why is fish so timid

big-pig-666 · Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2005 12:40 am Post subject: why is fish so timid

i got a 3rd oscar 3 days ago and he is verrrrrrry timid, he is always hiding and not swimming around like his other 2 compainions.. WHY? is he sick??? pleeaaasee help

grnlemonade · Super Senior Member Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 1027

sounds like he may be sulking.....whats the size tank and the readings for ammonia, nitrAte, and nitrIte?

big-pig-666 · Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2005 1:16 am Post subject:

i dont know the nitrate and nitrite but its a 50G for now till fish get bigger (they are 3/4 inches max)

Trickster · Member Joined: 05 Apr 2005 Posts: 309 Location: My Chair

Well my fish is scared of nothing, hes a beta, i wonder if hes blind cuz if u move ur hand realy fast to his eyes he wont even flinch. My bros fish (same kind) reacts to something like tht!

grnlemonade · Super Senior Member Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 1027

yea trickster....bettas are more of a calm tranquile fish

big-pig-666 · Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2005 1:46 am Post subject:

Any more ideas why "the grinch"(his new name) wont come out of his cave

grnlemonade · Super Senior Member Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 1027

yea, usually its sulking.....give it a few days, most cichlids, expecially those with lots of personality (including oscars) go into a little "pouting" stage when u first get them......it should be fine in a few days.

big-pig-666 · Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2005 2:39 am Post subject:

it was more like 4 days ago i got him, but he was doing this the first day, along with the others and they were all up and swiming around the seccond day but yesterday and today this fish has been sitting on the bottom, could this still be sulking?!?!?! it sorta seems like hes tired

t_chelle16 · Moderator Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 3436

The other two may be picking on him. You could try putting in a divider for a while and see if he perks up.

Also, get your water tested ASAP and plan on upgrading tanks (at least 150 gallons) within the next 3 - 4 months.

-Chelle

big-pig-666 · Posted: Tue Apr 05, 2005 11:03 pm Post subject:

yeah me and my dad are building a new tank (212 gallons) this weekend

grnlemonade · Super Senior Member Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 1027

wow, sounds sweet. if you have the time and can, will you take some pictures of the progress of the construction and post them here? Sounds like a fun project Your the best

Fish Addict · Posted: Wed Apr 06, 2005 3:42 am Post subject:

i would love to see it too i want to build a tank i have been wanting to build one for a long time

big-pig-666 · Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 2:40 am Post subject:

my timid fish died!!! he was doing fine till the hardwood guys came to redo the floors!! i never even thought about the fish!! i took the other 2 out and put them in my dads convict tank. will this be allright?????????? or what will happen???? Also how can you tell if a fish is blind?? it seems like my fish are blind from the posions, is there any physical signes on the fish that can tell if they in fact are blind?? please help!!

tski22 · Member Joined: 21 Nov 2004 Posts: 197

Not sure if there are physical signs, if they were poisoned my guess would be that theyre dead.. As far as the oscar question goes. The oscars because you said theyre small.. right I think.. anyways the convicts will probably beat them up if theyre smaller especially if theyre breeding theyll go crazy and kill the oscars. -tl

t_chelle16 · Moderator Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 3436

I'm sorry about your oscar. Sad

How big is the convict tank? And many cons are in there and how big are they?

For your oscar's tank, I'd rinse everything off really, really well. Maybe even go to the extent of replacing all of the gravel, decorations, and filter media (of course that means you'd have to re-cycle the tank - but using established media will help).

It was the timid fish that died, so are you sure it wasn't just really stressed from being picked on by the others?

Also, how are the oscars acting? Are they swimming around or lethargic? Are they eating?

-Chelle

big-pig-666 · Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2005 6:56 pm Post subject:

they are swimming around, slower then normal and from what i can see not eating...