oscar breeding

[searcyb]

I have a pair of oscars and they have been doing the mating "dance" for about 3 months now... I just moved them into a new 125 gal tank and it took them a week or so to get aquainted to their new surroundings. This past week they started to dig out the gravel and they have been spending a lot of time in the area that they cleaned out. Every once in a while they will go mouth to mouth and get fairly aggressive with eachother. My tank temp is 78-80, pH is 7.4, water is a little hard. Should I be doing anything else to get them to spawn or should it just take time?

 

[dialphantom]

a piece of slate or clay pot would be nice for them

 

[Stella]

Do a decent water change with water that is a little warmer and a little softer than what is already in the tank (maybe 82 degrees, 6.8 pH). I would move the other fish out, as some won't like the softer water, and all will eat fry/eggs if the oscars don't eat them first.

Laura

 

[finsandfangs]

i thought introducing cooler water would help fish spawn?

 

[Stella]

The idea is to raise the temp and then lower it to simulate rainy season.

Laura

 

[DeLgAdO]

i hope my pair wont grow up into a breeding pair otherwise my whole tanks going to hell

 

[searcyb]

so I have to raise the temp then lower it how much?

 

[Stella]

If it were my tank, I would do several water changes to bring the pH down (this could adversely affect your African cichlids) and crank the temp up to about 82 degrees. I would either use peat-filtered water or RO water to lower the pH; chemicals can seriously mess up your chemistry. If that alone doesn't get things going, do another large water change with water that is a few degrees cooler.

Keep in mind you may have two females; they will sometimes go to the point of laying (obviously infertile) eggs together.

Laura