Help With Oscar

[chrispiscopo]

Hi guys i just bouth an oscar and when i relesed him in water he went to the corner and wont move he looks like hes dead but hes not can anyone tell me if this is normal plaese

 

[england]

Hi welcome, few question's....

was the tank set up before and fully matured?
what size is this tank?
what temp is the tank set to?
did you acclimitise the oscar first?

 

[chrispiscopo]

the tank is 50 g tempreture is 28 i left the bag with oscar in it for about 10 min


[ the tank is new

 

[chrispiscopo]

hes an 8 inch oscar and new tank still cycling they told me that these are good hardy fish

 

[england]

temp i would set to 25-26c
what meausurment's is this tank please?

no it's not the best fish for hardyness, do you have any other fish tank's? if no go to the fish shop and ask them for some filter media, a nice few squeeze's and muck from there filter, take it home and add it to you filter, if you can ask them to take back the oscar til the tank's matured....
Oscar's are very good sulker's so it's possible he's peeved off with you, they often lay around on the floor..

 

[chrispiscopo]

Its 160 literes thts was on the box when i got it .got some guppies with him i sippose that will be food for him , but he stared to move around again and go back in corner maybe he need to get used to the tank

 

[Ren&Stumpy]

TAnks is waay too small for an oscar, i suggest you take the Oscar back.

160L is around 40Gallons US

 

[england]

agreed, sorry

 

[shelaghfishface]

yes the tank is too small- get on ebay and look for a 300L min, and what hes doing is normal, they are very moody fish and hate anything new,,, trust me on that!

more to the point anyway... did you research oscars before buying one? they are big ( can get up to 14inches) messy buggers, they live for up to 10yrs and require massive filtration on a tank,,, go to the oscar club in this section and at the very top post nelly has kindly linked to a tonnes of usefull information... which you should have read before buying him im not being unfriendly, but fed up of seeing 10 inch oscars looking miserable in small fish shop tank because whoever bought them didnt bother learn the basics about them first,, ( im just about to rehome a huge one that had outgrown his tank)

can you provide the care it needs
can you upgrade the tank ( bearing in mind that at 14 possible inches it will need to turn around freely
provide the filtration

you put him in with guppies??? what on earth were u thinking? sounds very much like an impulse buy to me


on a lighter note, i have kept oscars for almost a year now and totally smitten, they are beautiful intelligent fish who will have you wrapped around there little fin in no time,, they are not hard to look after . providing your willing to put in the effort

there is tonnes of advice on here on anything could imagine, we have nothing to gain from advising you and can asure you we only havw the fishes welfare at heart, and your sanity (( youll find out what i mean about that in a few months ))


so, does he have a name, and what are you planning on feeding him? would love to see a photo when hes settled in


best of luck

shelagh xxx

 

[chrispiscopo]

he was in a really bad state at the pet shop he was swimming in a small tank i think about 10 g and i kept seeing him there week after week so i bouth him and put him in 160 l tank . i am moving out of here soon in a few months ,and i have plans of building a 150 g tank . the guppies there is with him are feeder fish and i bouth him large sticks of cichlid and arowana he seems allot happyier today moving around and streching his tail

 

[Phantaz]

...you bought an arowana? Today? After people kept telling you to return the Oscar? So you go out and buy an even more monstrous size fish.

Dear oh dear.

 

[chrispiscopo]

i bouth him large sticks of cichlid and arowana food food food lol rich in vitamine C
and no i didt buy an arowana

 

[shelaghfishface]

well ok as long as you are going to get him a bigger.. much bigger tank..i hope you realise im not trying to be negative
most shops i go to have large ones looking sad,in small tanks awaiting new homes, competing for attention alongside the likes of pretty guppies and other fish that appeal and look "shiny"
he will need a larger tank before a few months so if i were you i would look for a 55g second hand one for the time being, they can be had very cheaply even free.
im glad to hear hes up and swiming about now.. what filter have you got on the tank? unless its a external with a rating of at least 1000 lph i would be inclined to tell you that you will need to do a water change on the tank everyday... they produce an awful lot of waste and this can of course knock your ammonia/nitrire readings for 6......... just cos they have a rep for being hardy fish.. which theyre not really, they still have a right to clean water and high levels will effect them just like any other fish.

prawns, shrimp, cichlid sticks, peas are all good food for oscars

 

[chrispiscopo]

i have a eheim professionel for 250 liters tank and i do water changes every 2 days 25% i just felt sorry for him he look at me with them big eyes at the pet shop it felt like telling me to take him out of there

 

[england]

one problem mate, fish in a fish shop will not usually be in there for a long time, if it was big chance's are it was brought back recently, if you purchase a fish from them then there going to get another and it's back to square one, my advice is don't think like that when you go to a fish shop, otherwise you will have 1000s of fish quite soon
It's hard to just look at the fish in a shop and either think can i have that,do i want that

one of my local fish shops have a 2ft retailed catfish in a 3ft tank, if i brought it i would provide it with more space, but will end up with a fish that grow's the same size as my tank, then i would have your situation, Don't get me wrong, my wife brought me two oscar's for my 3ft tank, so i kept them, then within the month upgraded to my 150 gallon tank..