help quick please angry oscars

[cooney]

i just upgraded my aquarium from a 3ft one to a 5ft one for just my 2 oscars. they were in the 3ft just the 2 of them. then i moved them into the 5ft about 2 days ago and now they are fighting hard. they swim at eachother with their mouths open and attack eachother. what is wrong with them. they arent eating and they wont even eat the 5 feeder fish that are in there. they just stay in one corner of the tank. will they just need time to settle in or are they just going to keep fighting till one dies????

[rich311k]

Can you rig up a temporary divider until they calm down. They be adjusting to the new spcae and trying to establish dominance.

[cooney]

i could set up something. but how will they settle dominance if they arent together. wont that make things worse when they go back

[Kazenouta]

I'm new at this but, from what I understand if you set up a divider it will sort of impose upon them their territories so they'll understand where they are when you remove the divider. Not sure about this but, that seems to make sense to me

[Northernguy]

I find when I divide my oscar tank at all and make them pick a side they start to get aggressive with each other.
How long have yours been together?
Are they actually lip locking and fighting or does one just boss the other around with the odd nip and push.

[Gayle]

Moving them is what has made them angry, they need to establish their own turf. Did you use the same plants and decor as the old tank??? Setting it up to look the same with just greater distance between decor may help. Adding a divider will not really help IMO. Addind more places where they can hide, and more things that they can "own" mau also help the adjustment. If they do fight, they should actually be able to work it out on their own, now if one starts to injure the other, you may need to look into them having their own tanks.

[cooney]

they have been together for about 10 months now since they were bought. i had nothing in my old tank except for a statue thing. i havnt put it in my new tank tho coz i was thinking of decking it out with some better stuff. i have however stuck a blue plastic sheet to the back of the tank instead of seeing the wall behind it. i didnt have that on my old tank and my oscars seem to just stare at their reflection in it all day. they are lip locking and both of their faces are pretty scratched up. cheers

[cooney]

they also seem to be shaking their tails doing small but rapid movements. whats that mean?

[Northernguy]

Everything sounds like a normal oscar tank.
They have a lot of attitude and like to display it in different ways.They like to dig holes and spread the gravel.They like to push plants around.
Mine get scratched up quite often but they heal up fast with proper water changes and good tank maintenence.

[chronic]

I've read on oscarfish.com several times, that typically oscars get very aggressive at the one year mark, then it kind of tapers off. And depending on what genders you have, that plays a role.

I had troubles with mine for months. One or the other was insanely violent towards the other oscar.
I dropped the water temp a little, kept the lights off which made feeding difficult. And used a divider for almost a month straight, until they started knocking the divider down to fight. I tried a different experiment to calm them down, and whether it was a coincidence or the experiment worked. They've chilled out, now life is back to normal.


Radical changes can really throw them off, and no doubt the new tank has got them stressed. Just be patient and see how it goes, do what ever you can to assist them during their difficult times ;)

Oh, and the shaking tail usually means they're irritated. Its kind of like a dog growling...

[cooney]

thanks alot for all the advice and help. quick responses are always good. im going to try all the things you guys have said and see what happens. cheers

[chronic]

No problem, I hope it works out!!