Tiger Oscars for a beginner fish Hobbyist

[BunnyKixR4Kids]

Ok, I'm an aspiring Fish Hobbyist, and my father always had oscars so skip the goldfish straight to oscars,...problem is,...I just want to know about the species, I wanna know if it's just me or if I have psycho fish in my tank,..they are like never sitting still and swimmin like there's no tomorrow,...non-stop...am kinda worried like their on drugs or sumthin lol bc the guy at the shop said the farmer of some of his fish injects fish with food coloring for halloween,...no unusual colors in these two it's just that their acting literally psycho....oscar advice please?? (feeding them flakes til I got them settled in just got them today), these fish are trying to jump out of the tank and swimming 90+ mph, he said there was anti stress stuff in his water,...what's up with these babies they are like 1.25 inches long, dunno if it a stage or what or if I got the wroooong kind of oscar/fish. HELP!

[Pippin]

Need a few details!!

1) How many Oscars ?
2)How big is the aquarium?
3)What type of filteration?
4)Are you familier with the nitrogen cycle?

I don't think that Oscars are supposed to be that active. But as long as they are not harming themselves it should be fine. They might slow down once they get used to thier new home.

Heres a nice site that I stumbled upon today:Oscarfish.com (http://www.oscarfish.com) . I hope it helps!! :)

[BunnyKixR4Kids]

Thanks! Their in the same size aquarium I got them out of a 2 gallon, but now it's just 2 of them instead,...getting 10gal this weekend was hoping they wouldn't play a "Rocky" imitation since they grew up together but looks like I got fighters on my hands,...no harm they just chasing each others tails and goin ape nuts. I think when I fed them they mellowed out a bit like the guy starved em before,...beautiful blue/grey tiger oscars for 2$ a piece! Their in good health so no complaints on that end,...they are just,..I dunno how to put it, acting psycho lol They seem to have already associated me with food so I guess that's a good thing. Another thing,...these stupid fish are trying to jump out?! Their not banging into the side of the aquarium like they were in the pet shop
1.) 2 tiger oscars(pretty blue/grey)
2.)2 gal same size they and all 6 of bro and sis were in at shop(temporary til this weekend)
3.)no filtration atm using the bubble thing for water circulation
4.)you mean changing the water kinda cycle thing?? watching the pH if that's what you mean (new to this,...these oscars are a first time fish instead of gold fish,...a family thing I guess my dad had em and I missed em so got more
I read somewhere that 3 gallons per inch of oscar is the ideal space for them, so a 10 gal should hold them for a 2-3 months til I find some friends who have a bigger tank ;P
Hey nice link thanks!

[Dboones420]

hey, thats a lot of oscars for that little tank, i use to have one a long time ago. he got to big for a thirty gallon i talking about hey could only turn around not swim. i just got another last month a blk\grey he was the size of a quater and now he's bigger than my hand. another thing i like to do is put insects in there, my loves rollie pollies, and june bugs. they also good for the fish

[BunnyKixR4Kids]

For now I am just feeding them pellets, their about 1.25 inches, and swimming around just fine but this is a temp tank for them til I get my custom tank. If it takes much longer I will go get a 10 gal for now, hehe I thot I was seeing things last night told one of the fish "You're Psycho" and it just opened it's mouth as wide as it could against the glass,...guess I pissed em off lol,..oh how do you sex an oscar?? Supposedly the two are the same age one is bigger than the other and the larger one has a more dull color than the smaller one,..plus the big one is the bully/jerk of the tank,...playing soccer with the shells I put in there for them hehe...*turns back around to PC*...their just babies for now,...my dads was about a yr old and an easy 8 inches was in a 155 gal with a gar and a few plecos, surprisingly the gar&oscar didn't have many run ins @.@, I'm prepared to get larger tanks just a matter of the custom 55 getting here already, if not a 10 gal will have to do til then waiting a lil while longer. I have a sponge filter running and I have the airstone/slitted bottom for additional filtration, they seem happy as all get out,..just nervous though.
For now anyone know how to sex an oscar??

[BunnyKixR4Kids]

[QUOTE=Pippin]
I don't think that Oscars are supposed to be that active. But as long as they are not harming themselves it should be fine. They might slow down once they get used to thier new home.
QUOTE]

They never slowed down lol, when they think I'm not looking they go nuts,..still nervous around people though, that comes with time for now it's just the two oscars and a cory cat (dime size) :crowded: in a 2 gal, so I dunno if it's the fact they have more space then they had in the pet shop or if it's simply these blue and silver tiger oscars are just nuts.

[BunnyKixR4Kids]

hey, thats a lot of oscars for that little tank, i use to have one a long time ago. he got to big for a thirty gallon i talking about hey could only turn around not swim. i just got another last month a blk\grey he was the size of a quater and now he's bigger than my hand. another thing i like to do is put insects in there, my loves rollie pollies, and june bugs. they also good for the fish

Yeah I'll get a bigger tank soon :crowded: grew up around oscars so they were the first fish I wanted to give a try,...not feeding them anything but pellets for now dun need "super oscars" hehe just don't want them to get too big too fast until the 55 is ready, even then won't feed em too many bugs,...maybe as a treat,...my dad used to put a bag full of feeder goldies in the tank and "Oscar" the Oscar just ran around slurping them forget "chewing" hehe

[BunnyKixR4Kids]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v319/Trixeanna/BothCurious.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v319/Trixeanna/CuriousFish.jpg

Playing Tag
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v319/Trixeanna/TagUreit.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v319/Trixeanna/MischieviousThoughts.jpg

The lighting (incandecant light bulb) and my pic taking skills don't do justice to their beautiful blue and silver colors

[Dboones420]

hey those are cool oscars, mine looked like that but then he started to turn all blk. he is so active even at night when the lights are out. some times he gets my arowana kinda mad then he'll hit him and the oscar will stop. He also messes with the two breeding pairs(yellow labs,red zebras) he always chases the little baby labs(3) but hey can fit in the rock holes(hahaha) so i try keep him happy and fed. when i get pics i'll show to you.

[Pippin]

Wow, those are really pretty oscars!!

You definatly need to get them into a bigger tank asap. Eventually you will need a tank even bigger than a 55. Are you getting a tank kit or are you buying the filter and heater seperatly? A good filter is the Penguin Bio-wheels, you might want to get a couple of the 330's.

Cycle is a very important part of new tanks. When you first get your fish they start producing waste and leftover food rots. The ammonia levels rise. Good bacteria colonates on the rocks and in the bio-wheel if you have one. The good bacteria converts the ammonia into nitrites. A second colony of good bacteria grows and converts the nitrites to nitrAtes. Ammonia kills fish fast, nitrites kill a little less quickly, and nitrates are much less deadly. The good bacteria takes care of the ammonia and nitrites, while water changes take care of the nitrates. This cycle HAS to happen and it takes a while(a few weeks). So a new aquarium must go through a cycle but you can't put in more fish with thier waste than the good bacteria can handle. The ammonia and nitrite levels will rise and fish might die. You have to slowly stock the tank and moniter the levels of ammonia,nitrite,and nitrate.
I hope I havn't confused you too much!!

I dont think it is possible to sex oscars. That is until they actually breed. I'm really not sure. Have you gone to that website I gave you?

[BunnyKixR4Kids]

Yeah I looked at the website, got a 10 gal tank kit now I will put them into it next week (3-4 days) as I am disinfecting everything with aquarisol/aquariumsalt/water conditioner and rinsing thoroughly,...I cheated the pet shop lol I went to yard sale and got a 1$ Power Filter (Hartz Crystal Clean) new in box the guy is just moving,...disinfecting that too, but anyways too the power filter that came with the 10 gal back for credit and got come blood worms for the oscars ;P It's kinda funny if you watch them through a cracked door they do 2 sharp nods to the left then to the right then go up and down the tank and do it all over again til I walk in then they "go to bed" lol

[BunnyKixR4Kids]

Oh the 55 is being custom made already have heaters and stuff coming with it , I plan on eventually having them in their own 55 or 125, depending on how I feed em and now big they get, that way they won't be in same tank forever,...for now tho the bigest one is not letting the little one eat,...so it's no a ritual I give him blood worms on one side and the other one pellets on the other and vice versa. Gotta feed em at the same time. They either "dance" play tag or open their mouths as wide as they can at my finger pressed against the glass,..lol their eyes are DEFINATELY bigger than their stomach hehe

[BunnyKixR4Kids]

hey those are cool oscars, mine looked like that but then he started to turn all blk. he is so active even at night when the lights are out. some times he gets my arowana kinda mad then he'll hit him and the oscar will stop. He also messes with the two breeding pairs(yellow labs,red zebras) he always chases the little baby labs(3) but hey can fit in the rock holes(hahaha) so i try keep him happy and fed. when i get pics i'll show to you.

I'd love to see pics of your oscar! hehe