Do Oscars go into Heat????

[kingrattus]

Oscar is acting really odd the past few days & I'm thinking he/she is going into heat of some sort. When ever my Jack Dempsey swims away, Oscar will tilt his body until Jack comes back. & Jack never comes out from hiding during the day, & Jack is zooming all about & following Oscar alot more then normal.

Maybe Oscar is a female?
Maybe Jack is a male?
can these 2 breed?

[Karen]

Gosh, I don't know! Tomorrow, I'll ask a friend of a friend, who used to have Oscars ...

[kingrattus]

Thanks Karen
I've searched on the net but they don't say too much except that Oscar is a SHE!!!!
My poor baby girl has a boys name, oh well, like she'll know the difference.

But I should have named her Jaws, or Killer. She bit me again & all I was doing was adding this pretty floating bubble dog to her tank. Maybe shes PMSing,,, hehehe

[Fox-Gal]

Sense I don't know how old your two fish are it's hard to say what they are doing. But yes they can breed....they are both from the Cichlid family, but don't get your hopes up to high.

If the Jack is dominate in your tank he could just be showing that.

Most times when a Cichlid wants to mate they will do like a little dance, shaking their body side to side, and sometimes make odd movement with their mouth. If your Oscars is doing this I say yes she wants babies. The Jack has to be of a larger enough size to mate though. Never heard it called heat before.

So like I said, not knowing the age/size of your two fish it's hard to say if they are going to mate or not. If for some reason they do...watch them, they will eat the babies. If you want to keep the babies...seperate or put a lot of small rocks piled up for the babies to hide in. Thats the only way my Cichlid babies have ever made it. My tank is piled from bottom to top with slate rock....and I had enough babies to last a life time. The pet store love me. LOL

Hope I help you out some. Boy if a Jack and a Oscar do have babies...I want to see a picture of them, I would love to see how they look.

[kingrattus]

Oscar will be 2 yrs old around xmas, same with Jack. But Oscar is about 8-10 inches long & Jack is about 5 (he hasn't even doubled in size).

I wont be keeping any babies, if my landlord foundout she'd kill us

[Fox-Gal]

It sounds to me like your not going to have any babies to worry about, so the landlord will be happy. Not that I can understand why it would matter to him. It's sill just one tank, Right? Well from their ages, yep Oscar wants babies, I would guess. Sense Jack older too....I'm sure he wants to help her out.

Even though they are both from the Chchlid family.....conditions in the tank would have to be just right and it would help if they where both of the same breed fish, size etc.

If by some chance they do....first I want a pic. Then if you have a local pet store, not a chain store, a lot of time they will give you a discount for the trade of your fish. Sometimes I even traded so many Chchid for a other fish. Thats how I got 2 of my parrot fish. They still work out ahead on the deal though.

[kingrattus]

I want to breed Oscar with a Blue Oscar, when I move out & get her the 200G tank I want. hehehe

I also want an albino Oscar hehehe
oh & a red Oscar
& if there r green ones I want one of those too.

[Fox-Gal]

I've never seen a green Oscar before....if they are out there I want one too. I have the albino ones...I just love their color, with that little bit of orange in them. They go well with my Parrot fish (orange) lol

I answered your ? about salt on the other post, but just in case you don't see it......yes salt would be good for them too. Plus from looking at your sig. it looks like you have a red devil chiclid too. And they also need salt. It is a Red Devil right....I could be wrong from just looking at your sig.

You do know that you can stunt the growth of you Oscar by keeping her in a smaller tank. I did mine...she's in a 55 gal. and been there for years...she stoped growing. It wont harm her any.
Just thought I let you know, just in case you worried about the need for a bigger tank.

[kingrattus]

I've already learned my lesson about keeping her in a smaller tank. Shes a little deformed because of the smaller tank, it didn't slow her growth, it hurt her really bad.

& yep that orange fish is a Red Devil & damn is he ever mean, hes a spawn from the devil himself!!

I'll talk to my fish guy about the salt, cause my fish r captive breed, not wild. I've already spent about 400$ on Oscar & don't have any $$ right now

[Fox-Gal]

I'm sorry you had problems with the smaller tank and Oscer. I never had a problem....Maybe I just lucked out. Thanks goodness, I have no more room for a bigger tank. I have a 75, 55, 48, 20 10 gal. tanks. Friends ask me all the time when am I moving the couch out for another tank.

Red Devil are mean they are African Cichlid....always mean. The 75 I have is all Africans, My husband, being a man, wanted mean fish. Now I got them poping out babies left and right.

Don't worry about the salt....they can live with out it....just fine. It's just their natural condition are part salt water. FYI. Not trying to be mean, but I have found that chain pet stores are not the best on info. Just in case thats where you go. I've heard them tell so many people the wrong info.....they don't know though...most cases they hire kids or people that have a wide but small amount of info on pet. Search for African Cichlid on the net...you'll find a lot more info there.

Also salt for Africans isn't that much...I got a 5lb for $16 and that will last me two years, most likely.

[kingrattus]

My fish guy is very good. I only buy fish at Aquarium Services. & the guy I talk to raises all kinds of fish. He's the only guy I talk to & so far hes been right about everything. & he's saved me tones of cash. On my next visit I'm bring Axle with me, heheh

[Fox-Gal]

oh good, I'm gald you have a good fish guy. There are hard to come by sometimes. And it's always nice when someone can save you cash.