are 2 methods for raising eggs. #1 is to let the fish do it themselves. Oscars happen to be very good parents and I usually let my pairs raise their young until they were about a month old. Severums are also good parent fish so if you have a choice, I'd leave them in with the parents.
#2 is to artificially hatch out the eggs. This is done by removing the spawning site to another tank, filled with the water the eggs were laid in, with an air supply going over the eggs to keep them clean and oxygenated. Beware tho, Oscars can get really feisty when you try to take their eggs from them.

Lastly, you will find more success with spawning these fish if they are in a tank by themselves. Too many distractions can cause the males to be defending the nest instead of fertilizing the eggs It will also help you guarantee that the eggs are being fertilized by the right fish or it will show that the pair is not a fertile pair.

Hope this helps

 

[Tx Oscar Lover]

Congrats on the breeders Oscar eggs need to be fertilized fairly quickly in order for them to remain viable. Usually, the male will follow the female when she is spawning and fertilize the eggs right after being laid. (I've witnessed this many times before as I used to have 13 pairs of Oscars breeding in one of my hatcheries.) As for the Severums fertilizing the eggs, I highly doubt it's possible. There are a couple of other Astronotus species that may be able to interbreed with the Oscar but I really doubt the Severums being a good match. Keep in mind, cross breeds usually don't have successful fry or fertile fry. There are exceptions of course. To tell if the fish did fertilize the eggs, they should remain a clearish/ brown color after 24-36 hours. Dead eggs will turn white and usually do so fairly quickly. Something else to watch out for if they have been fertilized would be the eggs hatching but the fry not living past the egg yolk stage. These are all signs of a bad matching of fish. Regarding your last question, there are 2 methods for raising eggs. #1 is to let the fish do it themselves. Oscars happen to be very good parents and I usually let my pairs raise their young until they were about a month old. Severums are also good parent fish so if you have a choice, I'd leave them in with the parents. #2 is to artificially hatch out the eggs. This is done by removing the spawning site to another tank, filled with the water the eggs were laid in, with an air supply going over the eggs to keep them clean and oxygenated. Beware tho, Oscars can get really feisty when you try to take their eggs from them. Lastly, you will find more success with spawning these fish if they are in a tank by themselves. Too many distractions can cause the males to be defending the nest instead of fertilizing the eggs It will also help you guarantee that the eggs are being fertilized by the right fish or it will show that the pair is not a fertile pair. Hope this helps

Okay I witnessed the white one laying eggs, & the black one followed right after but I couldn't see any sperm or anything coming out? Granted, his fins were in the way but I just never could see anything.
Well I don't think I can leave them in there for too long due to the fact that I have different species in the tank & I'm afraid they will eat each other's fry :/.

I've hatched their eggs in the past, but like I said after the second day after they hatched I went & checked the tank & all the oscar fry were gone. So should I try to remove them after they hatch? I'd like to leave them in there for as long as possible.

Okay I'm glad the Severums can't fertilize them, that almost makes me think for sure the black tiger oscar is a male. I appreciate all of your information .

 

[JRcichlids]

i dont think you will see any sperm coming out of the male.

 

[AngelFishGirl]

Could the Severums have ate the eggs? Don't know much about Severums just throwing the possibility out there?

 

[Tx Oscar Lover]

Could the Severums have ate the eggs? Don't know much about Severums just throwing the possibility out there?

Well the eggs hatched. Turned into fry. & the oscars kept the fry on one side of the tank. & the Severums on the other. So I'm not sure the Severums could've ever gotten close enough to get the chance.

A side note, I came to my tank right now & both of my oscars are beat up. I see the female attacking the male. He's got some scales missing.

Is this only because of the eggs? & when the eggs are gone she'll stop attacking him? I've never witnessed them doing this before.

 

[Andy Sager]

Some of the aggression may have been caused inadvertently from when the fish were chasing away the other fish in the tank. "Friendly fire" so to speak. That being said, mated pairs of Oscars are not always the nicest looking fish as pre spawning battles often do a lot of damage, and I mean permanent damage, to both fish. One way to keep the fighting down is to put the pair in a tank by themselves. Another is to pull the eggs so there are no reasons for the parents to be on the offensive. Dealer's choice on these methods as both will work however, when you have breeders in a community setting, the other fish are at risk when it's egg laying time.

Hope this helps