Cichlids

If you're just dabbling in the angelfish-keeping hobby, I'd say a 40-gallon...

Image Credits: Visa Kopu (Creative Commons license) Angelfish are cichlids....

I bred and sold angelfish for some quick bucks when I was in college. So,...

I'll let you in on a little secret. For the longest time, I thought glofish...

I have a 75-gallon angelfish tank in my study. I follow a certain formula...

I have 3 mated pairs of angelfish in a 75-gallon tank. They all fit in just...

With some fish, the sexual dimorphism is evident on a dime. But that's not the...

Yes, oscar fish eat other fish – both in the wild and in the tank. Oscars are avaricious eaters. On top of that, they have a terrible temper. So, if given a chance, oscars will consume any fish they can fit inside their mouth. Therefore, when choosing tank mates to go inside an oscar’s tank, only opt for fish that are almost as big as oscars and have an assertive personality. 

Yes, you can eat oscars. In fact, oscars are considered game fish in Florida. Several videos on the internet show hobbyists fishing and cooking oscars. Oscars are sizable freshwater fish. Thus, it’s not really uncommon to eat them. 

Electric blue rams are the stunning, tank-bred color morphs of the original Ram cichlids. The fish’s ‘ancestors,’ the OG rams, live in the Orinoco River basin in Colombia and Venezuela in the wild. 

The term for swimming up and down the tank is ‘glass surfing.’ The most likely cause behind this eccentric behavior is an unsuitable environment. It could be a cramped tank, toxic water parameters, or an entirely new environment. However, other times, the reason could be something as simple as boredom and chasing own reflection! 

The main differentiating factor is the black botch that’s located right beneath the dorsal fins. In males, this spot has a stark black color. In females, it has hints of iridescent blue here and there.

Yes, oscar fish sleep. They retire to their favorite corners at the bottom of the fish tank and call it a night. Like us, they have sleep cycles. And their body also produces hormones that regulate their sleeping pattern and calibrate their internal clocks. 

When freshly laid, oscar fish eggs are white in color. They are slightly bigger than a salt flake – about a millimeter in diameter. But the following day or so, they start to look like a mini chocolate ball. Since the matriarch lays hundreds of eggs, it looks like someone just scattered some salt on the rock. 

No, you cannot keep oscars with African cichlids. For starters, they come from two different corners of the world and need entirely different water parameters. Second, both oscars and African cichlids are aggressive fish. At least one party will be relentlessly bullied, which can lead to grave injuries and even death.