Sad Oscar Tiger

[Kai]

Hey guys,
I bought two Oscar Tigers yesterday and set up a new tank for them. It seemed everything was going well and I used a pump from a different running tank to get some bacteria circulating, added the necessary additives to the water, and put them in when the water settled around 77 degrees or so.
They seemed very lively and healthy, as they should be.
As the evening approached I decided I should add the heater to the tank since it is close to the window, and Canada gets pretty chilly
So I added the heater and set the temperature at 77 degrees on that as well.
When I woke up the two Oscars didn't seem all that active, but I figured they were just "tired" since it was early morning. I flicked on the light and went to a meeting. When I got back from the meeting one of the Oscars had actually jumped out of the tank! I had left the lid up on the canopy after feeding them in the a.m. I checked the temperature and it was quite high (around 81 degrees), I immediately removed the heater and the tank has since dropped back down to around 77.
Now the one Oscar I have seems to be either unhealthy or "lonely". He just lays on the bottom with little movement at all.

What can I do to make sure he is okay??
Is my tank temperature okay? I have a pump/filter circulating, what else could I be missing?
Could he just be "sad" that he has no more companion? Do fish even think like this?

Thanks for any help!

 

[Tolak]

Is this tank cycled, how large is this tank (gallons or liters) and how long has it been cycled and running for? How did you cycle this tanks, what are you running for filtration, and what have you been feeding these fish? Results of water tests (numbers please!) will give us a good starting point as well.

 

[Spishkey]

if you only set up the tank on the day you got the fish id be thinking it isnt cycled yet, not even if youd used a pump from another tank, oscars are messy fish.
also your oscar may be 'sulking' (is it lying down or hovering just above the bottom of the tank?) this could be caused by the temperature not being steady and fluctuating. as tolak asked we really need water stats (in numbers not just 'oh the waters fine!' we need a number for ph, nitrate, nitrite and ammonia)

 

[Kai]

Okay so my oscar has revived himself!
I raised the water temp to 84 and added in two angels from my other tank, and he has recovered his energy and does not seem to be too aggressive towards the angels.

One question though, can an Oscar eat red meat? I have heard of many feeding them beef hearts and stuff, but I am wondering if I cook a steak, can I give him some of the "fat" I cut off before cooking it?

 

[Kai]

Here is a pic of him w/ the two angels!
They are all young, and I am aware that the Oscar will grow at a faster rate than the Angels and I should seperate them once there is a bigger size difference since the Oscar will likely bully/eat them.

In any case, here they are

 

[Tolak]

Is this tank cycled, how large is this tank (gallons or liters) and how long has it been cycled and running for? How did you cycle this tanks, what are you running for filtration, and what have you been feeding these fish? Results of water tests (numbers please!) will give us a good starting point as well.

Sorry for all the questions, but we really do need the answers for these.

Red meat is a bad idea for an oscar, as are store bought feeder fish. Base the diet on a quality cichlid pellet, things such as crickets or small clean earthworms are a good additive.

Keep an eye on those angels, things could turn quickly. Angels are no match for an oscar.

 

[Faythee]

The Oscar and Angel are both very pretty. Personally I wouldn't go to sleep at night with them in the same tank.

 

[Repeat]

Me neither, i would flush the oscar

 

[Kai]

Is this tank cycled, how large is this tank (gallons or liters) and how long has it been cycled and running for? How did you cycle this tanks, what are you running for filtration, and what have you been feeding these fish? Results of water tests (numbers please!) will give us a good starting point as well.

Sorry for all the questions, but we really do need the answers for these.

Red meat is a bad idea for an oscar, as are store bought feeder fish. Base the diet on a quality cichlid pellet, things such as crickets or small clean earthworms are a good additive.

Keep an eye on those angels, things could turn quickly. Angels are no match for an oscar.

The tank had only been cycled and running for about 48 hours, and is 25 US gallons (plan to upgrade to 75 gal in approx 3 months).
I am using an AquaClear 200 filter/pump at the moment which has been in use in another tank but I have an Elite Hush35 that I may use instead.
I have been feeding the Oscar a mixture of "Sera vipan Staple Diet" flake food and the occasional Nutrafin Max Food Tablet meant for bottom feeders but he gobbles them up, I plan to get some Chichlid staple tablets tomorrow.

Unfortunately I do not have numbers on the water tests I did add some "Nutrafin Cycle", meant to rapidly mature new aquariums, as well as some water dechlorinator.

 

[shroob]

Do you mean the tank has only had water in for 2 days? If so that's not long enough for a cycle. The AquaClear 200, was that transfered directly from an established tank? You may have lucked out and got some bacteria living on there if so.

A 75 gallon won't be big enough for 2 oscars (especially if they are 2 males), a 75 gallon is often recomended as minimum for a single oscar. The young oscars will not do well in the 25 gallon tank for much longer, judging by your picture they are already 3" or more, oscars should grow at 1" a month, so in 3 months you can expect two 6" fish, which is really pushing it for a 25 gallon tank when you consider the excess bioload oscars produce.

Hikari cichlid staple are a good base diet, as Tolak said you can treat them with crickets or worms but I wouldn't feed red meat, especially fat as fish have a hard time digesting mammalian fats.

 

[Spishkey]

ok so your tank is not cycled. how often are you doing water changes?
you say you transferred the angels from another tank, if you take some filter media from the angels previous tank and place it in the oscar tank, it will really help to cycle the tank. if not you should really be doing daily water changes to dilute the ammonia and nitrite in the tank. if you do not do this your fish will be dead shortly.
25 gallons is no where near big enough for one oscar (im taking it as you only have one left?the other died after jumping out?) if you can upgrade to the 75g AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! dont wait three months.
also flake food is not very good for oscars, they swallow too much air while trying to gulp down the flakes, pellets are a good idea. they can also eat things like insects (spiders bugs, beetles etc) earthworms, flies also defrosted frozen foods. vegetables are a favourite as well (mine loved cauliflower, brocolli, carrot, peas etc) just make sure you vary their diet, not too much of one thing.


and keep an eye on those angels as others have said it really is not a good idea to keep them in there with an oscar. even if it is a small one!

 

[Kai]

I used an additive to lower the ammonia and nitrate levels and speed up cycle time.
The pump also had bacteria as it was in use right up until the minute I put it in the new tank, also I took a fairly large rock fixture from the other tank as well, which was somewhat covered in algea growth and stuff.
Do you think this is enough bacteria to get the tank started? Is my Oscar is in danger?

Yes it is just the single Oscar in there, and he is only about 3 inches, so I will upgrade from the 25gal tank asap.

 

[Davo86]

I used an additive to lower the ammonia and nitrate levels and speed up cycle time.
The pump also had bacteria as it was in use right up until the minute I put it in the new tank, also I took a fairly large rock fixture from the other tank as well, which was somewhat covered in algea growth and stuff.
Do you think this is enough bacteria to get the tank started? Is my Oscar is in danger?

Yes it is just the single Oscar in there, and he is only about 3 inches, so I will upgrade from the 25gal tank asap.

ok first thing you have to understand is that products like Nutrafin Cycle are pretty much useless, not totally useless but the benefits are so minimal that it doesn't really make a lot of difference, if the tank doesn't have fully matured filter media then you will need to get a test kit asap, or risk losing all of the fish.

Also i may have missed this but is the heater switched on 24/7 now ? an unstable temperature is potentially much worse than one that is slighly too high or too low and can very quickly kill them by stressing them out

 

[Kai]

Okay, I will try and get to a store and pick up a test kit asap.

and yes the heater is on 24/7 now

 

[Spishkey]

ok if the filter was from another tank there should be no problem depending on what that tank size was. it at least as some beneficial bacteria in it. until you get a test kit i would do some small water changes daily *just incase there is ammonia and nitrites present* maybe 20% daily?
if the fishy start looking *off* (sulking, not moving, hiding, not eating etc) then you will know theres a big problem there.
glad you came here for advice, some people carry on regardless and its the fish who end up suffering. if there is anything else we can help you with, dont be afraid to ask, we are here to try and help!