Oscar

• The eyespot near its tail works as a false eye, drawing predators' attacks away from the fish's real head.
• It eats insects, crustaceans, small fish and occasionally plant matter.
• It lives in slow-flowing rivers and warm floodplains of the Amazon and Orinoco basins.
• It has a black eyespot ringed with orange at the base of the tail. It is interpreted as a decoy that deflects piranha attacks away from the head, and also as a recognition signal between individuals.
• It is a cichlid with biparental care: the pair cleans a flat stone, spawns on it, and both guard and fan the eggs and then the fry.
• It recognises the people who look after it and responds to them, which has earned it a reputation as an intelligent fish among aquarists.
• It copes very well with lack of oxygen, a necessity in the warm, stagnant waters where it lives.
• It has established itself as an invader in Florida, China and several South-East Asian countries, almost always through aquarium releases.

Skeleton type

Vertebrate - bony skeleton (fish)

Habitat & environment

Slow-flowing rivers and warm floodplains of the Amazon and Orinoco basins

Birth weight

Adhesive eggs laid on a cleaned surface and tended by both parents

Sexual maturity

~1 year (14 months, a 15-25 cm long)

Gestation / incubation

3-4 days of egg development

Litter / clutch size

300 to 3,000 eggs per clutch (more in large females), with 3-4 breeding cycles a year

Lifespan in captivity

Documented record of up to 18-20 years in captivity

Sources consulted: Animal Diversity Web; A-Z Animals; Animalia.bio; FishBase; Aquarium Coop; Wikipedia (Oscar fish); Emaar Aquarium; Fish Keeping Insights