Should I have other species of fish with my two EBJD?

[sean2024]

Because of their relatively small adult size they do grow slow. Like most fish they'll put on some size fast from fry up but hit a wall where their growth rate will significantly slow. I'd say after 4-5 inches their growth rate will slow. Also, EBJDs tend to be slightly smaller as adults and grow slower than their naturally occurring colored counterpart. My experience was different then Jexnell though, my Oscars significantly outpaced any of my JD's growth. My Oscars usually easily hit 8-10 inches in their first year with growth slowing after that. EBJD's also usually have shortened life spans compared to their wild colored counterpart in my experience. Mine only made it to around 12 years old while most of my fish hit 15-20 years on average.

I see. Yeah i got these ebjds because my 6 inch oscar just took a turn for the worst almost a week ago like 5 or so weeks ago he kept biting his heater for like 3 weeks straight and ended up getting a bad burn on his chin that got badly infected. Did s couple water changes afterwards I noticed the burn and he was getting better cuz he started slowly eating after not eating for a week or so and he reached up to 20 pellets two days in a row but still seemed sick. So, i posted him on a fb cichlid page and they said treated with kanaplex so instead i bought melafix in which i heard good things a out for healing started that for two days then the cichlid page told me dont use that its just a tonic, whatever that means so i stopped it, did a water change, put the carbon bags back in, let it clear then i started the kanaplex and all this made him so sick, he was swimming up and down real fastfor days. Was smacking off the top of tbe tank lids. I was freaking out. After two treatments if the kanaplex i said im done with this. Put the carbon bags back in, did a good water change and he laid on his side for two days straight couldnt move then died.

 

[sean2024]

I see. Yeah i got these ebjds because my 6 inch oscar just took a turn for the worst almost a week ago like 5 or so weeks ago he kept biting his heater for like 3 weeks straight and ended up getting a bad burn on his chin that got badly infected. Did s couple water changes afterwards I noticed the burn and he was getting better cuz he started slowly eating after not eating for a week or so and he reached up to 20 pellets two days in a row but still seemed sick. So, i posted him on a fb cichlid page and they said treated with kanaplex so instead i bought melafix in which i heard good things a out for healing started that for two days then the cichlid page told me dont use that its just a tonic, whatever that means so i stopped it, did a water change, put the carbon bags back in, let it clear then i started the kanaplex and all this made him so sick, he was swimming up and down real fastfor days. Was smacking off the top of tbe tank lids. I was freaking out. After two treatments if the kanaplex i said im done with this. Put the carbon bags back in, did a good water change and he laid on his side for two days straight couldnt move then died.

I shoulda just kept doing water changes and he would be alive and healthy rn. As soon as i started those antibiotics, bam. He turned pale white a bunch of times. He was a tiger oscar

 

[sean2024]

You can see the burn on his chin to

 

[koltsixx]

I see. Yeah i got these ebjds because my 6 inch oscar just took a turn for the worst almost a week ago like 5 or so weeks ago he kept biting his heater for like 3 weeks straight and ended up getting a bad burn on his chin that got badly infected. Did s couple water changes afterwards I noticed the burn and he was getting better cuz he started slowly eating after not eating for a week or so and he reached up to 20 pellets two days in a row but still seemed sick. So, i posted him on a fb cichlid page and they said treated with kanaplex so instead i bought melafix in which i heard good things a out for healing started that for two days then the cichlid page told me dont use that its just a tonic, whatever that means so i stopped it, did a water change, put the carbon bags back in, let it clear then i started the kanaplex and all this made him so sick, he was swimming up and down real fastfor days. Was smacking off the top of tbe tank lids. I was freaking out. After two treatments if the kanaplex i said im done with this. Put the carbon bags back in, did a good water change and he laid on his side for two days straight couldnt move then died.

I'm sorry to hear you lost your Oscar. It's also hard for me to say what should or shouldn't have been done. The O attacking a heater sounds odd as I've never experienced it myself and I can't tell in the pic if that's just a sore from rubbing, a burn or if the people on FB thought it might get infected with fungal or turn into a bacterial infection and that's why the suggested KanaPlex. Does the heater have a cover? You can get covered heaters now, I got this heater 8 months ago
Amazon.com: HiTauing Aquarium Heater, 50W/100W/200W/300W/500W Submersible Fish Tank Heater with Over-Temperature Protection and Automatic Power-Off When Leaving Water for Saltwater and Freshwater : Pet Supplies
It's been a reliable heater so far, has a plastic cover and temp display that is accurate(I have 2 secondary thermometers I check it against). Also is that poop or pellets on the filter strainer? Did you provide your parameters before people suggested things to you? How big were those water changes? You don't have to answer any of that, I'm just mildly curious.

Those are just some of the questions I personally would have asked before suggesting anything. If the Oscar was eating as you said I think I probably would have suggested just to monitor your parameters, make sure to do reasonable water changes and maybe add stress coat and see if you could place the heater in a different spot. Again, I can't say for sure but some of what you described afterwards sounds like shock, possibly from the quick changes to the water from the water changes and medication. I'd really need to ask a lot more to have a possibly accurate idea.