Bitter temps made it hard to enjoy the weekend and I've been trying to nurse a sick fish back to health. It's a large Albino Oscar that we've had for 5 years. It's bad enough that when they are fine they act weird, but when they are sick even weirder. It's hard to tell if he's really sick or sulking because I moved living room furniture around. Ya...they are that sensitive.
I'll never forget when we got him/her (we've never figured out the sex but always assume it's a he). He was just a baby no bigger then a half dollar swimming alone in a tank at the pet shop. We knew nothing about Oscars or any kind of fish for that matter. "aww, how sad, it's all alone...lets get it". We bought the little Oscar and a 10 gallon tank and headed home. We also purchased some friends to keep him company. Then one day we realized his friends were gone. They were no where to be found. Not floating, hadn't jumped from the tank...hmm *scratching head*. So we bought him two more little friends. It was at that moment when we dropped his new friends into the tank, that we realized what had happen to his other friends. "Ohhhhhhhh *gasp* did you see that!!".
We turned to the internet and quickly learned what kind of fish we had on our hands.

After that we learned that Oscars are very unique fish. They are often called the 'puppy dog' of fish. They are very sensitive to change, they don't like anything, will sulk when mad and sometimes will actually demand attention from you. Our Oscar can be hand fed, petted and often found scooping up large rocks and spitting them at the large pleco, his only surviving friend. We think he only allows it to remain so he has something to torture and it helps that it bigger then he is. When we moved from an upstairs unit to a down stairs until he was mad at us for a week. Every time I rearrange the living room he stops eating for a couple days. He will watch everything that goes on around his tank and Jack even swears sometimes he's watching T.V. with us. I have to admit, it sure seems that way.

Our Oscar is a little over 5 yrs old now and Im not sure how long they live. I noticed last week that he was not swimming right. He stopped eating and I've been treating the tank with various medications. I think we may have him on the mend now. Today he is actually swimming about and looking pissed off as usual.

I hope everyone had a great weekend and may you all have a wonderful week ahead!

Susan
~peace~