# Dingbat fish



## heylady (Oct 14, 2004)

Okay, so I'm being slightly sarcastic here, but really....my female flowerhorn is in love with the heater. Now, I'm not entirely sure if she loves the heater itself or the light but what she does is go in the corner where the heater is and she will stare at it. When the light comes on, she does her happy dance. The light goes out and she goes for a leisurely stroll around the tank. Life is good. Maybe 15, 20 minutes later and she's back staring at the heater. For all the world like a love-struck teen waiting to gaze into her lovers eyes....

My oscar, I believe, hallucinates. I swear I have never given him psychedelics of any kind. But he will stare and stare at the water's surface then every so often he will shake his butt and leap up, up, up tooooo.....nothing at all. There are no bugs of any kind, no stray flies got in the house, no food, no nothing. Disappointed he will roam dejectedly around the bottom until the visions hit again and well you can guess the rest.

Am I the only one with mentally challenged fish? :roll:


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## chapman76 (Jun 30, 2004)

Ha! That's funny. I haven't had the pleasure of that yet. Of course I've had no large New Worlds yet to keep as wet pets.


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## JWerner2 (Jul 7, 2008)

My Oscars acted like both fish you mentioned. So did my Jags.

Dont be surprised if sooner or later that heater gets busted! I went with a titanium or what ever it was after that. Unfortunately I didnt think anything of it when I got my Jags and at this point it was way later down the road and I used another glass heater, what seemed to be love really wasn't. They busted that one also so then I went with a stealth.

My Oscars were freaks. I always liked to keep open top tanks and I used to treat my Oscars to some silk worms I had been raising for my Chameleons. They loved them enough I swear I had them trained. When ever it was time for a silky treat I would dangle one by its thread across the top til they caught on ad started jumping out. Then it turned into jumping over the brace and eventually they did it for no reason at all. Feeding time or not I would hear a splash and sure enough thats what it was, needless to say at that point the fun had to end and I had to use a glass top.


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## TheFishGuy (Apr 21, 2005)

Pick up your hood to see if there's someting on it.... As for the heater.... :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## heylady (Oct 14, 2004)

It's a glass hood and I'm watching as it happens!! I swear to you there is nothing there!! :lol:

((Maybe he got a bad cricket)) :wink:

And I'm afraid of the oscar learning to jump too! Kinda cute when they're little but a full grown fish doing that will end up on the floor. I have a feeling that the hood is going to need a brick on top...


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## exasperatus2002 (Jul 5, 2003)

Your oscar has the case of the munchies! turn off the air pump when your hittin the weed ! jk. he's a predator. a meal can come floating by at any time. He's just prepared.

as to the flower horn. Its a mutt (hybrid) and may not all be there. multispecies mutts like flowerhorns & bloddy parrots are all off, or atleast the ones *** seen so far.


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## Toby_H (Apr 15, 2005)

heylady said:


> ((Maybe he got a bad cricket)) :wink:


You know how those darn hippies are that work in the pet stores... no telling what they spike their crickets with 

I have an Oscar that adopted a small piece of driftwood. He has relocated this piece of wood to three different 'territories' that he's protected. When the guys come over for a beer I often make a $20 offer to anyone who picks the piece of wood up. Several have gotten wet trying; no one's earned the $20... I've moved it because I know it doesn't hurt when the O bites me... just don't tell my friends that...

I have a Blue Dempsey that refuses to allow a glass thermometer float in the tank. He attacks the red blop at the end fiercely.

I have a large male Trimac that plays a game of "catch the Convict"... when he does, he doesn't kill it... he races across the tank and slams the Convict into the side of the glass... then just watches the Convict regain his senses and flee to the rock structure... I don't condone 'fish abuse' and I've made a much larger stack of rocks for the Cons to live in where the Trimacs can't get them. If they start playing "catch the Convict" again I'll remove the Cons...

No your not the only one with mentally challenged Cichlids


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## PaulineMi (Apr 3, 2008)

I saw a video of an Oscar playing with a ping pong ball. Quite the characters. :lol:


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## Ssssssspit_Fire (May 30, 2005)

*Well, while youre thinking you fish are retarted, I think the opposite.
big american cichlids are known to be the smarter cichlids and have a real "personality" going.
also, I've seen and heard this kind of cichlid behavior only by big american cichlids, what's giving me the conclusion that it's not because of stupidity or retardation...

I heard many weird stories about cichlids, but the one with the heater is one of the best.

P.S: flower horn females are known for their horniness, I used to have a female that will just spawn with every fish, she even tried to spawn with a pleco once, and many times with herself *


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## Tanganyikaguy (Apr 25, 2007)

back when I worked at the pet store we had a big red devil that I used to fight with. I would reach in and push it around, while it tried to bite me and push back. once in a while he got a good bite in and drew some blood. 

dont know which was more retarded there...me or the fish.


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## Joels fish (Nov 17, 2007)

Many years ago I had an Oscar that would from time to time go nuts and start charging all around his tank. I thought it was hillarious until he crashed full force into a rock and broke his bottom jaw. He healed up but the injury didn't stop him from doing this. He kept on charging around like he was chasing a ghost. Never did figure out why he did that.


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## Mr. White (Nov 7, 2008)

Im not so sure about the oscar but i do have a female flowerhorn and she does the exact same thing, she will float at the top of the tank by the heater for about 5 minutes and then continue swimming around the tank. However when sshe is done at the heater she gets rowdy and swims in loops upsidedown. When shes done she returns to the heater.


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