oscar mating

[BobbyG123]

how can you tell the difference if your oscars are mating or fighting?
my two oscars(i put together around 1month 1/2 ago that were ttogether when they were younger) looks like they may be mating
ones around 4-5 inch and ones around 6-61/2 inch dunno if there even still two young to mate but they keep locking there lips and going back in forth it does look a little agressive i do know its hard to determine there sex so i wanted to know if they were mating or not

 

[James B.]

Still pretty small for O's to be mating. Not impossible but very unlikely, most don't mature until the 8+ inch mark.
Have they been digging pits or cleaning rocks/flower pots what ever you have, at all? That's normally a good sign of breeding.
How big is the tank? More then likely just fighting for dominance.
And yes they are very hard to sex the only true way to tell is to see them lay eggs, you could try to vent but I have herd even then it's hard, I suck at venting so I don't bother putting the fish through the stress.

 

[maynardwix]

Still pretty small for O's to be mating. Not impossible but very unlikely, most don't mature until the 8+ inch mark.
Have they been digging pits or cleaning rocks/flower pots what ever you have, at all? That's normally a good sign of breeding.
How big is the tank? More then likely just fighting for dominance.
And yes they are very hard to sex the only true way to tell is to see them lay eggs, you could try to vent but I have herd even then it's hard, I suck at venting so I don't bother putting the fish through the stress.

My Oscars just spawned about a month ago and they are about 9 - 10 inches. They did show some very aggressive behavior first though, enough that I removed the female for a couple days in fear of her hurting the male. Mine had been cleaning a spot to lay their eggs for about three weeks prior to them actually laying them also.

A good question from James is how big is the tank? It could be territorial aggression you are seeing if the tank is not large enough.

As far as telling the sex, I'm not good at venting either, but when they did spawn, it was obvious which was which.

 

[James B.]

My Oscars just spawned about a month ago and they are about 9 - 10 inches. They did show some very aggressive behavior first though, enough that I removed the female for a couple days in fear of her hurting the male. Mine had been cleaning a spot to lay their eggs for about three weeks prior to them actually laying them also.

A good question from James is how big is the tank? It could be territorial aggression you are seeing if the tank is not large enough.

As far as telling the sex, I'm not good at venting either, but when they did spawn, it was obvious which was which.

I don't mean to hijack the thread but how did you get them to spawn? I have been waiting for mine to now for a good 2 months, I have 4 in a 6x18x21 tank. My tiger and albino tiger have claimed 3/4 of the tank, pushed all the gravel to one side, and day and night clean and re-clean their nesting spot (a flower pot base) rub their belly's on it etc. but still no eggs.
Did you do any thing to get them to lay or did they just do it on their own.

 

[maynardwix]

I don't mean to hijack the thread but how did you get them to spawn? I have been waiting for mine to now for a good 2 months, I have 4 in a 6x18x21 tank. My tiger and albino tiger have claimed 3/4 of the tank, pushed all the gravel to one side, and day and night clean and re-clean their nesting spot (a flower pot base) rub their belly's on it etc. but still no eggs.
Did you do any thing to get them to lay or did they just do it on their own.

They just did it on their own really, I didn't do anything special. It happened right after a water change though, so don't know if that may have triggered it. If you have two that seem to have split off from the others and doing this mating ritual, if you have extra tanks, think about separating them from the others and give them their privacy. I know that mine are in with other fish (not other Oscars) and they got stressed from the others in the tank, specially the big catfish, and ended up eating all the eggs by morning. This may be a possibility for yours too, if you haven't watched them closely, they may have spawned and then ate the eggs before you noticed them.

I am no expert at this by any means though, this was my first experience with my fish spawning. Sounds like yours are on their way though.

 

[James B.]

Could very well be the other two O's in the tank, my albino tiger spend alot of time making sure my long fins don't cross the 1/2 way point.

 

[maynardwix]

Could very well be the other two O's in the tank, my albino tiger spend alot of time making sure my long fins don't cross the 1/2 way point.

They do get very aggressive during spawning time, enough that if you try to remove the eggs to artificailly hatch them without the parents, you will go through a good beating trying to get them out. And I have also read that if they feel threatened that they will eat the eggs, that's the only reson I think it may be due to the other fisn in the tank.

 

[Snakehead23]

Yeah probably a little young. When they reach 7" they are almost ready, but if they do get a piece of slate and put some sand on it so they dig out the nest. Good Luck!