CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

hello.
just signed on here and was wondering if anyone has an idea why my oscars are not eating.
been almost 2 weeks now and nary a sign of them eating.
they turn their nose up at their pellets and their beefheart.
they are showing many of the charachteristics of breeding and or pairing,but they seem to have lost their appetite.
i have had breeding pairs in the past and they would still eat to some extent.

i would appreciate any and all help or forwarding to another thread where this info may have already been discussed.
i know there may be something not quite right.

maybe they just want some live food

Hi Daemon

Welcome to the fourm.

Oscars will sometimes go of eating food, for a variety of reasons. Mind you two weeks seems a long time.
Durning nest building, etc there might be drop in appitite, but usually, (IME yours may vary) only one stops eating.
Perhaps there might be something wrong with the set up (ie water conditions), or maybe you switched fish food.

I might try some live food, such as earthworms, or crickets. I would not try feeder fish. If they eat, then maybe they just don't like the food, or you have spoiled them, and they just have not got hungry enought to break down and eat.

Anyhow, post back about your set up, feeding habbits, etc, and hopefully we can figure out whats up.

thanks.

seems like a long time for me as well that they haven't eaten.
i have had a pair go off of eating after they have laid their eggs,but never for more than a couple days.

i have a 120 gallon with slate and clay pots for them to rub up against(which is what they have been doing).
i went so far as to turn off the air pump that i had recently installed.
when i bought it and some new hikari gold they stopped eating.
they aren't against any outside walls nor has there been any temp changes that i have noticed.
in the past i have had to remove pleco's from the tank because they would eat the eggs,but they haven't even laid any yet.

seems they are interested in the far right corner of the tank where the clay pot meets the wall.

should i move or remove this item to give them more room?
should i do a large water change???

any and all help will be appreciated

here is an older pic from around halloween. so no the house doesn't look like this all the time
i run a H.O.T magnum and a emperor back filter.
the air pump just runs a couple of those blue diffusers for extra air.
hope this helps

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/8793/pa310002xu5.jpg

NEVER turn off the air supply. Good thing holloween is not monthly!!  The tank is a 120 gal?, this looks more like a 55 gal to me.. BUT the angle could do this too.. OR it is like you said a old pic.. 
YOUR intake on the emperor is to high, I know they come with extentions. U really need it all the way down.. Oscar poop is big and heavey so I dont see this taking it anywhere but at the bottom of the tank...  I had to cut my extentions to do so, so a regular hax saw works good here..  I would vac the substrate good and clean the filter BOX GOOD,, I mean take it to the sink and clean it.. I do mine this way, just leave the bio-wheels in the filter hood BY THE TANK.. this you dont' want anywhere near tap water.. Clean the perpeller good IF you have never done so,, I mean take the housing out and really clean it good removing the perpeller. this gets slime coated and makes the filter run slow, it is magnet drive so clean the perpeller GENTLY but firmly.. USE that small white brush that came with it and clean out the perpeller housing whole.. Or a OLD tooth brush works good to. Scrubb out the filter compartments as they are going to be nasty.. I do reuse my filter media pads as I just use high pressure from the fauset, like you place your finger under the fauset head to get a hard stream and rinse off the filter pads to reuse.. 17 filters, so I have to reuse them alot..  I run Two Emperor 400 on my tanks of 55 gal and up.. For oscars even though you have the magnum, you might want to concider another 400 for the other side.. Great filters.. I have 17 of them, some are the 280..

NOW on eating.. as you are going to be doing a water change here too, this might stimulate them more to eat, but probley more to spawn.. I would take out all pots as most Oscars like a flat slate to spawn on, NOT pots..  My big american cichlids like to eat Salad shrimp. Tear them in half if the oscars are not too big, this is a great treat NOT daily food but may stimulate them to eat the pellets later.. If they dont' eat it, it is easily netted out.. BeefHeart is a mess, I would not feed that until they start to eat again..
My Oscar when I had one, went a few weeks and didnt' eat.. don't know why, then alll of a sudden he started to eat again.. he did not have a mate but others were in the tank..  A good 30% water change may help you here IF YOU HAVE NOT DONE SO IN 5 DAYS.. I don't advise to do it sooner as you might mess up the bio in the tank, even with the bio wheels.. 

wow!!!!
barb that is alot of info.

good points all.
i will turn the air back on.
i saw that they were aggressing to the diffuser's and just thought that it was being an irritation during this phase.


a good cleaning of the equipment will be done this weekend.
i do this occassionally,but i'm sure it needs done again.

water change as well.

i will try to get a pic that shows it's true size once this is done and the pot's and such have been removed.
my last pair had no problems laying their eggs on the slate under the big clay pot,but like we humans i'm sure they all differ.

thanks for the advice,,,,

still no change.
all the advice above has been taken and yet they still will not eat.

further advice requested please.
i am at my wits end

YOU can place on of the bigger POTS back in and see how they act with it.. As U did change their suroundings.. Some cichlids are funny about something thier then gone.. Goofie fish anyway..

I had a GT that didnt' like U to clean the tank to long.. move something and he attacted you.. Put it back and he left you alone.. Oscars are the same.. they get used to deco and when you remove it, they pout.. Yep, goofie fish... OR just smarter than we give them credit for...

Nitrates in an Oscar tank are HARD to controll so best to keep them UNDER 40ppm.. Some foods are worse for feeding as they do make a mess when they eat.. I stayed with Pellets/shrimp pieces and I had others to EAT under him as he filtered his food through his gills.. Which makes the mess.. As you have a pair, I dont' thnk another cichlid here is a good idea, as when they do spawn, they wil KILL all in the tank.. Try the bigger pot back in and see how they do.. Don't know what to telll you on them NOT eating.. they can be finiky at times...

thank you all for the advice....

peas....really??? okay so i tried that and so far nothing.
i will have to get a water tester or have the water tested this weekend.
too much overtime

i took an updated pic for you all this morning.
http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/546/p12400729pt.jpg

if you will note the tank light. it is from my previous 55 gallon tank.

i guess a proper intro is something i should have done,but i was overly concerned with their behaviour.
with the near dozen oscars i have had none have gone this long without eating.
i have rescued many cichlids from people who have felt that dog food was the best to feed them.
weening them from that diet to a healthier diet was a chore in itself.
there was a time where i had 13 tanks in the house from all the saved fish and from my own love of the hobby.

i say tanks because not all of them were aquariums.
the old globe terrariums.....sealed one in the middle and filled with water.
a couple 55 gallon plastic drums.
horse troughs(rubbermaid plastic)
a slew of assorted sized aquariums with all kinds of different fish.

never in all my experience have i run across this not eating for extended periods thing.
even the mating pair i had before i moved did not do this.
i had to give them up when i moved from illinois to colorado.
i wonder how well they are now.


so in all i appreciate your help and hope that i can figure this out soon.

any and all foods i have tried they pop into their mouths and spit it out just as quick.

i really don't want to have to start over again.


thank you all....

nitrates are the culprit.....
i was advised to do 30% water changes every 3 days for a period of time......
in my rampant stupidity i put my water hose in the garage and it is frozen,so i will begin the process tomorrow.

apparently my 15% water changes 1 or 2 times a month was not good enough.

i should have taken some tap water to them as well to see if this is where my problem has begun.

i have never experienced this in so short a time.
tank has only been set up for about 6 months.

i will keep you guy's up to date.

also he suggested that i use a product called prime that detoxifies nitirites and nitrates.
he said it doesn't cure it just detoxifies.

funny thing is that i had some at home in my fish med pack but i wasn't using it with my water changes.
i feel like a dolt.
i want to thank all of you for your patience and help.
i will keep you apprised as things progress.