New Oscar freaked out help?

Question

Posted 04-08-07 03:49 AM
I recently bought a 1 inch baby oscar (im not an oscar newbie so i dont need ALL the info i had one that lived for 10 years in the past it was my moms and i have a 4 yr old one now) anyway the petstore i bought him from had him in a tank with lights but the temp tank i had him in (30 gal long extra filtration heater etc) for about 2 months didnt have any lights. I picked up my new 80 gal and started cycling it about a month ago and out the new guy in it. at first he freaked out swimming weird and just sitting in the gravel and he turned from black to a greyish. so i thought my water param's were bad so i tested them and they were fine. When i turned the light off though he started swimming and acting normal again. Do oscars normally freak out over lighting changes like that? if not what could have caused it? other than stress from the tank move? Ive never had a fish freak like that over a move

He is starting to swim around normally now that he is used to the tank size (went from a 20 gal in the store to a 20 gal quarantine at my house while my 80 gal cycled to the 80 gal) he was probably just over whelmed. (and ps gary he DID have lights while at the store and for a week or so in the 20 gal quarantine and then the switch broke reason why he had no light and it was only like a month and half tops so it wasnt soooooo long ) ANY WAY i have been adjusting him to the light by turning it on letting it be for five minutes feed him (its its around feeding time) and let it sit another 10 minutes and then shut it off or if its not near feeding time just turn it on for 15 and then shut it off to get him used to it and repeat every hour or so hes starting to get used to it so im going to up the time to 20 every hour any other suggestions?

Answer 1

Since having the light out for such a long period of time, the Oscar got adjusted to it like that so it will have to adapt to having bright light now. Just keep the light on for a short period of time each day and make sure there of plenty of hiding places until the fish feels secure in the new home. If the fish was moved from a rather small tank to this large tank, it probably feels lost. Oscars can kind of freak out when moved anyway. Sometimes they will hide and/or lay on their sides. Make sure the water temp is about 80 so the fish doesn't get sick from the stress. Now is a good time to add a little Stress coat or Start right. Neither will hurt the tank or fish.

Answer 2

The fish is not used to bright lights, he has gotten used to darkness. I have had this problem, time is the only thing that will help. Turn the light on a little longer each day, the Oscar needs to get used to light just as it got used to darkness. It will probably get used to the light but it may take a while. I have even seem some fish (1 Red Devil) that never got totally used to the light and was always more comfortable in darkness, but most adapt just fine.

Answer 3

This is a problem caused by your oscar's age since you bought him at such a young age and kept the lights off for soo long he got used to having no lights and hi brain cant tolerate light. You can fix this but it will take a while and expensive, its best to toss it and get a new one or keep it in your lightless tank.
If you want to fix it buy a bulb or fluorescent whatever you have, one that can have its output adjusted to be made dimmer or brighter at any time, start buy turning it very dimly and let the fish get used to it, keep raising the level of light till your fish acts nromaly. You usualy cant buy something like this from your petstore so your going to need to go somewhere like home depot that has stuff like this, but you will also need to have a background in engineering so that you can set it up.