I recently got into this hobby so please don’t attack me lol. Ive had an Oscar fish for a few months. I upgraded from a 20g tank to a 55g tank 4 days ago. I introduced a clown pleco to the tank 2 days ago. My Oscar fish hasn’t been eating normally (most of the time not at all) for about 2 weeks. I thought it was because of the smaller tank but it’s still going on. Then just now he started swimming fast into the sand and almost running into the glass a little bit. I did have rocks instead of sand in my old tank if that matters. Also since he hadn’t been eating his pebbles I tried giving him some bell pepper this morning . Didn’t eat it. Anyways my biggest concern is his new found swimming into the sand activity. Any advice would be amazing.
Posted by skvlrm
7 Comments
Lots of real plants
I would test the water. Plecos have a high bioload so it might have changed your tank parameters. Plants help too!
Beautiful tank. YouTube father fish to see if you’d like to follow his method. I do and I love my planted natural tank so much. I comment because it’s always prettier with a big tank like yours !
Is the new tank cycled?
Oscars are pretty notorious for tearing up plants, look into ways to create a platform to grow pothos on, that will help keep your params stable and add some attractive greenery. You can also set up a planted sump.
Also, youll want to invest in a 125 and another oscar of the opposite sex. Oscars often pair for life and they can get depressed without a partner. Properly cared for they live for up to 20+ years(the ones my father had when i was a kid were 14+ years old when we rehomed them) and get over a foot long(ours were 15 and 18 inches)
Do you ever feed live? Ghost shrimp and rosy reds(that youve quarantined and fed) are good.
Move the clown pleco, when the oscar is larger it WILL try to eat the pleco and that never ends well. Look into a larger species(not a sailfin or common obvs) Gold Nugget(lL33), green pleco(L200) Hemiancistrus L128 are all options in the 7-9 inch range that will better cohab with adult Oscars.
By “swimming into sand” to you mean it is grinding its body into the sand? That may be flashing which indicates the early stages of an external parasite/infection
He might be stressed out by the open space and lack of binding places and the bright light. Plants will help him feel safe and also keep your water clean. Since you’ve only added sand without a substrate you should stick to epiphyte plants. These aren’t planted in the soil but rather glued or tied to wood or rock: anubias, Java ferns, hygrophyla pinatifida etc
get a black background (tape black craft paper to the back wall of the tank) and get some driftwood and attach a bunch of anubias to it (oscar’s can’t root these up since they’re attached to wood). the tank is a bit empty so he is stressed because of that