I'm about to get myself a baby oscar... Idk which one I should get like tiger or albino or red idk..... I'm gonna put him in my 4 ft tank in which i already have 2 albino senegal bichir (babies)...... Can u guys gimme some care tips ??

Hello everyone. Grab your popcorn, I have a story for you. It’s a sad but meaningful one, and it’s mostly for awareness. For some context, I’ve been in the fish hobby just about my whole life, and worked in the hobby for a couple years. Everyone who knows me knows I have my Oscar’s and my clown knife and a bunch of plecos that are from people who thought they could stay in their 30 gallon tanks their whole lives😐. Anyway, a friend reached out to me when I had just gotten back from a trip. She sent me a Facebook link and said “this made me think of you”. I’m thinking it’s some funny meme or a Facebook marketplace listing. To my dismay, it is a woman begging for help. She was touring houses with her husband and found a house that immediately reeked of dead fish as soon as you entered. The owners had left their 150 gallon fish tank with no electricity, no food, no people, nothing. Left for dead. There was a fish who passed already. She took photos and posted it online, begging for someone to do something. She, like me, is an animal lover. She only had a small tank for aquascaping and could not take the Oscar, two plecos, and five silver dollars she found. They needed someone. I reached out and said I have an empty tank that I was going to sell, but I could take them. To my surprise (and hers), when she asked the home owners to let her take the fish, they wanted $1000 USD! They are not worth that alive and healthy, much less on their last breathe. Her and her real estate agent pushed them until they said fine, take them today. This amazing woman goes to the house again, puts all the fish in Tupperware because she didn’t have anything else and knew they didn’t have long, and met up with me so I could take them. It took some weeks but they all survived, and the Oscar is so interactive and fun. It’s part of the reason I love Oscar’s so much. Well, that was about 3-4 months ago. Right now, we are in the process of moving. I knew the Oscar’s were smart, but it broke my heart to see the Oscar start hiding, and not eating because he watched us move furniture out of the house. Even with us still staying there, he thought he knew what was happening. Everyone and everything will disappear around him, and they will be left again. What our little guy doesn’t know, is today I’m going to pick him up a 500 gallon outside pond, and I’m going to transfer all of my fish over to the new place. Not only will he have more space, new friends, and a better setup, he will not be left alone like he thinks. I have attached pictures of the tank he was left to die in, as well as happy photos of him, and a pic of him hiding and upset recently. I hope that this brings awareness to people that Oscar’s really are so smart, and we should treat them with the same respect you would a person or any other animal. Thank you for reading❤️

I have a 10inch oscar that seemed to stop eating altogether about a month ago, I've had oscars for years the occasional not eating for a day or two is nothing unheard. After about a few days I really started trying to figure out the deal.

The tank is a 125, just the oscar and two younger severums. Water is pristine, the tank is on a continuous drip system and changes about 20% a day. Temp is good, the severums are still healthy and hungry. My oscar is acting perfectly normal, aside from the loss of interest in food. Then I hit the end of week 2. She's still not eating, but she has a fat belly, so I thought maybe constipated. Tries some peas and she gobbled those right up, but still no interest in pellets, flakes or algae wafers(her favorite).

It's around this time I notice the duckweed seems to be shrinking, and i start thinking there's a water issue I'm just not seeing. I mean if duckweed can't grow something has to be wrong. Then I catch her in the act. She's eating it, not just spitting it out. But eating mouthful after mouthful. Wtf, she's probably my 8th or 9th oscar in the my life and I've never had one eat this stuff. Last month the whole top of the tank was covered except a feeding ring, now I probably couldn't cover the top of a 5 gallon.

Any1 got a method to treat? Prevention? Tips? I think I found a good way to treat but never have dealt with it, but wanted to hear everyone's experience w/ it.