Can Oscar Fish get depressed?

Question

I had 4 in a 125 gallon and 3 of them were picking on the smallest one. He had chunks bitten out of him and his fins were all tore off so I moved him into his own 55 gallon tank all alone. Now he seems very sad. He lays on the bottom and only gets excited when its time to eat. He can see the other oscars from his tank. Is this normal? Whats going on? I feel sorry for the poor fella!

Answer 1

most oscars pout. They pout when moved. They pout when injured. Disturb their tank. They are drama queens. Clean water, good food, and time. He will be back to normal in no time. 3 is about the max for a 125 ... just enough territory for each to co-exist. 4 is cramped for these guys. If two of them pair up, that other one will get bullied as well!

Give him lots of love and attention.

Oscars can see well over 2 ft from the tank. Mine sees me at over 10 feet away.

He pouts when I clean his tank or first turn on the lights ... or if I don't say hello when he wants me to (or when I don't give him the food he wants - usually krill).

I wouldn't worry too much, but watch him.

You might want to buy MelaFix/PimaFix and treat as a precaution, if those wounds are bad, you don't want an infection, and those will help him heal up faster.

Good luck and hope he heals really fast! I have saw chunks out of a friends fish from bumping into the filter and it healed in two days!!!

Answer 2

Who know what is going on in the brain of a fish, but...

Sounds more like he might have a problem. Oscars are not necessarily social fish, in a tank, they merely tolerate each other more than anything else.

Take a 1/4 cup of water in a clean container to your local aquarium shop, NOT petco or the such, but a REAL full line aquarium store and have them test the water. You want a reading on the Ammonia, Ph, and Nitrite levels. If all are good, look for signs of disease such as cloudy or swollen eyes, white stringy anus discharge, very small white spots, white film covering body or fins. If water test bad, do some water changes over several days to correct. If water is ok and no signs of disease, not much you can do. Just watch carefully and give TLC. As long as he is eating, he is in decent shape no matter what is starting to happen, if he stops eating, then you have a real problem.

Answer 3

I have 2 oscars and a Jack Dempsey, all of them get alongside simply nice, I have on no account owned a Severum. If i received a severum it could ought to be very colourful. I could pass with the oscar shrewd fish, and really personable.

Answer 4

when you see a oscar laying on its side, it means he's depressed. I don't know how big your oscars are but I have a feeling you have two males. If they're 6 inches or larger, I suggest you buy a big piece of slate and place it in a corner and see if they'll lay eggs on it. Before breeding them, you must feed them plenty of food (pellets, shrimps, crayfish) to condition them. If you see a pair cleaning the slate with their mouth and see their body shaking...that means you got a breeding pair. Move the other oscar and don't disturb the pair. If you must view them, tape news papers on the sides of the tank and cut little holes for observation.

good luck

Answer 5

That's totally normal Oscar behavior when they get moved to a new tank. It could go one for a few weeks even, but as long as he's eating ok it's nothing to worry about and will stop eventually.

MM

Answer 6

yes oscars are somewhat social fish but maybe he's afraid because he can still see the others and he's to scared to swim. wove him a little farther(fish can only see 1-2 feet away in a glass tank.) and get him a non aggresive fish friend around the same size.

Answer 7

all fish can. get him another friend.