Couple questions....kind of a long post

[Domms]

Hello everyone! I barely found these forums a couple of days ago and have found them rather informative.

I do have a couple of questions though. I have a 55 gallon tank I setup about 6 months ago something like that. I have a Jack Dempsey and an Oscar both about 4 inches or so. The Oscar after the first couple of days started chasing the Jack Dempsey around, never nipped him, just chased him. About a week ago I noticed that the Oscar was starting to get battle wounds. I started watching them a little more closely and noticed that the Jack Dempsey was becoming the aggressor in the tank. Which is fine, I kind of expected some aggression to happen going both ways. The Oscar always defended himself until a couple of nights ago. He now just takes it and does nothing but go about his business.

How does one go about dealing with this? Is there some way to get him to stop picking on my Oscar? I'm becoming very concerned for him at this point.

I test the water twice a week, the PH is always a little high but it is consistent. I feed twice a day frozen bloodworms, brine shrimp, and once a week I drive 60 miles roundtrip to get them some guppies to eat. I tried pellets but neither of them will go for it.

Any advice or opinions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Domms

[sky.eyes.woman]

If the oscar is showing wounds from the JD it might be a good idea to find a new home for one of them. Unless the fighting suddenly stops soon (not likely, those are two mean fish you got there) your oscar could get a more serious wound or an infection from the stress. Maybe more tank mates could help, but you could be making the new fish wind up with the same wounds. As far as pellets go, have you just tried switching brands to see if there's one they might eat? Driving 60 miles one way to get feeder guppies is going to get to be a chore too. Breeding your own feeders will save you some bux on gas and eliminate the risk of introducing diseases or parasites with the guppies.

Errr...I mean driving 60 miles round trip...hehe. I'm sorta tired! :o

[Megatron]

Yeah possable more tank mates or you could try adding more ornaments ( plants (yeah right), rocks, driftwood) and switching the ones you have already around. More visable barriers and a confusion of the ones that are there already may also help.

[Domms]

Thank you both for your advice! I'm gonna try getting another tank mate and a couple of rocks and rearranging what I have. I guess if that doesn't work I might be able to come up with enough money to get the 29 gallon tank I have set up. I just don't really have anywhere to put it. It currently resides in the closet.

I did try a couple of different pellets for them. I tried Hikari Cichlid Staple first they wouldn't even mess with it. Then I tried some TetraCichlid, they didn't want to mess with it either. I then tried Shrimp Pellets which the Oscar would mess with but he'd just spit them out after having them in his mouth for about 5 seconds or so.

I actually don't really mind driving 60 miles for guppies though. I find myself coming up with excuses to need to go pet store shopping. I think I just enjoy the pet store to much not to go. :D

Thank you again!

[Blinky]

I'd recommend against getting more fish for the tank - it's going to compound the territoriality that's currently going on and increase the bio load too much - these are big, messy, territorial fish.
IMO a 55g isn't enough room for both a fully grown oscar and JD together, let alone anything else. I think the best solution is to find a home for one of the fish and keep the other alone.