oscars mating?

[nicole1788]

my oscars keep lip locking..which they have never done before. The tiger oscar gets lighter in color when they do, they also seem to shake or vibrate..what's going on?

[mostlycichlids]

What size tank? They could be mating or battling for dominance. If they are a true male female pair they may be mating. Oscars are best kept as a single fish or in groups of six or more or as a mating pair. If its the 90 gallon in your signature I would say they are fighting and one may likely kill the other one. A 90 gallon is too small for 2 oscars alone let alone all the other fish you have in there. I would suggest returning some of the fish in there or getting a tank of 300 gallons or more.

[jwddboy]

you are overstocked in that tank...

if they are only small its likley they are just messing around...

if they are bigger... they could be breeding or just trying to kill each other

[jwddboy]

id reaaaaallllly change that 90gal tank by the way...

sounds like a future bloodbath to me.

[nicole1788]

I actually have another tank, most of those fish aren't in there, just the oscars and the pleco..the other ones are in another tank, i just havent been on here in forever.

[jwddboy]

ah ok.

good work.

What size tank are they in now then?

[mostlycichlids]

Well if they are in anything less than a 125 gallon they are probabally fighting. A 125 gallon would be minimum for 2 Oscars. Have they spawned before? Do you know if they are Male/Female? It is better to get a pair of oscars by introducing 6 or more to a tank and wait till two pair off. Putting two together will often result in one killing the other one regardless of sex.

[nicole1788]

ah ok.

good work.

What size tank are they in now then?


They are in the 90, just them. They are about 7inches or a little bigger. They havent spawned before. We bought them around the same time at the same size and the tiger is quite a bit larger than the albino, its even wider. I have no idea if they are male and female.

[silentskream]

they're almost definitely fighting.

they're too small and too cramped to be mating, even if they are opposite genders.

especially if one has gotten larger than the other.

oscars are pretty territorial, and the reason the albino is smaller is cuz he's been being picked on for as long as you've had them. they dont usually start actively fighting until they get closer to maturity (which is now for you) you might want to get rid of the albino (i say that because he's already probably the most stressed of the two, and could benefit from a whole new territory, if you remove the dominant one, the albino may still feel stressed for an extended period)

[jm1212]

sounds more like fighting to me. and if they are going to be a breeding pair, that is the last thing you need in the tank.

when fish are voercrowded, they become more aggressive. with cihclids, this is amplified and they get super territorial.

[lovejonesx]

Sounds like they are sparring to me & many times they do that to establish or to remind each other of who's dominant no matter what size tank they are in, but they DO that more often in a tank that does not afford them enough space.

My Oscars use to do it repeatedly from fry on up whether in the 29 that I had them in as fry, or the 90 & 125 gallon tank that they eventually DID mate in.

If by some chance they ARE mating (I'd doubt it, but who knows???) I'm sure that you know that Oscars are very poor in egg care on their first few tries at mating & unless you intervene & tumble the eggs & raise the fry, they most likely won't make it to free swimming.