Hi again, I am the newbie with fish in my pond. My husband went in there
today to clean out the filter, and the oscars were laying on their
sides...looking dead. Later, they were swimming around just fine. Do oscars
play dead?

Erin

"PETEFT15" wrote in message
...
Hi again, I am the newbie with fish in my pond. My husband went in there
today to clean out the filter, and the oscars were laying on their
sides...looking dead. Later, they were swimming around just fine. Do
oscars
play dead?


Never kept Oscars myself but this is very common behaviour in my aquarium
kept Clown Loaches.

I had oscars for 6 years,not in a pond.I kept them in a aquarium(125gal.) I
never saw mine play dead.
They are a tropical fish and usually require warm temperatures around 78
degrees.
They love to eat feeder goldfish.

Doug
"PETEFT15" wrote in message
...
Hi again, I am the newbie with fish in my pond. My husband went in there
today to clean out the filter, and the oscars were laying on their
sides...looking dead. Later, they were swimming around just fine. Do
oscars
play dead?

Erin

On Sun, 11 May 2003 17:38:13 -0400, "Doug"
wrote:

I had oscars for 6 years,not in a pond.I kept them in a aquarium(125gal.) I
never saw mine play dead.
They are a tropical fish and usually require warm temperatures around 78
degrees.
They love to eat feeder goldfish.

Yes, our aquariums were at 75-78 F on the Oscars as well. I would
guess if they are on thier side, they may be in trouble.

To the original poster: I hope your Oscar isn't mean to all your other
fish and that you can keep it alive. Did it come from a pond or an
aquarium?

Oscars do play dead when they are frightened. A good way to be
unattractive! Once secure, they won't do it. I have two new medium sized
ones in my office. They lie down, bent, when I approach the tank. The big
one does not. She has been around 7 or so years and has learned to eat from
my hand (actually, she would also eat my have if they could).

What is your water temp? They can handle the cold for a while, but prefer
mid to upper 70's.

Jim

--
______________________________________________
See our pond at: home.bellsouth.net\p\pwp-jameshurley
Check out Jog-A-Thon fundraiser (clears $140+ per child) at: jogathon.net
______________________________________________
"PETEFT15" wrote in message
...
Hi again, I am the newbie with fish in my pond. My husband went in there
today to clean out the filter, and the oscars were laying on their
sides...looking dead. Later, they were swimming around just fine. Do
oscars
play dead?

Erin

Well, it is cooler in our pond right now...60 degrees. The guy who gave them
to us had said that he wanted someone with a larger tank or pond for them
because they were too big for his. So we thought the pond would be OK. When he
dropped tham off, he seemed happy about the pond. It will get warmer as the
weather does, but not immediately. We are planning on taking them inside for
the winter...we have a big plastic tub we will be putting them in.
Any advice is welcome!

Erin

Hi Erin,

At 60 in the pond, if you could take them in, they would be happier. How
big are they? The tub would probably work, but it might be harder to see
them. Do you have an aquarium you could put them in? How warm is your
house? If it is in the 70'2, room temp would work.

-- J
______________________________________________
See our pond at: home.bellsouth.net\p\pwp-jameshurley
Check out Jog-A-Thon fundraiser (clears $140+ per child) at: jogathon.net
______________________________________________
"PETEFT15" wrote in message
...
Well, it is cooler in our pond right now...60 degrees. The guy who gave
them
to us had said that he wanted someone with a larger tank or pond for them
because they were too big for his. So we thought the pond would be OK.
When he
dropped tham off, he seemed happy about the pond. It will get warmer as
the
weather does, but not immediately. We are planning on taking them inside
for
the winter...we have a big plastic tub we will be putting them in.
Any advice is welcome!

Erin

"PETEFT15" wrote in message
...
Well, it is cooler in our pond right now...60 degrees. The guy who gave
them
to us had said that he wanted someone with a larger tank or pond for them
because they were too big for his. So we thought the pond would be OK.
When he
dropped tham off, he seemed happy about the pond. It will get warmer as
the
weather does, but not immediately. We are planning on taking them inside
for
the winter...we have a big plastic tub we will be putting them in.
Any advice is welcome!

Yes, it will need to be a very big plastic tub & you will need to put a good
filter on it - Oscar's are messy! Obviously you will also need to heat it as
well and do regular water changes - much like keeping an aquarium. If you do
not know about the Nitrogen cycle then you need to find out about it or you
will have dead fish on your hands. Suggest you do a search of google and/ or
have a look at www.thekrib.net. Bringingthe fish in for the winter will
require a bit of planning methinks!

rgds

I.