Think i pissed off my tiger oscar :/ ?

Question

well.. basically i changed out the gravel and replaced it with sand. the gravel was ugly and was h**l to clean out. plus we also have a wild mayan chiclid in the tank along with my tiger oscar and it just loves to dig holes.. basically it turned 1/3 of the tank into a giant hole and all the dirt and p**p from feeder fish that may have sunken deep into the gravel comes out when it digs and the tank gets really dirty really fast :/

so now the tank has a pretty sandy bottom, i removed a lot of the bulky ornaments to give room to our massive 9+inch oscar in our 55 gal tank, and i dont think she likes it very much.. a few mins after we put her into the new tank shes started swimming in circles, changed her color from black to white, started shaking her head a little... and she would push the mayan out of her way if he got close.. lol.. she also took some sand in her mouth and spit it out, and even tried biting one of the ornaments.. shes hasn't been breathing heavily or swimming abnormally so i think shes physically fine.. but im not exactly sure what shes doing...

is shes trying to re establish dominance, or is she pissed we changed the tank? lol..its been about 6 hours since we've changed it and she still looks pretty angry to me :/

Answer 1

The fish is deeply sorrowed that his or her territory was not the same as (she) left it. (she) could be throwing a fit for more than 2 days.. but then she should be able to get used to it. i really hope your fish troubles clear up..and god bless you!

Answer 2

oscars like to dig holes in the substrate. they do it to lay eggs and you didn't have to worry about that. IMHO, if you do regular water changes you should not get much p**p in your tank.

The fact that you changed the substrate may have unbalanced your fish. Did you remember to cycle the substrate? you should check you ammonia/nitrite levels.

Answer 3

it might be pissed but maybe its just making the aquarium to fit it how he wants it.