:( oscars are mean.

[oscarchic11]

I just found my Oscar with the head of one of my mollies in his mouth! He has gotten along fine with them up til now and they have been in the tank for almost a month together. What could have changed? I separated them both out from the other 3 mollies. My poor little girl is so beat up. Is there any possibility she will make it? I'm thinking I need to keep my Oscar isolated til I can get my girls their own tank. Any advice to help my hurt one and what size should I get? I have a 20 gal now I got mainly cause of Oscar.

 

[oscarchic11]

And I knew he would get aggressive but tats ridiculous and upsetting.

 

[chagoi]

They are not mean ,but they will eat anything they can.

 

[oscarchic11]

It was a perfectly healthy Molly tho! And I make sure to feed them well to prevent the aggression. I know they aren't mean but seeing him eat my nieces fish not so fun. Do you think my Molly can survive? She is missing a few scales and her tail and fins are pretty battered from the attack.

 

[oscarchic11]

My Oscar is my fav fish and the focal .point in my tank so I'm def keeping him, just gonna have to do something with my mollies for a while til I can afford a tank for just them. What size is the minimum I could keep them in temporarily?

 

[tdwright1971]

mollies and an oscar?

 

[tdwright1971]

an oscar needs at least a 55 gallon just for itself. even bigger would be better. Mine is in a 180. They can get big, maybe 8 inches in a year.

 

[oscarchic11]

The store where I got them said they were compatable til my Oscar got bigger. Apparently they are wrong cause he is already trying to eat my girls. Bit my pregnant dalmation on the belly the other day. She is doing fine tho. The latest victim not so much because their light was off for the nite. I happened to look up as Oscar spit her up into The water and grabbed her again.

 

[Gboy66]

So sad that you had to witness it too..

 

[oscarchic11]

Right now he is about 2 inches. Which is barely bigger than my mollies. Maybe by a half inch or so.

 

[Gboy66]

Hahaha what?? Thats crazy!! I cant even imagine that happening if hes 2"!!

 

[oscarchic11]

As soon as I saw what Oscar was doing I put him in the isolation net I have for my pregnant girl. Luckily I won't need it for her for a week or more. Gonna get a little 10 gal for my now 3 girls. and keep Oscar in The 20 til he outgrows it.

 

[Gboy66]

Ya youll have to buy a huugee tank for him

 

[oscarchic11]

I just measured. He is just under 2.5. Just a baby. And already getting mean!?! But he is in isolation for the night. I get paid Thursday so I hope I can get my girls @ least in a little temp tank by Friday. How small do you think I could go? Just til I can save for a bigger tank.

 

[tdwright1971]

a ten should be fine for 3 mollies.and they can be found fairly cheap.

 

[oscarchic11]

Thanx everyone for all the help.

 

[steez]

You really need to rehome or get a new tank for the oscar soon... he will grow like an inch a month. 20g won't work for him whatsoever.

 

[WendiDell]

Having your Oscar in a 20g even when he's young isn't a good idea, he still needs plenty of room to grow while he's growing. He may already be pushing for territory, since there really isn't any room for him.

That being said, he could also be an overly aggressive Oscar and only get more aggressive as he gets bigger. Like any other species, sometime you get a bad one. I had a Red Zebra that was beautiful, but by the time he was 7 months old he was a psycho serial killer. He would hide in the decor and lie in wait for a tank mate to swim past, then he'd lunge out and remove a chunk of it's stomach, killing it instantly. Unfortunately I didn't catch him at it until he had killed more than half my stock, all of them female. It was so bad that I will never own another Red Zebra. Even though I know that not all Red Zebra's are like that.

My point being, I am really surprised that a 2-2.5" Oscar is already attacking other fish of the same size. Oscars aren't really mean but they can become aggressive. I am by no means an expert on Oscar behavior, but 2" seems really young to me to be that aggressive. You may want to re-home him, then get a different Oscar after you have the appropriate size tank.

 

[oscarchic11]

I'm buying a smaller tank for my girls really soon. And all I have room for is a 20g right now. I think that once I take out the girls he should calm down. He has killed 1 that I know of, but I have had 3 total die. 1 Molly when I first got them, a shark catfish, both unknown causes. The catfish was about 3 inches. And now my little Molly. ****. Oh well. I was gonna temporarily trade my mollies for feeders and put them in with him for food for a few day (might as well) should i?

 

[Mogurako]

A 10 gallon is really to small for a long term home for mollies, I would return the Oscar until you can afford/ have the room for a 55-75 gallon tank and leave the mollies in the 20. I know you like the Oscar but in under 4 months he will be much to big for that tank and it's not fair to let him suffer because you don't have the space to keep him.

The reason he is killing off tank mates is because the tank is much to small and he has claimed the whole thing to himself. Whoever at the LFS said mollies should be fine in a 20 with an Oscar should be fired/ reprimanded.