Tiger Oscar side fins

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wilkyv

Aquarium Advice Newbie
Joined
Jan 18, 2025
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Location
Middlesbrough
Hi I’m new here I bought a tiger Oscar a few days ago, I have angel fish ,silver dollars and a rope fish in tank. Is this his side find being nipped or is it something else any help or advice would be amazing . If it is nipping I certainly know what angel fish it is as he seems friends with the other ones and the silver dollars they swim around with each other all day
 

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You have a bad mix of fish I'm afraid. The Oscar will grow larger than the other fish and will require a big space. The wounds look more like nipping but if the edges start to bleed or get a cotton like fuzz on them, they are infected and the fish will need to be treated in a separate hospital tank.
I suggest you look into returning the Oscar to where you got him from. That would be best for all the fish involved. (y)
 
Thank you for your advice, I think I’m going to keep the Oscar and get rid of everything else in my tank as he is beautiful too look at. If I were to keep another fish with him what would you recommend would another Oscar be best. The shop I buy from he has no clue it’s all about money to him unfortunately
 
6ft but as he gets bigger I will be going larger
I'd stay with other South American or some Central American cichlids. This includes but not limited to fish like Firemouths, Jack Dempseys, Geophagus, Severums, Convict, Chococlates, Acaras and of course, other Oscars. The key is that each of the fish I listed ( except the Geophagus) will be more sedentary and take over an area of the tank to call their territory so you don't want to overload the aquarium with too many of these fish. 6' may be large to you but to a cichlid, it's a small area so you want to make caves and rock formations spread out in the tank so that each fish can have a territory without causing stress to the tankmates. A good option would be to have say, your oscar and a firemouth along with a Severum and some Geophagus. The Geos will stay in motion so they won't threaten territory boundaries and the Severum is more a middle water fish specie so they too would be out of the way.
One thing to remember with Oscars and the other larger cichlids I listed is that they are messy fish. As they grow, so does their appetite and feces production. You are going to need to do more maintenance weekly. Do not depend on nitrate readings to determine water change schedules. Do them weekly regardless. The more water you change the better. All of these fish are prone to Hole in the head and Lateral Line disease which is all caused by dirty water and improper diet.
Hope this helps. (y)
 
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