Peach - An Oscar story

[infernalis]

Around 18 months ago a neighbor from down the street knocked on our door.

She said she had 4 "old fish tanks" we could have for free all we had to do was drive down and get them.

So Dorothy and I jumped in the truck and went down to her house, only to find that one of the tanks had an occupant still living in it.

Not really sure how this fish was still alive, the water was semi green, there was algae deposits all over the glass, it had an under gravel filter that was so clogged up that it stopped working long ago.

when we asked her "what about the fish" she said "I don't care just dump it out on the ground with the water"

Needless to say I could not do that, so we brought home this fully grown Oscar, named it Peach and have been gladly caring for her since.

http://www.ssnakess.info/pets/peach.jpg

[Will0W783]

Cool! Oscars are neat fish- kudos to you for taking care of it!

[Freebody]

oh sweet oscars are the best fish ever in my opinion good thing you saved him, reminds me of my oscar fish that died of old age a long time ago. he would see me coming to the tank all the time and get so excited he swim up to the glass and do circles i would then reach my hand in the water and he would swim and brush up against my hand and i would give him a little pet LOL ..petting a fish :P hmm i wonder if there are any you tube videos of other oscars doing this ...im going to look after this. get a good filter tho they are very messy :)

[shaunyboy]

my wife had an oscar that did a similar thing.when you opened the lid of the tank it would come up and take fish food pellets from you.you just had to hold them an inch or two above the waters surface.i'm sure you'll have a lot of fun watching your oscar infernalis.
cheers shaun

[infernalis]

We already "bonded" long ago.

The filter I have is twice the filter required for this tank, it's a really big Tetra whisper with 2 cartridges, It's freaking huge.

She likes pink mice every once in a while too.

[Hillsberry]

Awwww thats nice of you! My parent used to have an Oscar. The fish would jump when you walked by its tank. And all this water would hit you. So not fun when you first get up in the morning. Lol

[Palor]

Oscars are great fish, gratz on the rescue.

[emseeKAY]

i love oscars! they look soooo cool lol i bought my girlfriend a tank with some fish and she loves it, its like their own little town in there lol

[siz]

Congrats on the rescue :) She's pretty!

[stlphotogal]

Congrats on the rescue and THANK YOU! Oscars are amazing and gentle loving fish who bond with their owners quickly and provide hours of entertainment :)

We had an oscar (named Oscar, lol) and he was amazing - he would come to the top and swim around if he recognized you but if he didn't (or just didn't like you - he hated my mom) he would play dead and lay on his side at the bottom of the tank until you moved out of his line of sight. He passed away in November of last year :(.

RIP Oscar buddy...

[infernalis]

I never wanted a fish until this one came along. Now it would just seem too quiet without that filter running.

[infernalis]

Sadly, my "Oscar story" does not have a happy ending:mad:

Peach recently became ill with the dreaded HITH (Hole in the head) disease.

She just died in the tank from it.

R.I.P. Peach.

No more fish for me.....

[Lankyrob]

Aww -sorry to hear that mate - just think of the lovely last couple of years she had with you guys looking after her properly.

[Bree]

OMG I'm so sorry especially after Peach survived the earlier mistreatment and inhumanity of the tank giver...

RIP Peach...I know there are many lil goldfishies for you to chomp on in the afterlife!

[dragunov.762]

sorry to hear about your Oscar. I have had no luck with fish. i have killed 2 bettas and 2 snails, no clue how i did it. all that is left is 4 neon tetras that are pretty cool though. hopefully they will make it longer than the bettas (i had the second betta and snail in with the tetras but after they go no more fish for me.

[infernalis]

Aww -sorry to hear that mate - just think of the lovely last couple of years she had with you guys looking after her properly.


Thanks for the sentiment Rob.

Semi properly, while researching hole in the head, I found that the only real cure is prevention, I thought that since I fed her pellet food designed specifically for that type fish, I was providing the right nutrition.

I was wrong! they are supposed to have a varied diet and supplements.

The bright note is that she did not get dumped out on the ground back in 2008.

Now I have to get used to the silence, the filters and pumps made noise, now it's gone.

I just set up the tank for albino garter snakes. Silly things are staring at me right now ;)

[Lankyrob]

I change my filter about every 6 weeks and when i put the new inserts in i leave them soaking in the tank (in the filter housing but with the filter turned off) for 24 hours to acclimatise to my tank water - that 24 hours with the filter off is strange as like you say there is no background hum.

[Palor]

HITH is the dreaded nightmare stalking the the tanks of cichlid keepers. It is bad for most fish, for some reason it really destroys cichlids. Once they have it you only keep the symptoms at bay, they never really get over it.

RIP Peach.

[infernalis]

I am not a fish guy at all, but I miss this one sorely already.

It is a relief to not have to watch her suffer anymore, I could tell by the way she was constantly rubbing her head into the glass that she was in great pain, this morning when she died, she leaped straight up out of the tank clearing the water by nearly a foot, then sank to the bottom and expired.

never thought I would feel any emotions toward a fish, never thought a fish would tug at my heart strings, but that one was a special fish, a puppy in a tank, I got really attached to her, and then this horrible disease ravaged her quickly.

I went to an Oscar forum and read all the steps, I changed out 1/2 of her water daily, put the recommended amounts of aquarium salts in the water, I tried everything the experienced Oscar keepers recommended, and she still died.

[Freebody]

sorry to hear about you fish,ya hith is a nightmare i never got it but read all about it when learning how to care for mine.
oscars are so cool, they are like puppies in a tank, mine used to get so excited when i would walk in the room,slash at the top of the water and look at me swim in a circle look at me... till i put my hand in the water and give them a little petting with clean hands of course.they would actually rub up against my hand and turn and even get jelious of the other one if it was getting pet lol i miss mine 2 died many years ago of old age.
ya that oscar food is only 50% of their diet, mine got brime shrimp and a couple other of the frozen sea food packs they sell at the fish store.

[infernalis]

oscars are so cool, they are like puppies in a tank, mine used to get so excited when i would walk in the room,slash at the top of the water and look at me swim in a circle look at me... till i put my hand in the water and give them a little petting with clean hands of course.they would actually rub up against my hand store.


Sounds like my Peach.

[shaunyboy]

my condolances mate.

i have to admit our oscar was probaly the only fish ive ever had any kind of true affection for.he used to pop his head out the water and take fish food pellets out from between my fingers.imo freebody described it just right.they are like puppys in a fish tank.clever affectionate little guys.
cheers shaun

[C.Phillips]

I had to albino oc=scars befor and i fed them gold fish and guppies and my grand ma loves guppies so when i got feeder guppies id buy her some for her tank ( i was liveing there at the time) then for about a week the pet stor was out of guppies so i took my oscars and put them in the guppie tank and by the time my grand ma seen the oscars she was already calling me at work lol needless to say i had to buy her a lot of guppies

[Freebody]

ya oscars are great at eating, its their specialty lol

[Jenn_06]

im sorry about what happend,we had 3 and they was so cool we loved them alot but could not take them with us when we moved...going to get another one someday.

[infernalis]

im sorry about what happend,.


Thanks. Never thought I'd miss a fish.

[Jenn_06]

Thanks. Never thought I'd miss a fish.


I think its because they have personality

[infernalis]

Oh yea, she had a personality.

For almost a year she had a "pet" minnow too.

I put it in there for her to eat, and they "buddied up" instead.

even when the minnow died, she would not eat it.??