Im new to this forum

Hi guys im new to this forum i just bought a Wild Oscar from a website (a week ago) and all he wants to do is sit at the bottom and not eat or swim is this normal for new oscars? Heres what my water looks like
Nitrate-0
Nitrite-0
Hardness-75
Alkalinity-120
pH-7.2
water temp.- 78 degrees
i feel bad for the little guy or girl could he be lonely it is a big tank but i dont want him to have plenty of room for himself to grow in. thanks any help will be great.

Welcome Dalton,

I have seen Oscars sit on the bottom of the tank before but they usually stop as soon as anyone is around.

I don't know much about Oscars but I know they like a more acidic pH between 6.5 and 7.0. and if yours is wild and not tank raised? Then maybe its related to its diet? In the wild it would eat insects, crustaceans and fish.

Does you Oscar have any problems moving around the tank? If yes it may have a swim bladder disorder. Sudden changes in water temp can cause this! Again I don't have much experience with them.

Hope your fish is OK!

In 30 years of fish keeping Ive never seen Nitrate 0, so you better re-check that. Even the best of water has some nitrate maybe 5ppm or thereabouts. I think you mean Ammonia and Nitrite 0.

I could drink my tank water, but my nitrate is still above 5ppm. Tap water alone has more than 5ppm right out of the treatment plant. Most water districts are allowed 10ppm nitrate max. in the water supplied to homes. I measured mine at 5-6 ppm.

Welcome to our forum. Nitrite and ammonia are toxic to fish, so it's important that those two compounds are at zero. You may need a separate test kit for ammonia. Assuming your aquarium was cycled before the Oscar went in, he/she could still be out of sorts because of the shock that occurs when you move a fish from one environment to another. If the fish was captured from the wild, the adjustment to aquarium life will be very difficult. However, if the Oscar is from a wild strain that was raised in aquariums, the transition should go alright. To minimize the moving shock, I like to use the drip acclimation method and leave off the aquarium lights the first day. When the Oscar gets an appetite, the transition shock will have started to wear off.

I just did another test to double check everything im using atest strip i might not be very accurate its still picking up the same and still says Nitrate at 0 but yet it only has 0 for a color and .5 at another so it must be below .5 but thank you for all the info. He does swim around when the lights are off and no one in the room. This morning when i came in it was really weard he came up to the windows like he was hungry he started to jump out of the water when i was about to open to feed i guess hes ok know but thanks again everyone.

Welcome to the forum!

Glad to hear that your fish seems to be adjusting well.

Keep an eye on your tank readings.

Welcome, I would love to see some photos of your wild oscar! I am not sure I have seen a wild type before. I am glad it is doing better.

i will post pics asap i bought him from a webpage ill post a pic from there so u can take a look and see what they look like ill post one soon im getting a new camara tomarrow http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem& item=200306666234& ssPageName=MERCOSI_VI_ROSI_PR4_PCN_BIX& refitem=190282986514&itemcount=4& refwidgetloc=closed_view_item&refwidgettype=osi_widget& _trksid=p284.m185&_trkparms=algo%3DSI%26its%3DI%252BIA% 26itu%3DCR%252BIA%252BUCI%26otn%3D4%26ps%3D41
its a ebay item but this is what he looks like and this is where i got him from.

WOW! What a striking fish!!!

I've never seen one like it before!!!

Really nice fish

i looked and looked for fish and i liked the way this one looked they have plenty i suppose but on a limited supply i was thinking on getting another because i think there pritty rare

Dalton,

I just checked out the e-bay page. Did you buy it from that ebay person?

I didnt know you could buy fish through ebay, not sure I personally would trust a fellow ebayer....

i bought this fish from this supplyer i know i took a chance but it was $10 not a big loose only if the fish was DOA but was healthy i guess just acted really shy at first

I think you should play the lottery this week.

why do u say that ? i noticed some fungus looking stuff growing it was a clear / white looking growing on the rocks below where his old food was. i just did a 1/4 water change after i used arock cleaner hose omg i just took a mouth full of water with that stuff in it gross i threw up but he did a complete 180 today hes not one bit shy and its funny seeing him jump to get food i bet i could pet him ill post pics tomarrow once i get a camara im gonna see if i can pet him. he was by my hand when i was getting that crap out of his cage.

That stuff growing at the bottom was probably decaying, uneaten food. Don't feed Oscar any more than he can eat in about two minutes. Also, please don't try to pet any aquarium fish; it could remove some of their slime coat. And please accept my congratulations on ingesting your first aquarium bottom water cootie cocktail; you are now a consummated member of the cootie club.

If you get tired of that cootie taste in your mouth, look into getting one of the no mess maintenance systems like a Python. Many years ago, such wonders were not available, and I ingested and dribbled down my shirt way too many of those cooties. If you do this for five or six decades, your hair will begin to fall out, your hearing will suffer, and you will develop a persistent case of MTS.

good name for it im not the proudest to be inducted but thanks for the info. So far my gf hates the whole fish thing because thats all i been talking about for 2 weeks she said but what she dont know is the room the tank is in is the fish room know im thinking on make a new tank for more fish but idk yet my father made one about a year ago im thinking on a 120 gallon 4 foot long 2 foot wide and 2 foot tall it will take a 4x8 peice of Plexi glass priced out at a local shop for $100 and is 1/4 inch thick

Anyone that takes good care of their tanks... Has had a cootie cocktail or two!! LOL!

Congrats on starting a fish room... I haven't had the guts to try to make my own tank yet... Good Luck with that!

You might want to document your progress with your new camera and write a blog about it!

yea i will if i do it i been thinking about it the tank im using know my dad gave me its the one he made. ill blog it if i decide to do it my gf might win though u know how some females get no offense to any females on here. but yea i will

As one cootie club member to another, big aquariums are great, but the 55 gallon and smaller tanks usually cost and weigh less per gallon than the big aquariums. The large aquariums need thick glass or acrylic and are more difficult to move. As people get deeper into the hobby, some of us like to raise different species of fish, and most fish do better in single species tanks. A bunch of smaller tanks will hold more spawning pairs than a large aquarium. It's something to think about while you browse internet stores for Python kits.