For those that appreciate the behavior of oscars:
As I have posted before I have 4 oscars. They grew up together since they were about 1.5". Now they are about 7" and I have moved them to a larger tank. The tank was not what I ordered. It's smaller than expected. (Which is a whole other story. For now this tank has to due.)
2 reds and 2 tigers. Teddy is the feisty red. Little Dave is sort of a loner to a degree. He does his own thing but will swim with the group at times.
Now the 2 tigers were the largest at the beginning. "One" was considered the dominant and "Two" (that's their names, One and Two) second dominate.
Everything was fine in oscar land. Some squabbles but all swimming together periodically. Sure some gill flaring and even a little lip locking (rare so far).
"One" seemed to lose dominance a bit. Two tried to be the top dog for a while but he never really got there. The 2 reds would not back down from him.
If I had a larger tank this "harem" would probably work out. But the tank is crowded. I recently removed a pbass but had to put her back in. She couldn't handle not being with Luther.
For now he is not giving her a hard time. They are always together.
Lately the 2 tigers and sometimes Dave the other red have been fighting with Teddy. Teddy holds his own well but is tired of all this ganging up on him. At times he rests in the corner behind some plants. Just keeping out of sight because he is tired of fighting. The pbass are also a little sick of this as it seems they have to break up the fighting. Just think all the gill flaring and such pisses them off.
One is almost always the instigator. Dave doesn't seem to want to start things but he will jump in and flare gills and charge. Two will join in when One starts something. Teddy pretty much pushes all of them back but he gets tired of this "gang" stuff.
As the 2 tigers have not fought at all for months with each other,
it appears that Two has now accepted One as the boss and they are almost always swimming together. As all the oscars are less than a year old this is not necessarily a male/ female thing. To me it is pecking order and perhaps a little red vs. tiger mixed in. Who knows.
So tomorrow the 2 tigers will go back in the old tank. We will see how it goes. Hopefully the 2 reds will get along.
As I have read and studied on oscars this doesn't mean anything is all worked out. They still have a lot of growing up. Just sort of bummed the tank isn't big enough to keep the harem going. For now just trying to reduce the stress on the fish. No fights have resulted in any damage or wounds.
As I have posted before I have 4 oscars. They grew up together since they were about 1.5". Now they are about 7" and I have moved them to a larger tank. The tank was not what I ordered. It's smaller than expected. (Which is a whole other story. For now this tank has to due.)
2 reds and 2 tigers. Teddy is the feisty red. Little Dave is sort of a loner to a degree. He does his own thing but will swim with the group at times.
Now the 2 tigers were the largest at the beginning. "One" was considered the dominant and "Two" (that's their names, One and Two) second dominate.
Everything was fine in oscar land. Some squabbles but all swimming together periodically. Sure some gill flaring and even a little lip locking (rare so far).
"One" seemed to lose dominance a bit. Two tried to be the top dog for a while but he never really got there. The 2 reds would not back down from him.
If I had a larger tank this "harem" would probably work out. But the tank is crowded. I recently removed a pbass but had to put her back in. She couldn't handle not being with Luther.
For now he is not giving her a hard time. They are always together.
Lately the 2 tigers and sometimes Dave the other red have been fighting with Teddy. Teddy holds his own well but is tired of all this ganging up on him. At times he rests in the corner behind some plants. Just keeping out of sight because he is tired of fighting. The pbass are also a little sick of this as it seems they have to break up the fighting. Just think all the gill flaring and such pisses them off.
One is almost always the instigator. Dave doesn't seem to want to start things but he will jump in and flare gills and charge. Two will join in when One starts something. Teddy pretty much pushes all of them back but he gets tired of this "gang" stuff.
As the 2 tigers have not fought at all for months with each other,
it appears that Two has now accepted One as the boss and they are almost always swimming together. As all the oscars are less than a year old this is not necessarily a male/ female thing. To me it is pecking order and perhaps a little red vs. tiger mixed in. Who knows.
So tomorrow the 2 tigers will go back in the old tank. We will see how it goes. Hopefully the 2 reds will get along.
As I have read and studied on oscars this doesn't mean anything is all worked out. They still have a lot of growing up. Just sort of bummed the tank isn't big enough to keep the harem going. For now just trying to reduce the stress on the fish. No fights have resulted in any damage or wounds.
