New Fish behavior.

oscarfrenzy

Hi, I have just started a 35 gallon aquarium, fully cycled and proper chemicals, and i bought 2 Oscars from petsmart, an albino tiger, and a regular tiger Oscar. They've been in the aquarium for almost a week now but are still hiding from me under the arches of a small bridge decorative piece. Now heres the strange part (i think) the albino is the small of the two (only by a quarter of an inch) but he is the one that that is more explorative, and is there by getting most of the food. But when he goes to retreat whenever i walk past the aquarium if he goes near the arch that the tiger Oscar is under the tiger will push him out...

Is there any explanation for this behavior?

Thanks a lot

herefishy

Typical cichlids.

1077

Sometimes, providing two or three places to hide will make them more comfortable. You may also find that until they become familiar with new surroundings, they will use these areas to feel secure. :)

okiemavis

Do you have more than one "cave" for them to hide in? They will each want their own space. Once they claim their own territory, and feel like they have their own safe place to hide in, they'll probably be more adventurous.

Oscars are great fish, very intelligent and interactive. However, they get very large and produce a big mess. Do you have plans for upgrading the tank?

oscarfrenzy

There is like 5 places for them to hide in, but for some reason my albino seems adamant on "rooming" with the tiger, below i have some pics, not the greatest quality but it gets the point across

and yes, in a few months or more i will be will be purchasing a 55 gallon.



you can kinda see the that under one arch the is the albino and the tiger.



Here is them both under a different arch.



And here is the entire set up

okiemavis

It's normal for fish, even territorial ones to hang together when they are nervous. My friend kept 1 male & 2 female red-eye puffers with a pike. They spent most of their time together, for safety. When the pike grew larger and was moved out, the male quickly became more comfortable and killed both females. Not that your oscars are going to do that, just exemplifying how even territorial predators will give that up for safety. Obviously your fish will realize that they are safe in their new tank.

Your aquarium does look pretty bright, and there aren't many decorations, especially past the bottom level. You may want to add some more decorations that are taller, so that they will explore more levels of the aquarium, and also more places with shadow, etc. for them to feel sheltered in. They love to dig caves under pipes, rearrange decorations, etc. Anything they can move around, they will, and they'll be very happy about it.

oscarfrenzy

Wow, thanks for the tip about the brightness, last night i placed another light on the aquarium that used to be part of a 10g aquarium and is a yellow color, and within a few minutes both oscars were moving around a little bit, but still as soon as me or one of my family members went by the aquarium, they swam as fast as they could (not darting) for cover under the bridge =D.
It has almost been a week since we have had them.

OH and im not sure if you could properly see from the photos, the albino's left eye is strange, it has a very small pupil (i assume its the pupil because its the black part of the eye) compared to its right eye. I called Petsmart about it and they said it should not impede it, is this true?

tophat665

55 is going to be too small long term. You'll need something over 100 if they're going to grow out to full size. Just saying.