# When will tiger oscars begin to show their red colouring?



## grenouillepwns (Apr 4, 2010)

Hey guys, I have a 180 gallon tank with 4 clown loaches, 2 bristlenose plecos and one red tiger oscar.
The tank is cycled, and they're all juveniles, but Jimmy still isn't showing any red colour!
Is this normal?
He's about 6cm including tail right now, which is a bit more the 2 inches.
I am feeding him on Tetra cichlid crisp, the cichlid staple and algae ones, a home made fish food, with a meat to vege ratio of about one to one.
And occasionally daphnia.

I was wondering if he will show red colouring at any point?
Or not?

Any other tips are great too, also I know I could probably do with 1 or 2 more clowns, just need to get around to the money side of things!


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## johncl (Mar 10, 2010)

Sounds pretty normal. O's color changes throughout their lives. Try feeding krill to bring the red out.


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## CoolCichlid (Feb 12, 2010)

I think there are two kinds of tiger oscars, tiger oscar and red tiger oscar, tger oscars do not develop red colors.

I'm not a professional, it's just my own opinion.


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

My tiger oscar has really been showing his colors lately. He's black,orange and now showing signs of green around his head and then mixed in with the black stripes of his body. I really like how he's turning out. Just be patient gren and the colors will show up :wink:


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## LSBoost (Jan 21, 2010)

A picture is worth a thousand words so let me show you some pictures of my oscar growing. Hopefully it will give you some hope.

Around February 7 2010 I got a tiger oscar, it was a little beat up because the LFS worker did not know how to scoop an aggressive fish out of an aquarium. The worst part was that there were holes on the gills and they're still there today (permanent damage).

It was sulking in this picture.








It was around 2.5 inches at the time. Very dark fish, all black sometimes.









March 13 2010. Only 1 month older and hes already 4 inches.









March 21 2010. 5 inches









April 2 2010. I added some plants to the tank and move some SD to the other tank. I didn't write down how big Mini was at the time but I'm guessing it's around 5inches+ to 6 









On May 5 2010. Almost a month away from the last pictures Mini is 7 inches. I guess Mini is *starting* to slow down a bit. Here's my other thread with a bunch of pictures. Click Here!


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## grenouillepwns (Apr 4, 2010)

Thanks guys!
He's very blue/green!
I would post some pictures, but I can't find my camera.

My LFS listed him as a red tiger oscar, so hopefully he'll show some nice red colouring, but he has alot of stripes, like about 40-50% of his body are stripes, and hopefully he'll colour up nice....

He's gotten alot bigger, but he's still fairly scared of me...
Any way to make him like me more?
I feed him raw chicken cut in jullienne strips and wiggle it around to tempt him, hopefully he'll start liking me more.

Also, are MTS snails a good idea to stir up my sand?
It's PFS.

Thanks guys...


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## LSBoost (Jan 21, 2010)

High quality pellet is better than chicken. Chicken have a lot of animal fat. I don't think Oscar eat chicken in the wild. Although that would be funny. :lol:


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## Dook (May 13, 2009)

here are mine at about 5 inches and a little over a month since I got them in their growout tank...


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

Didn't I see those some where else?


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

Figured I would share my Tiger's Progress if you guys don't mind. I just measured him and he's up to 6 inches now from the original 2 when I bought him


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

Sorry one more. And grrr to that water spot on the glass lol.


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## LSBoost (Jan 21, 2010)

Wow I love the long pelvic fin on your oscar DJ. My O's is much shorter, one is bigger than the other. Kind of deformed :lol:


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## Riceburner (Sep 3, 2008)

Mine...she's about 6"


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

Thanks for the compliments boost! Tiger is reallly coming along I couldn't be happier. Riceburner your Tiger O looks great to! It's nice to see all the different colors they can be and yours is on the black and orange side. :wink:


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## grenouillepwns (Apr 4, 2010)

Hey guys!
Great oscars!
My oscar is very green, but still isn't showing any red/orange.
Whenever he sees my sinking pellets in the tank, he rushes down to the bottom of the tank and swallows them whole.
I would say he's about 2.5 inches.

Any advice on water changes?
I change about 100 litres in a 680 litre tank, and I drain it with a siphon, and do 20 litres with a gravel vac, although I have fine PFS.

But I am 14, so carrying lots of buckets probably isn't good for my back! Could I add water dechlorinater first, the run a hose into the tank, and then fill it up.
Any other advice, I've seen pythons, but I still have no idea how you dechlorinate the water...

Thanks...


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## LSBoost (Jan 21, 2010)

Add the water conditioner to the tank first and then fill it up. The most important thing is to not let temperature change too much.


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## johnnyo513 (Oct 15, 2009)

My Oscar seems to be very red..... 12+ inches......


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

Stunning Johnny O


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## grenouillepwns (Apr 4, 2010)

Pwoah!
Also guys, Jimmy my oscar seemed to get a scratch near his gill, but it didn't bother him it's gone now, but I don't know really.
Also, once he gets bigger, what do I do for hiding?
Can I just make a U shape with rocks without a covering?
Or like a big ceramic pot?


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## Dj823cichild (Mar 30, 2009)

Well that's good the scratch went away. And an Oscar that's 12 inches isn't going to be able to hide he's too big :lol:


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