Fin nipping, "bullying"

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Macc

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Dec 17, 2012
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Hi, I have a fairly young tiger Oscar, less than 3inch and introduce a tank mate. Being a smaller cichlid (salvini) I thought it may have been fine to share the 210L tank it seems I was very wrong, at least the guy at the pet store was very wrong. In one day my poor Oscar looks like he has had all his fins attacked and found him in the top corner of my tank when I got home from work. I have moved him into an isolation tank to get away for the bullying of the the other cichlid. What can I do to assist my oscars recovery he looks quite battered :help:
 

Manafel

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Oct 10, 2011
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Keep him In the QT and keep doing frequent water changes. It is amazing how fast a fish's fins will grow back when they have pristeen water. As far as the salvini goes, how big is the salvini?

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Macc

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Dec 17, 2012
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Thanks manafel

The salvini is about 2.5inches so a little smaller than the Oscar. Should they be ok together?
 

xUnRaTeDxxRkOx

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The Salvini cichlid is a more aggressive species of American cichlids, whereas an Oscar is a more Docile species of cichlid. Really the only thing you can do is 1 of 2 things - Either get rid of the Oscar, or separate the two cichlids until the Oscar gets bigger.

I have a mated pair of Jack Dempsey's I had to use a tank divider so they'll leave my pair of Convict Cichlid, and Red Devil alone. So I would suggest getting a tank divider, and giving each fish it's own side of the tank.
 

Macc

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Dec 17, 2012
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I feel a little stupid at the moment, I was going by what the pet store guy told me about this fish I was putting in with my Oscar and realized that it actually isn't a Salvini at all... I was trying to look up their temperaments to see if there would be anything that could be a buffer between my Oscar and this other fish. It turns out that the new addition appears to be a green terror???View attachment 203335 I have just looked at a couple of other forums about these guys and seems that the general consensus is that they just do not get along with Tiger Oscars at all... Might have to return this bad boy back to the store and change for another that will be more compatible with my Oscar. Any advice?
 

Turbosaurus

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Dec 26, 2008
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A little melafix in the water does wonders for beat up fish. I dont recommend medicating, but I use melafix like hot sauce- I put that on everything! Its the neosporin of the aquarium world. Clean warm water is your A-1 priority, if you have some melafix around, add it.

Did you just get the oscar home? If you have a new fish, stressed from the pet store expeiernce, in new surroundings and you have a bully in a tank who's already established his territory chances are the new guy will get beat up regardless of size or temperment. When your oscar is properly quarentined, is active and eating well, and ready to be introduced, you can either redecorate the tank by moving stuff around and confusing the bully a bit, put in a tank divider so the oscar gets comfortable in his new home without being terrorized, or your best bet IME - switch tanks for a couple days- . Let the oscar get a feel for his new digs without any harassment and confuse the bully by switching him out to a new tank, when you put him back he'll be a little out of sorts and wont be so willing to make trouble. They will be on more even ground when he returns.
 
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Macc

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Dec 17, 2012
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Thanks all hey :) might be able to make this work. Divider sounds like a solid plan. Did pick up some melafix yesterday on the way home from work so have added that to isolation tank now. I'll still probably take the little terror out first before putting my Oscar back in his home just at least till I can get the divider in place.

Cheers for the advice, has helped heaps :)
 

xUnRaTeDxxRkOx

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Fully grown Green Terror cichlids normally won't challenge Oscars because of their size, and known power that Oscars have. But as juveniles GT's will challenge anything... Like I said I would invest in a tank divider, and adding a bit of Melafix to the tank as a precaution for any "wounds" the Oscar may have. I would also add API large grain aquarium salt to the tank (1 tablespoon per 5 gallons of water) which should also calm the fish down a bit.
 
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