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Pet Forum / Aquaria / Cichlids / August 2004Color changing Oscar
I purchased an Oscar from a "mixed Oscar" tank at a LFS last week. When purchased, it was about 1 1/2 inches long, silvery white with light orange irregular vertical stripes. Two days after being in the pond with the other fish, it turned black with silver veining, like a rock. Do some kinds of Oscars change color depending on their surroundings? Thanks, Nicole Stress will do it. > I purchased an Oscar from a "mixed Oscar" tank at a LFS last week. > When purchased, it was about 1 1/2 inches long, silvery white with [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > Thanks, > Nicole > I purchased an Oscar from a "mixed Oscar" tank at a LFS last week. > When purchased, it was about 1 1/2 inches long, silvery white with > light orange irregular vertical stripes. Two days after being in the > pond with the other fish, it turned black with silver veining, like a > rock. Do some kinds of Oscars change color depending on their > surroundings? Hello Nicole The Oscar was shy and stressed when you bought him, hence the loss of colour. Now that he's in his new home he feels confident and happy, pat yourself on the back cause your Oscar is a happy Camper... -- **So long, and thanks for all the fish!** > I purchased an Oscar from a "mixed Oscar" tank at a LFS last week. > When purchased, it was about 1 1/2 inches long, silvery white with [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > Thanks, > Nicole Happy Camper and Bassett are both right -- That's one of the cool things about Oscars is their ability to change colors with mood and stress. It's a trait common to very, very many species but especially evident with Oscars. If something happens in your aquarium that changes the water quality or temperature (like the heater breaking down, or something like that) Oscars tell you about it right away by changing color and/or lying down on their side on the gravel. The reason why it's "cool" is that they give you this radical, obvious response long before the aquarium condition(s) are bad enough to actually do them harm. The word of caution here is that if they are allowed to be under this stress for a long period of time, it can kill them; so we need to make sure whatever is causing the stress is rectified. Sounds like you may have saved this little guy's life by rescuing him from the LFS! --Mark Mark Stone tractorlegs at msn dot kom OSCAR Lovers! http://www.geocities.com/cichlidiot_2000/oscar.html The ".Edu" meens i are smart. > Happy Camper and Bassett are both right -- That's one of the cool > things about Oscars is their ability to change colors with mood and [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > OSCAR Lovers! http://www.geocities.com/cichlidiot_2000/oscar.html > The ".Edu" meens i are smart. Thanks, everyone. I just thought that since it was such a radical color and pattern change that maybe something was really off. I was wondering if Osacars had camouflage abilities since the background he's against now is black/dark river rock and the one in the LFS was white/light blue. The little dude seems very happy, he's mingling well with the other fish and even coming to the top of the pond to eat with the rest, even though he's about 1/4 or less of their sizes right now. Makes me wish I had room to rescue some more of his tankmates. They were all the same color... Hopefully it doesn't mean he was unstressed in the store and is now really, really stressed in the pond! :-) Nicole Another fish to do this especially if water conditions are not to there liking are Discus > > Happy Camper and Bassett are both right -- That's one of the cool > > things about Oscars is their ability to change colors with mood and [quoted text clipped - 32 lines] > > Nicole |
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