# Oscar Tank Update



## Big Vine (Feb 26, 2007)

Hey guys & gals,
It's been a while since I've posted pics and shared news on my only remaining cichlid---a tiger oscar named 'Triton.' Recently moved down to Florida, so I've downsized to just the one 75 gal. tank.

Oscar made the trip just fine, and now he's even got a pleco buddy to keep him company...


















































Thanks for looking!
BV


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## BRANT13 (Feb 18, 2009)

good lookin oscar and love the tank :thumb:


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## eL Chupy (Aug 6, 2007)

:thumb: NICE

what are the floating plants in there? real, fake, name?... I've been playing with the idea to get some type of floater in my tank...Amazon Frogbit and Duckweed have cought my eye


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

You don't want duckweed... :lol: It gets everywhere....

Triton is looking good, so is that pleco, I love their colors on a dark substrate


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## Big Vine (Feb 26, 2007)

Thank-you for the comments. 

*eL Chupy*...those are fake floating lillypads which can be purchased in the garden section at Lowe's. I would follow TFG's recommendation and stay away from duckweed...it's really messy!



TheFishGuy said:


> Triton is looking good, so is that pleco, I love their colors on a dark substrate


Yeah man, the switch back to the black gravel is something I will not regret. 8)

Only thing I'm left wondering is whether Triton is male or female.
He's about 2 years-old, and I have yet to see pit-digging or any other sort of spawning behavior. Of course, that might not mean much at all, considering there are no other oscars in there for him (or her) to mate with. Still, I've heard of lots of folks whose oscars lay eggs every so often...even when kept alone and without a male present.

If Triton were female, is it safe to say we could expect pit-digging/egg-laying at _some_ point?
BV


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

No... Some do some don't. My female did not spwan with a male until she was ten years old. She never dug a pit or laid eggs that I knew of...


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## Big Vine (Feb 26, 2007)

Okay, good to know...thanks TFG.
BV


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## Blu-ray (Apr 28, 2008)

Very nice looking oscar BV, as well as the tank.

well IMO the only way to sex oscars for sure, ( except watching them spawn! ) is looking at their vent and breeding tube, and then still its not easy to say. but according to a ridiculous theory your oscar is a female! :lol:

I have heard it from a few people and personally I have had a few oscars that I knew of their sex by venting and then the theory was true about them too. 
this ridiculous theory says oscars that have those black spots or eye spot on their dorsal fin, are probably female.

it usually works for Flowerhorns but now they say its also true for oscars :x 
have you guys seen MALE oscars with those signs, that deny this theory?


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## SquishyCalamari (Mar 24, 2009)

Awesome looking oscar you have there BV.
I agree with TFG the black BG and black substrate really make their colors "pop"
I also dig the fake floating lillypads and how you cut out a part of that black grill wedged between the driftwood to make a cave for the pleco. He's got his own personal garage man!

Gratz on the setup dude!


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## Big Vine (Feb 26, 2007)

*Blu-ray*...I think I've heard that theory before, and I partly agree with you about it perhaps being a tad 'ridiculous.' Interesting though that you seem to have been able to find somewhat of a trend in it with those female oscars you mentioned. Perhaps there is some truth to it, or perhaps it is just coincidence... Best taken with a grain of salt, either way, eh? 

*SquishyCalamari*...thanks for your kind comments.


SquishyCalamari said:


> I also dig the fake floating lillypads and how you cut out a part of that black grill wedged between the driftwood to make a cave for the pleco. He's got his own personal garage man!


Haha, his own "personal garage" eh? I like that. :lol: 
Lately the oscar has been trespassing into it. Has a heck of a time with it though---you can see where his head is scraped up from forcing his way in and out of there. Just minor scrapes though, so I'm not too concerned. I'm sure he'll keep growing to where he physically can't force himself in there...eventually...

In the meantime, it still gives the pleco a good spot to chill out.
He knows it's where I drop his sinking carnivore pellets, so he always swims in there fairly quickly whenever I toss in some floating pellets (elsewhere in the tank) for the oscar (I feed em' both at the same time). He almost always gets into his 'garage' before the oscar has finished up his pellets and realizes there's more food down below, lol.
BV


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

As for the eye spot theory... If the eye spot(s) tend to travel up the back of the dorsal then I've heard they were male...


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## Blu-ray (Apr 28, 2008)

I didn't mean the main eye spot. in that theory I quoted there should be additional eye spot on the dorsal ( except the main one on the tail ) to tell its more likely a female. even not a full eye spot, a dark marking on the dorsal ( like BV's oscar ) is enough.

someone made this pic months ago, they are all proven females :










last one is my female, red one is her daughter I raised. currently I have another one of her babies that is female an 9" long with several full eye spots on her dorsal!

after all, as BV said it might be just coincidence, but thats interesting! we need more examples to accept or deny it.

ps: BV, it took me some time to find the meaning of " taken with a grain of salt" in dictionaries! man I'm new to english take it easy on me :lol:


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## heylady (Oct 14, 2004)

BV, your oscar and tank are awesome to say the least!!! :drooling:

That's an interesting theory about the dorsal spot....I've got an albino O with dark blotches on the dorsal fin (too young yet to lay eggs) and an older red O without blotches....now I'm wondering if I have both sexes here...

Gotta say that I love, love, love that pic of the gold oscar!! Wow! :thumb:


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## Big Vine (Feb 26, 2007)

Thanks heylady! 



Blu-ray said:


> ps: BV, it took me some time to find the meaning of " taken with a grain of salt" in dictionaries! man I'm new to english take it easy on me :lol:


Oops...sorry about that, Blu-ray!  
Glad you managed to figure it out on your own though.
Your English is quite good, and to be honest I had completely forgotten that it wasn't your first language. :wink:

Thanks for posting those pics.
Even though I think we're all on the same page, I'd just like to clarify two main points...

-pics of *confirmed females* *with those dorsal blotches* would lend support to this theory
(*oscars which have been witnessed laying eggs*)

-pics of ***confirmed males*** *with those dorsal blotches* would go against this theory
(***the non egg-laying oscar out of a successfully spawning pair in which eggs made it to at least the wiggler stage and the fish in question was the only other oscar in the tank aside from the confirmed female***)

That said, I'd like to see some pics which fall somewhere within the two categories mentioned.
BV


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

The female in this video does not have dorsal spots....

She's the white one:






The two oscars on the top right in this photo have spawned. One of them is male.... Both have dorsal spots.










These two spawned in my 240. The female was 10 years old at the time. She was the white one.



















I guess my point is that there's no real accurate way to sex oscars. When they are not spawning venting them is very difficult. Atleast it is for me :lol:

I've had plenty of proven males and females here at MFR and have attempted to vent them... I still can't tell who is who unless they spawn :?


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## Morpheus (Nov 12, 2008)

Big Vine, just wanted you to know your pictures and stories about Triton were what ultimately led me to deciding on an Oscar when deciding what to stock my tank with. (Well that and a million questions for Jonathon!) A truly stunning fish. What part of Florida did you move to? And glad to see you back!


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

And how is your tank doing Morpheus?


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## Morpheus (Nov 12, 2008)

Doing great, other than I've had to remove about $80 worth of driftwood (he kept scratching himself on it) and apparently he did not like the way I put the fake plants in there. I assumed he wanted them so they would stand straight up and down, but apparently he likes the sideways planted look much better :lol:


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## Big Vine (Feb 26, 2007)

*Morpheus*...


Morpheus said:


> Big Vine, just wanted you to know your pictures and stories about Triton were what ultimately led me to deciding on an Oscar when deciding what to stock my tank with. (Well that and a million questions for Jonathon!) A truly stunning fish. What part of Florida did you move to? And glad to see you back!


Wow man, what a great compliment...thank-you very much for that!  
As for our location...we're up in "the swamp" (Gainesville; home of the Gators!). How about you guys?

*TFG*...thanks for those pics.
That definitely puts the whole dorsal blotch theory (which is apparently flawed) to rest, lol.
BV :thumb:


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## Blu-ray (Apr 28, 2008)

BV, spending time on internet and forums improved my understanding and writing, but about speaking english, I definitely suck! 

TFG, thanks for pictures, however I can't see photobucket pictures right now! but I assume its 2 males with dorsal blotch ( learned a new word, blotch!  ) so as I said the theory was ridiculous :lol:

on the other hand, this is well known for flowerhorns, doesn't work perfect but in many cases you can easily detect a female, it works in about 80% of cases, you can find several male flowerhorns with dorsal blotch but generally it still give us a good initial guess.

for oscars I think 2 examples are not enough to totally put down this theory :-?

anyway, good thing to busy our mind about oscars for a while! oscars rule :dancing:


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

I agree, oscars do rule 

Here's another word for you to use... Shmooz (as in to get someone to do something for you)

I had to shmooz her into coming over. :lol:


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## Blu-ray (Apr 28, 2008)

Nice thanks! but its more like a word created by a 2 years old baby 

well no progress in the theory! 
so despite they take it with a grain of sugar for flowerhorns, we better use salt for oscars ... and add temp, more water change usually helps, see you later!


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

:lol: :lol: :lol:


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