new tank soon, recommendations?

[JacopoFishy]

its lookin' like I can expect a new tank for a holiday gift this winter. at most I have enough space in my room, time to manage, and cash-ola for a 50 gallon. minimum most likely 20, or, I hope 20.

my question is, what kind of fish would be happy in such an environment? for me 50 gallons is a lot. but for a fish, I realize that its still a small area of living space. I adore (by that I mean I'm completely smitten by ) the oscars I've seen in my LFS, but have heard they need a minimum of 125 gallons of space. I would prefer to have an aggressive-fish tank (my LFS categorizes them by peaceful, semi-aggressive, and aggressive in their tanks, my 10 gallon right now has very peaceful fish).

I'm still kind of a beginner, or, I consider myself to be. Since this summer I've learned a lot. I can identify basic fish diseases, I have a bi-jillion bookmarks online of resource sites, I research every fish before I try to care for it, I have a decent LFS in town, and yea, basically, I'm not capable of taking care of a fish which as very specific needs and an expert amount of experience.

so yea, I've babbled enough. anybody have suggestions? thanx

 

[spAcE mOnkEy]

an oscar does not need 125 gallons of space. the minimum for one is about 55 gallons for the one fish. maybe a rapheal or another bottom feeder to clean up after him. oscars are nice fish and dont need much specific water parameters and are pretty hardy. i always liked sengal bichirs, you could get one for a minimum of a 30 gal long, or if you got one for a 50 gal you could get somemore fish
i always liked cichlids in the geophagus species. if you want an oscar you could get one for a 50 gal i think. if i were you and i really wanted an oscar... i would get one oscar, and a spotted rapheal catfish

 

[JacopoFishy]

oh. my. gosh. no wonder you love the spotted raphael catfish, I just looked at pictures, and they're so cool! B) it looks like some sea monster out of a star wars flick, but so much better- yay! okay, I'm in love. they're gorgeous. I like the idea of one of them and an oscar. I can probably persuade my 'rents to allow me to keep a tank that big. I'm going to start looking into more fish stuff, general research on maintainence since it never hurts to learn more, and I'll check out the spotted rapheal catfish more. yay. thanx a TON space monkey. you rock, dude/tt

 

[rvm]

I wouldn't really recommend an Oscar in anything smaller than a 75g. They can live in a 55g, but when they hit full size, it doesn't give them that much swimming or turning space. Plus they are massive filth machines, so you're going to be water changing constantly to keep the parameters in check!
Geophagus Species would be good in a 55, I have Juruparis and Surinamesis in my 140g (check my gallery link in my sig for pics), but I wouldn't call them aggressive. They are however very responsive fish, and one of the first in my tank to come to my hand for food when it goes in!!
If you want some more feisty fish, you could try Green Terrors. Ask in the Cichlid sections for some other recommendations!!

 

[Cheese Specialist]

I agree, sorry I would not say an Oscar in less than 75 either. It's not only their size but also the waste the create.

You could get a mbuna tank which would be very active and colourful and they are semi-aggressive. Ciclids are a good idea IMO, for aggression, activity and often colour but they will need as much room as possible and god filtration.