This morning when I got up I began my usual rounds of checking my tanks and feeding my fish and usually as soon as I turn on the living room light my red oscar is at the front of the tank greeting me excited and ready to eat. This morning however it was just kinda hanging out on the bottom, I put food in both cichlid pellets that float and shrimp pellets that sink and it still ate a fairly good amount. Ive been keeping an eye on it and aside from not being very active everything else seems fine. All its tank mates are acting normal. I will add that prob 3 days ago I noticed it seemed constipated (if fish can become constipated?) & its abdomen was slightly bloated, I observed it for a couple hours where it had feces partially coming out and its orafice very distended eventually I decided to try and catch it with the net to get a closer look and all I can say is I literally scared the s**t out of it because it then defecated quite a large amount and immidiatly the bloat was gone and the distention. I dont see anything like that today but did notice another large amount of feces floating in tank and wonder if it had a problem defecating again. A friend told me to start feeding them peas and spinach once a week to help thier digestive system. Ive had it for about 5 months since it was onlt about 2 inches and is now about 6. I do know that my albino is pretty lazy at times and has even been known on occasion to lay on his side on the bottom but as for my red it is always active and has always greeted me in the morning ready to eat whatever I throw in there. The shrimp pellets are a fairly new addition to thier diet but they love them. Soooo if anyone has an opinion on whether I should be concerned and y or y not id greatly appreciate it

Get a liquid test kit and check your water parameters. The peas will help a lot if it is constipation. Heat them up slightly in the micro and then take the skin off before you put them in. Don't put them in if they are too hot.

As long as the feces weren't a pale, grayish-white color, I wouldn't worry too much. If they were whitish or kinda clear, it could have an bacterial infection in the gut. Doesn't really sound like any major problem since it ate and the feces look normal.

Fish can get constipated. Peas will help, I've never tried spinach. I also feed my oscars also eat algae wafers, which has helped with this problem a lot.

As for lying on the bottom. saint_felony and I have discussed strange oscar behaviors numerous times in chat. We've both seen this regularly. Oscars act strangely at times for no apparent reason, and lyin' on the bottom seems to be one of their favorite strange behaviors. A few months ago, one of mine was lyin' on its side at the top of the tank, just floatin' around in circles with the current from the filters. When I went to remove the "corpse", it came to life and swam off, and I swear it had a look like, "How come ya interrupted my nap?" I'd seen 'em lyin on the bottom and just driftin' around the tank on the current, but have never seen this before or since.

WYite

The feces looked normal just was alot more than normal and it seems to be acting fine now and I agree Oscars can act odd at times my bro has an enormous tiger oscar and hes so lazy he actually lies on his side on the bottom u would swear he was dead but he does this often and has for years. He even does it to get at his feeders he will lie on his side and stare at the little fish before rushing at em and scarfing them down, and my albino acts like that on occasion leaning up against the aquarium decor or just hanging out on the bottom. I was only concerned because it was so out of character for my red oscar shes usually so full of it in tne morning lol or any time she sees me she gets excited cause she knows im going to throw some food in. I will def try the peas or even algae wafers to try n help keep thier digestive system regular. Thanks so much for the info I defunately feel better about it now.

Good info Wyite! I did not know that about Oscars.