Horace the Oscar

[Bamboo]

So, as some of you may already know, I'm involved in a lot of reptile and fish rescues and groups, as well as rat rescues. Last week, just as I was getting back from vacation, one of my buddies from a local herp group emailed me. Recently, he's been trying to get into fishkeeping and he bought a tank off of kijiji. He didn't realize until he got there to pick up the tank, that 2 fish came with it and they wouldn't let him take the tank unless he took the fish. So, he agreed and took the fish, not knowing anything about them. He messaged me because apparently, not long after they went back into the tank, one started beating the other one up. The victim was even trying to jump out and he was worried that the bully was going to kill the other. He sent me a picture and asked what they were and what he could do to stop the fighting.

Well, I had to tell him that he had 2 young Oscar cichlids and that was the problem right there. Oscars are usually alright together when they're young but they still tend to be quite territorial with each other. The bully had obviously come into that behaviour early and the other guy didn't stand a chance. If the one was to survive, they had to be separated ASAP.

As luck would have it, a few weeks earlier, my uncle had gotten a free 40 gallon from his friend who keeps cichlids. He then gave it to me. I'd set it up right away and got it cycled and it's been sitting in my living room empty ever since.

So, a few days ago we met up and I took victim-fish. He's not sure if he's going to keep the bully (since he wasn't aware that Oscars got so big and predatory) I told him if he decided against keeping him, to let me know and I'd help find him a home (far to many jerk-faced frat boy types are drawn to these fish so they can invite their buddies over and dump a bunch of goldfish in the tank. so badass... :roll: :redhot: )

But back to the fish His name is Horace (No, I haven't been watching a ton of Harry Potter recently and Slughorn is not one of my favorite, not to mention a totally under-rated characters...don't judge me!!) and he's about 4 inches long and his bites from the other Oscar are almost gone already! I'm going to upgrade him to a 90 gallon, hopefully by mid-september. Also, with his temperament, I think he'd be well suited to a couple of buddies (I personally think he'd do really well with a pair of Firemouths) I'm definitely not getting anymore fish until I've upgraded though. He is a growing boy after all

As expected, he has a great appetite. He's on Hikari cichlid Bio-Gold+ and Cichlid staple pellets. He also loves frozen silversides, peas and bananas.

Here are a few quick pictures

Still a little shy...

but curious and trusting

 

[KatTheHippie]

What a lucky boy that your friend was able to not only take them, but find this guy the best home he could ever possibly dream about. he's going to have such a lovely time with you :cloud9: my cousin has always been a fish enthusiast, with so many different tanks of all different types, with awesome fish that i can never remember names of. but i know he has a really big oscar, who reminds me of your guy. he's as bad with his fish as most of us here are with our rats :giggle:

 

[Joanne]

From all that, I get:
what? you feed your fish peas and bananas?
LOL!
I'm glad he's going to be able to grow up without a big brother trying to do him in all the time!

 

[Bamboo]

Haha! That's totally me! People think I'm crazy by the way I talk about my fish (and my herps) Most people think that they're "just fish" and fish only sit around in bowls, doing nothing all day. They think I'm crazy when I talk about all the different personalities lol

And yeah! He eats peas and banana! He took cucumber today as well. He's great -he hasn't turned down anything I've offered him. Oscars are most 'famous' for their predatory side but they're actually omnivores, not carnivores. They are actually incapable of properly digesting mammalian protein (they'll still eat it but they can't properly make use of the nutrients. Its more just a fill-the-stomach type thing) The protein part of their diet is smaller fish and insects (usually larvae) and fallen fruits and veggies (including algae ) make up a big part of their diets. This is often neglected and this deficiancy contributes to why many adult Oscars are prone to disease and generally fail to thrive.

I'll try to get a video of him eating soon. Maybe tomorrow lol

(also, I'm typing this on my phone and my autocorrect is really weird so sorry if there are random word here and there lol)

 

[KatTheHippie]

I think diversity is awesome, and different personalities are suited to different pet types. I mean, sure, I adore my cats and parrot, and would do anything to make sure that they're taken care of, but through and through.. i'm a rat person. and there are dog people, and cat people, and fish people and reptile people, and bird people, and so many more, and no matter what someone's prefrence is, it's always so happy and heartwarming to see an animal getting the absolute best care anyone could possibly give them, and live in paradise.

I'm looking forward to Horace's Video!

 

[Maple]

Not a bad looking fish! How big do they normally get?

 

[Bamboo]

Oscars have the potential to grow to 18" but between 10-14" tends to be the average. A full grown adult shouldn't have anything less then 90 gallons of water, with 120 being more ideal. Young ones aren't really supposed to be in anything less then around 55 gallons, simply because they grow so fast. (and Yay! hypocrisy! I'm kinda breaking the rules, having him in a 40 gallon but like I said, he'll be in a 90 in a couple weeks.) They have a really rapid growth rate, typically gaining 80% of their adult size within their first year. After that, it tends to slow down and they will typically gain the remaining 20% over the course of the following year or so.

In his case, based on his size I'm guess that he's approximately 3-4 months old, putting his birthday somewhere around last May. So, by next May, he could potentially be around 14" but more likely then not around 8-12"

 

[Bamboo]

So, I'm working on getting a video of him but he's really sketched out by the camera lol. He's getting better but I want him to get used to it a little more so I can get a more accurate video.

He's also developing some new, really interesting behaviour that I'm trying to catch on camera. Several days ago, I noticed a weird pit in the gravel. I though maybe it had something to do with the filter output but I couldn't figure out how that was happening. Then, two nights ago, I finally realized that Horace is digging it lol. Around 7 or 8 at night, he starts picking up mouthfuls of gravel and moving it to either side of the tank. Then, once he got to the bottom, since it's mirrored, I think he's become really interested (or perhaps confused) by his reflection lol! He hovered vertical directly over top of it for almost 10 minutes.

He's also been trying to move all his rocks (even though they're much too big, he tries very hard lol) I got him some bioballs and bio-max and put them loose in his tank to play with and move around as he pleases.

But yeah, I hope to have pics or a video today or tomorrow (for reals this time lol)