New Oscar

[guppymonkey]

I just received an albino oscar from a friend at work who couldn't keep it anymore. It had been with a clown knife and a couple young red devils. It seems to have been beaten up by the clown knife and is missing a lot of scales. This albino oscar is about half the size of my oscar (I am guessing that my friend foolishly fed his fish just feeders) but is a lot older. The albino is about 8 months old from what we have been able to figure out but is only about 6 or 8 inches long. Is it possible for this oscar to grow more now that he can get better nutrition? Do scales grow back or will it be permanently scarred?

 

[trimacdevilconvict]

cichlids can regrow body wounds very very well sometimes horrible looking wounds can heal up with the smallest or scars and others when the water is poor can heal up bad

as for the growth i think that yes the oscar could have accelerated growth spurts i have seen this happen with fish that have been in small tanks and then placed in a bigger one

 

[freddyk]

Of course. Fish actually never stop growing (they just slow down immensly as they age), and if they do, for reasons of space, nutrition, etc., they will readily start growing again once the problem is rectified. I'm sure once he experiences the superior conditions of your set-up he'll show signs of it. One can actually control the rate of growth of fish simply by how much they feed. The time of the tinfoil barbs in my tank is limited due to their growth potential, but I feed them lightly to grow them slowly, so it will be a while until I have to worry about it.

For his injuries, keep the water absolutely pristine and heal he'll well and quickly.

 

[guppymonkey]

He seems to have partially healed so far. He was missing massive sections of scales along both sides of his body. Hopefully he will get along with my current oscar. My oscar is about a foot long and probably about 6 months old ( I have had him for 4 months and he was a little over an inch when I got him) and the new oscar was about 8 to 10 months old. They both seem to be eating well and not fighting too bad over the freeze dried krill and pellets ( the new one seems to be converting over pretty well to dry food considering that it was raised on feeders).