Are They Serious?

[minxfishy]

So Ive had these two Oscars for a while now (6-8wks), rescued them from a teeny tank in P@H who had taken them in after they had been dumped on them, the Lutino missing all the fins, the other an apparent Killer of fish! Anyway, they were about 3" and mirrored each others movements, never leaving each others sides. Well they are now a healthy 5-6" in just a short time, all healed up, eating like they've never seen food in their lives. Because of their history, Ive no idea how old they are, normally you would judge it on size, but they were only fed once every 2 - 3 days in P@H and apparently only on snails!! They hadnt grown since they had them (approx 3 months) and kept in a tiny tank, so possibly not growing beacuse of those factors.

Anyway, the last 4 days, they have stopped from swimming all over the tank to spending alot of time together behind some wood in the corner of the tank, so last night I took a good look to see what was going on, they have basically moved all the gravel and wood to make a nest, now obviously I know that Oscars dont usually bred until 12-18 months of age and should be alot larger, there is no liplocking but definate dancing going on and lots of rubbing each other and as always, they dont leave each others sides.

So are they just preparing themselves for when they are large enough or are they really believing they are already big enough to bred! Its all very sweet but confusing.

 

[star4]

Sounds like you have a pair to me It could be they were both stunted being in a smaller tank and they have probably reached sexual maturity without the size. Oooh its about time you had some wrigglers, so much for reducing your tanks hun

Could be the same as my Texas I thought they were all male but the runt who doesnt seem to grow and is still only 3" after nearly a year is the female.

 

[minxfishy]

Hmmm, could be two females though, no way of telling with Oscars unless they bred

 

[england]

Difficult to say hun, but least there friends, mine were a breeding pair,since ive had them all they do is same as yours,protect there huge peice of slate and keep it spotless and dig pits/move rocks and wood about like toys, if anyone comes near they get chased away, But they have done this since i got them,maybe because my tank is fully stocked then some,maybe there thinking its not worth it,or maybe they have spawned and been cleaned up by the other tank mates..There breeding tubes were exstremely prominent last week, have yours showed any breeding tubes?

 

[minxfishy]

Cant see any breeding tubes, anytime I look in the tank now, they rush off and hide, whereas before this started, they would come straight to the front and wiggle at me Will keep looking as I know its the only way to tell really, they are in the tank alone (was going to add some full grown silver dollars next week to give them something to 'play' with) btw.

 

[snowflake311]

Could you vent them? Flip them over and poke around see what you get? But that's not fun for you or the fish. Just watch for the tubes.

 

[minxfishy]

No way Im even going to attempt to vent them, I think its cruel and unnecessary. Time will tell what they are.

I moved the tank around Friday to see what they would do, added a large heavy weigted base plant in too. They spent 24 hrs putting everything back to their liking, pulling and pushing this plant out of their area, then proceeded to re-make their nest! Last night I witnessed some liplocking and biting, nothing serious, and tail swishing to show themselves off, I think they are definately up to something, but just a little too small to seal the deal.

 

[star4]

Venting is completely unnecessary and impossible to tell unless the female has already spawned (know this from my frontosa) as her vent will be the same size as the male if she is a "virgin". It can be done without having to catch and stress the fish by just looking from underneath if the fish are feeding from the surface.