i'm facing a very hard decision today!

[shawnwk1]

I really don't think it has anything to do with the oscar if it did they would be fighting already and not just hiding and making faces at each other, but take the log out and give it a try and see how it goes. Best of luck and hope he gets better soon.

 

[ChinnyMom]

they are not 'making faces at each other'. Chuck just gets a little antsy whenever Gus swims near the log that Chuck is hiding under. Gus is the least aggressive fish i have ever seen (he won't even chase the odd little baby fish i put in there for him to eat!) they have never fought once in the whole time i've had them, more than 2 years, and have been housed together just about all of that time.

i'll let y'all know how the log removal experiment goes this evening.

 

[Dawn]

Pull the fish (if possible) and rearrange the tank decor to allow the "territories" to be re-established. Add some plastic plants, caves made out of slate, etc to provide additional "territories" if need be and then re-introduce them (add chuck first and allow him to explore for his "spot" first ..give him a good feeding while he's in the tank alone to make sure there's no health issues and then add the believed aggressor).

Only other recommendation I could make besides rehoming would be to put a divider in (Lexan makes an awesome divider and doesn't take away from the "view" of your tank).

 

[ChinnyMom]

Dawn, there really is no aggressor in this instance. Gus was leaving Chuck alone, and it was just Chuck shoving his mouth towards Gus from under the log whenever Gus swam by (while completely ignoring Chuck). the scared hiding fish was the only one with slight aggression.

i pulled the one log piece out a bit ago. so far all is good! Chuck is swimming around some and there is no aggression between him and Gus. Chuck is spending some time underneath the other log, but it's a different size/shape, so he's not crammed underneath like with the other one.

this is what the tank looks like, minus the sand (went bare bottom a while back to make cleaning a lot easier with these big messy guys). the one on the right is the one Chuck had shoved himself under. this is an older photo, and Chuck just happened to be behind the top of the tall log when i took it. that big guy is my Gus.

i don't have extra decor that would be suitable for these fish, everything would be too small.

when i pulled the log out, i left behind the large plastic plant that was shoved in it.

 

[missyjre]

I agree about just giving him some more time. I have a saltwater tank and had a clownfish that I thought had Ick a few months ago. Ick is very hard to treat in salt water tanks so I pulled him out and put him in the hospital tank where he spent about 5 weeks just to make sure he was in the clear and the big tank was safe. After I put him back in the big tank he hid for almost a month. I even had to spot feed him with the turkey baster because he wouldn't come up to eat. The only other fish is his mate and there is no aggression between the two. I think he just felt stressed and insecure. Maybe give your Chuck a lil more time.

 

[ChinnyMom]

well the log has been out of the tank for about 9 hours now. Gus and Chuck are both super placid and ignoring each other. i sleep about 8 feet away from this tank so any fighting/splashing going on in the tank would wake me up and i slept like a log last night.

i'm thinking maybe Chuck just needed to realize that Gus was his buddy again, and needed the 'push' of removing his hiding place to accomplish this.