Help....Just bought an oscar.....

Is it a Baby???

I just bought another Oscar after my last one died at 4 years old.....plus.

Mine is very timid........but I remember my other two being the same way when they were small.
Give it a couple of days to get used to the surroundings, and also, give it a hiding place so it feels 'secure' when threatened.
(A rock to hide behind....or something.)
Mine is in a big tank......and has a lot of places to hide.....which it does when I first walk into the room.......but inches out after all movement in the room has stopped. They get over this as they get bigger......and consider the room their 'territory'.

Tackle the ph! You can also use peat in your filters...... Driftwood helps......but it isn't a quick fix! Be careful, even with 'safe' store bought driftwood, you can get worms!

Oscars are cool. I haven't had a baby in a long time, so it's taking me a while to get used to the different 'juvenile' personality.
 
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Daytonaguy,

Get used to it. Oscars have lots of different personalities. Mine are like yours, very shy. I've had mine for two years now and they still do that on occasion. When I first got them I thought there was something wrong also. The would never come out while I was around, they would hide when I walked into the room, etc.
At feeding time, I have to shake the food bag in front of the tank. They wag themselves like puppies. If I don't shake the food bag before feeding time, they sulk and won't eat while I'm there.
When I clean the tank - BOOM - into the corner they go. Last time I did a major clean, they sulked for 3 or 4 days. S/He'll come around...... eventually. Remember, when you own Oscars - It's their world we just live in it.

Deltonaguy
 
Again your oscar is probably just adjusting. I would try RO water, it is the easiest way to bring down the ph. Try a 70/30 mix with tap.

Driftwood will have little to no effect in a pH that high as I assume your KH is high too and will buffer out any effects the tannins might have. (Tannic acid is what turns the water brown and lowers the ph but in time it will all leach out and your ph would return anyway).

That being said I wouldn't really worry about changing the ph, stable is better than perfect. If he isn't wild he was probably bred in water conditions around 7-7.5 so what doest it matter what the idal ph for a wild oscar is?

Give him two or three days to asdjust, and do not feed feeders without first quarantining! They are horrible nasty animals that carry all sorts of disease.
 
thanx for al the advice hes doing great now.....eats and get all excited and then hides most of the day but comes out when the lighs out for a swim maybe i should make the light a different color wouldhe like that better ?
 
Some people use lights from Lowes etc. I prefer the higher priced aquarium bulbs (higher priced at about ten bucks) because the spectrum shows off the color of the fish better. I don't think the fish really care though. Try the trichromatic, I like them, I think they are like twelve bucks at big al's. By the way what size tank is it? Good luck!
 
Glad to hear your guy is acting normal. I got a couple of new fish this weekend, and I try to watch them but my green terror always gets in my way when he trys to get me through the glass he is quite the character heh!
 
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