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Home      Reply		Viewed: 334 -- Replies: 25
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Posted	is my tiger oscar bored?
14-08-2006 08:33 by KATHRYN	yesterday morning my 6" tiger oscar tried to end it all....he lept out of the tank and flapped around on the coffee table before making his way across the carpet! Once back in his tank, he seems ok - a few grazes and missing scales only. He is on his own in a 100 litre tank - tank too small or too lonely? We did buy him 1" long with a buddy 18 months ago but within 7 days white spot set in and no. 2 died so he has always been on his own. New 200 litre tank is on the books in the next few months but is there anything else I can do?
14-08-2006 08:54 by von	What's your tank maintenece like? sometimes fish jump if the parameters aren't too good.
14-08-2006 09:05 by KATHRYN	no, always monitor regularly and do 30 - 50% change every 7 days or so, also net debris when it builds up on the gravel between changes. recently changed light to one which makes tank look 'pinky' 'cause it was the only one the shop had in the correct size - since then he has gone off his pellets and prefers live food - could this fussiness be related?
14-08-2006 09:09 by von	I wouldn't of thought the light would affect him, was he jumping for food? get a tight fitting lid that he can't move. Apart from the escape atempt and being fussy over food is he behaving normally?
14-08-2006 09:16 by KATHRYN	yep, as characterful as ever, digging, rock moving, gravel diving, and the usual mouth open - shimmy when he wants attention aswell as the occasional head butt on the glass....so quite normal really
14-08-2006 09:39 by von	Then i wouldn't be too concerned, maybe the change in light upset him a little. Keep an eye on your nitrates though just in case
14-08-2006 09:43 by Bruce	100 litre is way too small.
14-08-2006 10:00 by von	New 200 litre tank is on the books in the next few months Practise what you preach Bruce
14-08-2006 10:12 by KATHRYN	thanks for sticking up for me Von! way too small is a bit harsh isn't it? he is still only 6" or there abouts and the tank is relatively bare and he is on his own - how to make a person feel bad - thanks Bruce!
14-08-2006 10:42 by von	For the size of the fish and considering he is alone 100 litres is fine for now, you have already said you will be upgrading, in future you will have to again though, if you do want a tank mate for him, get one now as the older they get the less likely they will be to tolerate one. Bruce how do you expect people to take your advice when you don't listen to anyone and cram your fish into a 300 litre tank, 2 of them oscars too!
14-08-2006 12:30 by Bruce	I'm sorry, i didn't know that you was going to upgrade. I didn't mean any offence.
14-08-2006 12:48 by Bruce	I don't mean way to small, it probably will be when it's full grown. Because you see, i have a friend who had an oscar in a 105 litre tank which used to have comunity fish in and the guy in the shop sold it to him for his comunity tank. It ate all the fish destroyed all his plants and made a mess of the tank. He had a 12 inch monter in a small tank and the water was always cloudy. I didn't want you to make the same mistake.
14-08-2006 13:37 by KATHRYN	ok Bruce, all is forgiven...O lives in a very clean tank and appears to be happy and healthy. Thankyou for your concern. It seems to be common though, 'cause I was also sold O and not told he could grow so big, also I bought 2 gouramis at the same time which I had to rehome 'cause they were being chased so much. I sometime wonder whether some pet stores should be allowed to sell living creatures - not everyone has the money to sort out the problems caused by irresponsible sellers....anyway enough of that rant - have some more DNA to sequence,so back to work then!
14-08-2006 13:43 by Danny Boy	to be honest this problem is screaming bad water conditions. it all points towards a fish thats trying to escape. you say two have already died and oscars are very hardy as a rule. can you tell us the regime you use to carry out water changes and your test results? 50% also sounds like a lot of water to change.
14-08-2006 14:00 by KATHRYN	Danny Boy you misread somewhere....only one died, and less than 1 week after we got them, due to them being sold too soon after treatment for white spot. Believe me I spend a lot of time, affort and money on making sure O is healthy. The water tests always come back well within the recommended levels for all parameters, PH, GH,KH and nitrites and nitrates. The 30% change which I mentioned to be quite honest is more the norm, anyway I was lead to understand that each fish is different, and you cannot say how often or how much needs changed unless you see it, it is a really messy *** and considering how much effort it takes to clean him, trust me I do not do it unless it needs it!
14-08-2006 14:13 by Danny Boy	did you know that you can never see how much water needs changing by eye? your not just removing dirt from the tank you are removing nitrates stick a tin foil barb in the 200 ltr tank when you get it. that will surf the water for what the oscar wont eat. show us your last test results
14-08-2006 14:21 by KATHRYN	I will test when I get home and let you know will the barb not get eaten?
14-08-2006 14:26 by Danny Boy	try to get one thats a few inchs already. they are fast fish anyway. ideally kept in small groups. but they get the same size as an oscar
14-08-2006 15:04 by Bruce	I added four tinfoil barbs to my tank when my oscar was 4 inches, the barbs were about 2 inches. Half and hour later i found the barb stuck to the filter with its head ripped off, and the oscar was eating it, so i removed it straight away. So message of the story is get some about 3 inch +.
14-08-2006 15:12 by Lexter	how does an Oscar catch a barb? it baffles me? but i guess they can......
14-08-2006 15:33 by Bruce	You see, people can learn from other peoples mistakes.
14-08-2006 16:32 by KATHRYN	Right, for those who insist on picking on littleold me - my water results as of 10 minutes ago: using Tetratest 5 in 1 strip:::::NO3 <10 NO2 0 GH >10* KH 3* pH 6.8 - 7.2 and this is after hoovering the gravel on saturday, after 30% change 4 days previous which according my reckoning is about as perfect as you can get - no? until he launched himself he was fin perfect and very lively, in the 18 months I have had him, he has never had anything wrong with him atall and gets nothing but the best of stuff to eat. Anyone that sees him says he is amazing, as his colours and patterns are fab. Now can people stop picking on me?!
14-08-2006 16:35 by Malawimad	Hi Kathryn, there seems to be a big difference between GH and KH, they should be around the same....me thinks anyway!
14-08-2006 16:46 by KATHRYN	right, was asssuming since the levelswere all the 'green' numbers on the bottle if you get what I mean, they were all ok....so what can I do to change this? Living in scotland the water is really soft, so I add cichlid water conditioner to increase the hardness - otherwise it falls right off the scale.. so what should I try to change? raise the KH (how) or lower the GH It has been like this for as long as I have had the tank and never seems to have caused any sort of issues...thnaks for thr FRIENDLY advice
14-08-2006 17:23 by Bruce	I think that it might have jumped out for food, because when i feed my two oscars they always try to jump up to get the food i am holding.
14-08-2006 18:02 by Danny Boy	im certainly not picking on you. dont ask for help unless you really want it!

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