mate in mourning

[terri]

i lost my male oscar last night, he had been with his mate for about 8 years.
he was acting too quiet (for him) so i did a partial water change, cleaned the filters and tested the water, all was ok~he was pretty aggressive so i'm thinking he attacked the tank or a plant and did some internal damage. anyway, Rosco (the female) stayed with him the whole time. now she is alone and they were so close i feel really rotten for her. there are no fish stores (except wal-mart,,,)in town and in any case this girl is so big she'd swallow anything i tried to put in with her. any suggestions or am i overreacting due to my own grief??

 

[Ben]

she should be alright by herself,
but if you really want another mate, buy the biggest oscar you can(i take it you get small ones)and devide the tank and wait till the smaller one grows, and the female will get used to the new oscar and when iyts big enough try release it back into the tank, but if you dont want to do that,
i suggest going to www.tangledupincichlids.com and order a oscar online from Jeff Rapps(a very well respected and known cichlid breeder and seller in the aquarium world)

HTH
DD

 

[terri]

that's an idea...the problem is, these fish were so big! they were/are about 15-16 inches nose to tail, wont it take a couple years to get a small oscar that size? i bought the pair about four years ago and they were already about 10 inches. there is also a plec in the tank (Suckface) that is about 2 foot long,,,any thoughts on how i could introduce peaceful fish for an eventual "nice" community tank? that's probably asking too much because i know Rosco will rip up any plants i put in there for them to hide out in...all advice welcome, just really bummed right now..
thanks guys!

 

[Ben]

try Jeff Rapps, he is sure to have a big oscar for you

DD