The first time you see your oscar do this you might be inclined to panic. But don t panic 9 10 times it isn t anything serious at all. Oscar laying on one side and only breathing not moving at all since morning I have few oscars in my tank which i bought yesterday but since morning one small oscar was lying on its side and wasn t moving at all even at feeding time .

Because after all it s usually a bad sign to see a midwater aquarium fish laying almost motionless on the bottom of the tank.

Oscar fish So why do oscars lay on their sides Hi there oscars lie down when stressed they can lose their colour also. Even a door slamming somewhere in the house can stress them out. They are an intellegent fish and know what is normal so something unusual can have this effect. As spishkey says immediate water change of 50 temp match the water going back into the tank of that already in the tank test again an hour later if the ammonia or nitrite are above 0 do another 50 change you will need to do this maybe several times a day until the tank is fully cycled and both ammonia and nitrite stay at 0. My mr oscar isn t well i have had him coming on 6 years now but the last 2 days hes just laying on the bottom of the tank it looks like he cant swim properly when he tries then all of a sudden he will dash around the tank and then just lie there again he s not eating either we have tested the water and that s fine and yes b4 u ask the tank is big enough 4 him

Hes norm very friendly when u go Hello we have had a 4inch oscar fish for about 5 months sometimes he will lay on the bottom of the tank for half a day but this time he has been laying there for three days he has eaten a little but he is not himself at all. When we put our hand in he swims and look ok but soon goes to the bottom again. A fish lying on the bottom of the tank can be perfectly healthy. Many aquarium species spend a lot of time hovering along the lower third of their environment according to the virginia institute of marine science which is why having a more horizontally extended tank is preferable to a tall container.bottom feeders often lie along the gravel as they sift through the substrate gobbling up Unlike much other tropical fish where there is a distinctive difference between the male and the female there is actually no way to tell the difference between the male and female oscar just by looking at them.

Some people claim they can sex an oscar by comparing fin shape colouration or even temperament. However these claims should be