Oscar Mate behaviour (not breeding article)

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trevorich

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Nov 28, 2005
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I have a breeding pair of Oscars. The male is a red with almost perfect markings and the female is an albino, again almost perfect...wonderful babies and there are lots of articles about breeding. This isn't one of those.

Recently I built some new aquarium stands which meant I had to completely drain my oscar tank to move it. At the same time of course I cleaned the gravel really well in such a manner that the bacteria survived fine.

When I was transfering the male back to the tank, he flopped out of the net and landed on the lumber pile. He sustained a lot of superficial injury as I was trying to pick him up. When I got him in the tank, he was of course, seriously stressed. I got the female in there and she "looked after" him.

I was interested to note that the protective insitinct in this fish includes the mate (Oscars mate for life). The female kept the male moving when he would try to rest on the bottom. She swam under him and pushed him up, guided him around the tank until he was swimming on his own with no difficulty.

I had also put a new black background on the tank, it didn't occur to me that there would be a mirror effect.

Shortly after recovering enough to swim around unaided, the male was challenging his reflection. In his little fishie brain he knew he was hurt and saw another male in his territory. When he would approach and challenge the reflection, the female would push him so he was facing in another direction then she would return to the same place and do the challenging.

Fascinating behaviour that the female would not only revive/protect him from injury but would even move her injured mate aside to take on a rival. Obviously their protective instincts extend beyond just their off spring.

Trev
 

rockbellab

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Nov 21, 2005
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Turtle Lake, ND
Oscars are the most wonderful, caring, smart, protective fish I've ever encountered. I have a mating pair and they are inseparable. They are always watching out for one another and where one goes the other goes. I'm crazy about them and they just think I'm crazy. LOL.
 
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