CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

[Belle]

Hello! I am new here and I have a slight problem....

I rescued a (approximately) 6 inch Oscar from the lps. He was so sorry looking...they had him in a 5 gallon tank all squished up in the corner with a weird looking lobster thing. They fed him nothing but goldfish and apparently fed him one after the other for entertainment. He was given up by the previous owner cuz he was eating all his other fish (well duh) So....I felt so bad for him I brought him home....now heres the bad part....he has to spend another 9 days in a 10 gallon tank (Don't yell at me!! I couldn't leave him there!!!) My new tank won't be here till then. So right now he is in the 10 gal with a plecostomus thats a slight bit bigger than him...they seem to like each other for the most part. They seem to "cuddle" when they sleep. I have done a 50% water change and cleaned the gravel out because the tank smelled like ammonia. I unfortunately am slightly tapped for cash right now and can't afford to go buy the test kits or anything to get the ammonia down. Do you have any suggestions?

He has been eating all right and swims fairly normally...except that he swims backwards alot - is that normal?

I feel so stupid right now but all I could think of was how awfully he was being treated and that I had to get him out of there before he died from stress. Can someone please help me...I would hate to be the one who killed him rather than saved him...
Thank you for any help you can give me!!

Belle

[Fuzzy]

Cangrates belle on getting him/her out of the LFS.
Couple of questions firts.

The Ten G tank. Is it cycled, you mentioned a pleco, so I assume you had him first?
Second have you owned O's before. I get the idea you may have.
Third what type of filter do you have in the tank?
NOw for some quick advice. remove any decorations from the tank. Second, do a 1/3 water change every second day. Keep food down to a min. Better to have a hungry O' right now for a few days. Try to keep the bio load to a mininum in this way.
As for his behaviour. well swwiming backwards is not of great concern. If he flash's or has a noticable problem then post about that as well. He is most likely a bit shy, and very stressed. Post back with the answers. Good luck with him, better with you, I think , than where he was.

[Craig]

well done on saving the fish, he sounds pretty normal to be honest, with the stress of being put in a new tank, the rough time at the store, the crappy food on offer, yeah, hell be pretty don for a while.

make sure the tank is clean (ish, hes an O after all) you can obviously kep fish,so no worries there. and... erm, good luck

worms are a nice treat to get him to warm to you, just dont spoil him on them. they generally dont spit out much worm so their pretty clean too.

good luck

craig

[Mark Stone]

Originally posted by Belle
Hello! I am new here and I have a slight problem....

Hi Belle! Craig and Fuzzy's advice is (as usual) excellent, but I want to add a comment that because of your Oscar rescue, you are officially the most popular person in this entire furum!!

Welcome, and keep us updated on your new pet!

--Mark:cool:

[Craig]

lol, mark, my new favourite admin now.

[Belle]

Thank you all for replying so quickly! I really appreciate it! I think I have solved the problem!
After I posted I made a quick decision and did some transferring of fish to empty out Oscars temporary tank. I cleaned it and the equipment thoroughly with aquarium salt and set it up again. I let it cycle for 6 hours (unfortunately time was not on my side) and put Oscar and the 2 tigers in. Plecostomus stayed in the tank I transferred him to. Today Oscar has reaaranged his tank and is swimming like a happy guy! His tank smells like fish not cat litter and he is playing with me like he had begun to do before this mess. He is such a lovey thing...He lets me reach in and give him a pat and he eats out of my hand. Whoever had him before the lps must have been good to him Im sure because he has such a good disposition. He is even good with the two 2 inch Tigers in his tank!
As for the pleco...well he seems to have been the culprit of the ammonia problem. The tank he is in now smells badly. He is going back to his owner today so I won't have to worry about him.
I am so happy I got Oscar - I hate to see anything suffering and that was too much. As for me being the most popular person...LOL I can't say that it isn't flattering but hey...if you saw a fishie in that situation and had a way to help, wouldn't you?
As for me...I'm going to find a test kit today if it kills me!!
Hopefully I can get the 2 babies back into their own tank by tonight...after the water is changed. They seem a little skittish having a fishie 3 times the size of them around.
Thanks again for all your help!
Belle:D

[Mark Stone]

You know that the three Oscars and Geilie the Gourami are going to need a 75 gallon or larger aquarium pretty soon? --Mark:cool:

[Mark Stone]

Originally posted by Craig
lol, mark, my new favourite admin now.

....blush...

--Mark:cool:

[Belle]

Originally posted by Mark Stone
You know that the three Oscars and Geilie the Gourami are going to need a 75 gallon or larger aquarium pretty soon? --Mark:cool:

You bet! I am in the process of buying glass to build my tank...hoping to make a 100 gallon eventually! First we will have a 33 gallon and a 55 gallon is on the way to temporarily suffice for Oscar and then the two Tigers get the 33 for the time being. The gourami's will be moved to their own 10 gallon. Then...once the 75 is built I will shift them all again...Oscar to the 75, Tigers to the 55, gouramis to the 33... That works out doesn't it? I have worked this out so many times I could be missing something...
Oh yes...when Oscar gets his new tank (7 more days....) Geilie and Geordie will be in the 10 gallon.

Belle

[Fuzzy]

If your making your own tank, here's a link I use when I make mine.
http://www.garf.org/tank/Buildtank.asp
they have a built in calculator for glass thinkness, and water capacity.

[Belle]

OMG!!! Fuzzy I could kiss you!!! You just made my life soooooo much easier!!! Thank you for the link!!!:D

[Fuzzy]

Your Welcome.

Any other question you have on it, just ask in the tank section of the fourm. I'll be glad to help.