Oscar picking on another?

9

99SH

AC Members
Jan 1, 2003
35
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0
Lk. Hiawatha, NJ
I have two Oscars in a 90 gallon tank, they're about 8 months old. They seem to get along well, but I noticed that one Oscar have quite a few scales missing. After looking closely, I saw that the other Oscar really harasses the one with the missing scales. Is this normal?

I did a search on this site, and it seems that Oscars can get along fine with each other, but once they hit puberty they start to fight. I'm not sure if this is happening to me, but I would hate to get rid of one, they've really grown on me.
 
I am in the same boat as you. My 2 oscars are in a 100 gal. tank with 2 jack dempseys & 1 common pleco. Sometimes they are side by side, and the next minute, one has a plug of skin missing from his lip. If it gets any worse, I am going to have to separate them. I think it all boils down to personalities of the fish.
 
its normal, dont worry about it unless serious bodily damage is being done. or if it is constant as in the victim never has a chance to relax.

if you are really worried about it you can try adding more drift wood and rocks, that will create more hiding places and more territory this can help with aggression.
 
Throw some target/dither fish in there. Silver Dollars, Tinfoil Barbs, maybe some clown loaches, etc. This will spread the aggression around and alleviate some stress for the underdog Oscar.
 
From my personal experience, Oscars will get along fine until, like you said, "they hit puberty." A short example:
I work at a Pet Store, where we can keep up to 4 Oscars in a 15 Gallon, (we like to put in less, but they tend to move quickly.) However, when we got in 3 10 Inchers, someone decided to put 2 in the same 15 gallon display. They picked on each other like you wouldn't believe. Sure, part of it may have been their inability to simply turn around without hitting each other, but from what I've read it was their age as well.
 
Yeah, I know. 15 Gallon is the biggest display we have, there's little I can do and I didn't order the fish. Of course, I seperated them as soon as I could. That was a job in itself, I didn't realize an Oscar could move so much water with his fin. Half that 15 Gallon was on me by the time we (yes, it took 2 people) finished moving him.
 
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