3 oscars 1 big war?

Question

big territory war.. thy are ripping each other apart. i tried everything, feeding them feeders, rearranging rocks and plants, and attempted using a divider system which they brake through. it started with just on of them biting the there and it looked like i had a couple with a dominate male just fighting the other. now all of them are destroying each other

i got these fish about 2 months ago from my buddy who now serving time overseas. they are all about 17 months old

do you think a fish dealer will let me donate them and then get just 2 baby ones as a switch.

Answer 1

Tank size has a LOT to do with this. Not sure how big a tank you have, but you need 55 gallons for 1 oscar; 110 gallons for 2 oscars, 165 gallons for 3 oscars.
Is the tank even large enough for 2?
Here is info on the oscar:
Okay, we have already established that 55 gallons is only big enough for one Oscar. If you have a 110 gallon tank, you could have two Oscars, perfect if you want to breed. However, you may want one Oscar and some tankmates. Let's go back to the total body mass of a fish. An adult Oscar can be very big, it has a large body mass. Not only do Oscars grow to quite impressive lengths, they also have deep bodies as well. Oscars normally only reach around 12 inches in captivity. If this is the case, you may calculate that half of 12 is 6 and determine that you can only have a couple of 6 inch fish.. This isn't necessarily the case. Let's look at pictus catfish for instance. These can reach five or 6 inches. That is half the length of a 12 inch Oscar. However, it is by no means as deep, in fact it, an Oscar is probably four times the height of the pictus catfish, so you can see that you could probably have four or five pictus catfish in with one Oscar as four or five pictus catfish will produce around the same amount of waste as one large 12 inch Oscar. In fact, I would say an Oscar of that size will produce a lot more waste. And since pictus catfish to do well in shoals, these make ideal tankmates.Whatever you put in with them, make sure they are at least 4 in. long. Silver Dollar's, tinfoil barbs (not too many as these do get quite big) some species of cichlid are all suitable for a large Oscar Tank. I have got a jade cichlid and I have no problems whatsoever, it is a beautiful peaceful little fish.If you do want tankmates for your Oscars, don't buy them as babies. Try and find tankmates that have already grown quite a bit. The reason I say this is because an Oscars growth rate is a lot faster than most fish so if you get a very small 1 inch fish that doesn't grow very quickly, it could be a potential meal for the very fast-growing Oscar in only a few months.

Answer 2

It's quite simple, 2's company, 3's a crowd.

If the Oscars are 17 months old then they should be sexually mature. If two of them decide to pair off and breed, the third one could very well have a real hard time because there is a very good chance it won't be tolerated anywhere near the eggs, or even in the tank.

Three Oscars will mean an extremely large tank as well. The filtration needed for three large adult Oscars is very important too. Oscars are messy creatures and you must have the filtration to keep up with them. Trying to keep Oscars in a small environment could have a serious detrimental effect on the water quality, it will also increase the chances of fighting and unpleasantness.

It sounds as if you are already having problems, take action now on to find a home for the third one.

Answer 3

Around here fish dealers will take adults for trade.

below is copied directly from your last Oscar question post, but I guess you didn't believe it. Perhaps you will now and also take it into account before buying 2 baby ones and endin up in the same situation:

"In truth, even if you have a 75 gallon tank just keeping two random Oscars will not work once they mature - they'll begin to fight over the tank eventually. To successfully keep 2 Oscars for any worthwhile period together you would want a breeding pair, which will share the tank rather then fight over it. To do this you would either need to purchase a few of them so you can grow them up and let them pair off (in which case you would need to start with a larger tank) or purchase a grown pair (in which case you would need to start with a larger tank)."

I'll add that feedings, tank setup, or anything else you try to do will not force these territorial fish to be compatible.

Answer 4

As mentioned make sure your tank is large enough. I wouldn't recommend anything smaller than a 55 for two Oscars. Three is a squeeze. But anyway if you can't trade them or whatever try picking out the aggressor. Take a big neat catch him and then make it so the net keeps him stuck at the top of the tank - like a time out. Yes it sounds silly but if one is the aggressor when you take him out of the equation for while (I'd leave him there over night) the other two fish can pick territory and he's the new guy again...

Answer 5

Before we go with answer 1 above, what size tank are they in? Remember Oscars are Cichilids and it is in thier nature to do that. Now I had a pair of monster sized six inch ones and they got along just fine. I have a feeling they were a mated pair, and my tank was a 75 gallon tank. I had to take mine back for a completely different reason. Waste production destroyed my bio filter, killed off my big Arowana's even my pleco's and catfish as well. The two I had did not display the things you mentioned. I have a feeling even in a bigger tank they are liable to continue this behavior. However, I will give you a link that describes the mating patterns of Oscars, I am not sure, it doesn't sound like they are doing it, BUT mating with a pair can appear to be fighting. Just by chance, did you catch two of them "kissing"? One of the first stages of Oscars mating is them to lock lips and have a "tug of war" If one of them breaks off too soon, the other will try to kill the one that broke off.
http://www.geocities.com/cichlidiot_2000/breeding.html

Answer 6

Over crowding is most likely the correct answer to this one, unless that one really big tank. Your idea is probably the best bet unless you have a really large tank as well as a separate tank in which you can swap them until you can tell a couple has formed. I wouldn't just donate them though, you should be able to get young ones as well as some shop credit out of the deal.

MM

Answer 7

Oscars are tricky, to keep all of them you need a way bigger tank. Mine eat each other too and now they are separated until I get a bigger tank. The pet store may take them but I wouldn't recommend getting more Oscars until you have space for them and are ready to care for them through maturity.

Answer 8

You probably have them overcrowded in a too small tank. You could exchange them for smaller fish in a good pet store.However,the pet store may not want to keep them too long as they take up too much room.

Answer 9

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