pepetj

Hi
Water parameters:
Temp 26C, pH 7.6, Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates 10ppm (maybe a little less).

The biggest fish in the 145gal tank, a Tiguer Oscar close to 7" got pretty banged up during the weekend. He/she has bruises, even some missing scales. I don't know how serious or not this is at all. Eating and swimming as usual.

Two young Severums began what seems to be mating behaviour during this week, and ever since the big guys (Green and Gold Severums, and the two Tiguer Oscars) are engaged in aggressive-like behaviour around a particular driftwood they seem to be claiming.

Is there anything I should do besides keeping an eye on them, like rearranging aquascaping or removing one or more fish? Should I worry or not?



Pepe
Santo Domingo

Attached Images

Moon hurted 1.JPG (215.4 KB, 8 views)

Cody

wow thats very strange, thats a very large tank and considering the ocsar is the big one i would think he rules the tank. im not sure what you should to exactly, if the severums are mating. i wish i could help more, do you have any sort of a quarantine tank the oscar or severums could go in

Shawnie

oscars even without the breeding severums, are notorious for destroying tanks and redecoratiing it themselves...id deffinately remove anything that he could hurt himself on again...and id give him some garlic guard or fresh garlic juice, as well as fresh pieces of garlic and some vita chem for a few days until he heals..if theres nothing to get caught on in the tank, he can handle the breeding pair as there is plenty of room...nice looking oscar !

MissMTS

Looks like Shawnie's got it covered as far as the advice goes. I was basically going to tell you everything she just said, and there's no need to repeat info, lol. I hope that he gets better soon.

Cody

wow, i didnt even no that a fish could do that to himself, i also thought he could handle the severum, and in a tank taht large it shouldnt be a issue of space, i have alot to learn about american and south american cichlids yet.

pepetj

Ok so it may be that these bruises were self-inflicted after all... I have been watching them without being noticed (at least that's what I think, can't say for sure) and this is what I found: Looks like the Severums won the territorial push for the driftwood, and the Oscars have a safe zone at the opposite end of the tank.

At that end of the tank, some decor I placed to provide caves for the small cichlids are out of place (one on its side -no one sheltering there, another angled way differently, a Hybrid African cave who remains there). The bruised Oscar (Moon) looks fatter than before, close to 8" long and 4" tall (I measured through the glass while laying next to the front wall, so some measurement error is likely).

Moon's partner (Luna) is the one displaying some aggressiveness, but not all the time.
They still swim around, and so far I keep the watch on. I noticed some new bruises -like bites.- in the Green Severum left side pectoral fin, and in Moon's tail fin.

Couldn't find the Garlic remedy at the LFS. I'm afraid of using local fmarket-fresh garlic juice, since it's likely polluted with pesticides.

Pepe
Santo Domingo

Shawnie

how old are these buggers? im asking because ive had mine almost 8 years and last two weeks, one of my tigers has become very very violent towards humans and other fish...very unlike him as hes been hand fed since they both were babies...anyhoo, I took out all deco that might hurt him and put in some very flat heavy rocks...low n behold sat, there were thousands of oscar eggs! oscars mature about 16 months of age...so I was curious if your guys were that old?

and again, self inflicted wounds are totally an oscars way so removing things is best...

pepetj

Update:
My Oscars are less than 1 year old. The 8" (it could be 7+ inches actually) is probably 7 months old; the 6" (again,, maybe 5+ inches), probably 6 months old. I got them at 5" and 3.5" as they where -in different moments, by different previous owners, one of them a friedn of mine- returned to the LFS. They outgrew their previous tanks -and propper caring. I had a rough time until they ended up getting along well, now they are inseperables.

I ended up removing all decor with sharp edges, sorry for the Hybrid African Cichlid that was housed in a bridge ornament... I added river sand and good-sized river rocks so they can't swing them around and brake the glass (collected by myself during the weekend I was out).

Moon is healing his bruises, but since they are prone to getting hurt, I am considering installing a UV sterilizer (I'm researching about the propper types and settings). Otherwise I keep water parameters at optimal levels, which is not hard at all in tank this size.

Thanks for all the good advice

Pepe
Santo Domingo

Cody

hows he doing

bhone20

Remember for Oscars=NO SHARP EDGES IN TANK!!