Oscar Day Is Coming....

[spesh]

I know this is yet "another oscar thread" and I apologise, i didnt want to go hijacking too many threads

On monday I am collecting a 350L corner tank (very similar dimensions to a Trigon 350, just not a bowed front) and am going to go down the oscar route.

I've collected some medium/fine gravel substrate today (25kg's for now) but nothing else for the tank so far.


My LFS are telling me that I cant keep anything but the Oscar in there, not even any rocks/decorations. I understand that O's like to redecorate and rip up anything they dont like but does this mean I cant even have any large rocks/wood/etc? It'd all be a bit bare in the tank without anything

What about plants? I'm guessing that they wont last long at all.

I want to transplant my Plec from my community tank as he will grow out of it quite soon, he's around 3.5-4" now so should be about the same size as the juvinile O that I get, would this work?

What about another fish for company? I see from other posts that some people do it succesfully but I'm not sure my tank would be big enough to cope.

I'm not entirely sure what filter is coming with the tank aside from it being an Eheim II of some sort (that needs a new seal apparently) so I'll have to make sure I've get a good turnover. I have added extra biomedia to my Fluval305 in the community tank with a view to transplanting it and some of the water to give the new tank a nice good start with some mature media, possibly move some of the community fish over to get it going properly.


So, opinions and the like most welcome, sorry for the slightly lengthy post!

Mark

 

[jb12288]

i don't see why you can't have gravel and some rocks maybe some driftwood. you could even add another fish, maybe a convict or a firemouth. 350l is roughly about 92 US gallons and an O needs at least 75 gallons (283 liters).

 

[england]

so the tanks like this? http/www.aquarium-supplies.co.uk/trigon.350.bw.sizes.JPG

yes its round 92 us gallons, but there is a problem, its not a long tank,

gravel i would not pile it in, because if he decides he wants to move all the gravel round, i bet it would any you, wouldnt bother me but my cichlids never do this however i sold my vieja to a good friend and shes always distroying her tank piling gravel high at the front

bogwood is good, rocks i would make sure there nice and heavy.......

tank mates hmm you must have read my theory on cichlids togther
but just the exsperiences ive had since ive kept cichlids

filteration needs to be great, water changes paramount and very important to keep up with it

 

[jb12288]

yes its round 92 us gallons, but there is a problem, its not a long tank,

ahh yea, i forgot about that part. you are right on that part.

 

[spesh]

how much of a problem?

 

[Dave Ehl]

oscars like to spend time swimming on all levels of the tank so width is much more important than height. also, in general fish down swim up and down, they swim side to side. what are the width dimensions?

 

[spesh]

roughly 110x80x80 (approx 75 high in usable terms)

I do hope its going to be good enough as its in my house now

 

[spesh]

any further opinions? The tank is now filled. Going to leave it a day to gas off the chlorine, warm up and settle then going to transfer some media from my other tanks filter to give it a kickstart.


Also the filter is an Eheim 2028, recommended for tanks up to 600L with a decent turnover of 750l/h - Sounds reasonably up to the task of an oscar? (and pleco, but i'm still not sure I can keep him in there)

 

[spesh]

some pics of the tank if it helps

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Hi there, I had an oscar in a similar tank and he was fine, there's enough room for him, but not enough room for any other territorial fish in with him, cos of the shape of the tank you've not got spaces for them to claim as their own territory, your oscar will claim the whole tank as his.

however you should be fine with some bottom feeders, a couple of plecs or a group of large syno's.... something along those lines.

remember oscars grow very fast, the plecs won't, don't put them in until they're 5/6" or oscar will ahve a bash at eating them when he grows up a little bit.

you can have some decor, just not a whole load, if you get really big rocks or bits of wood then he won't be able to shift them,

 

[Dave Ehl]

after seeing the tank, like wiggle said, a single oscar with one or two bottom dwellers should be fine in that tank. however, if you want to keep the oscar healthy and grow to its full potential, you'll have to get a wider tank. but it should be fine for about two years.
i dont know if you had any ideas for decor, but it might be pretty cool if you added smaller fake plants to cover 75% of the bottom surface area and weigh them down with heavy gravel. a bichir would be really cool in a setup like that. it would be like a jungle in there.

 

[spesh]

Decor wise so far I've got a bloody big teracotta pot in there to allow him(or her?)somewhere to hide/sulk whilst growing up a bit.

2 Years sounds about right, I'll have moved house by then and am planning a 'built' tank to suit the new house as I'll be staying there some time


I really wanted to move my pleco out of my community tank but I dont think he's big enough, just managed to get a tape next the glass while he wasn't looking and he is just a mere 3 and a bit inches so I dont think he's going to be transplantable I might see if my local LFS will swap him out for a larger one. One thing thats putting me off the pleco as a tankmate is the amount of waste they create, added to the Oscar will it get out of hand?

No birchir's in my LFS, I did have a look last time I was there but no joy. Any other idea's for suitable bottom dwellers??

Thanks for the input so far too, most appreciated

 

[Dave Ehl]

as long as your filtration is really really good, an oscar and a pleco will be fine. your pleco is big enough. my pleco was about 1/6th the size of my oscar when i bought it, but now they are the same size. just buy the smallest oscar you can find. i'm glad you'll be getting a big tank later on. who doesn't like big tanks? have you figured out your filtration yet?

 

[england]

agreed with the folks above

plecs and oscars equals lots of maintainence, i know i have 2 plecs,two oscars,,hehe, waterchanges
i also have a birchir<if you want try speak with lfs and see if they can order them in,,,,,
hoplo catfish i have with my oscars, get alone fine, great little bottom dweller,,,5-6inches

 

[spesh]

As mentioned above its running an Ehiem 2028 which reckons its suitable for 600L so I should be good.

Its running now, just waiting for the gravel dust to die down... I washed the gravel several times but theres loads of it kicked up. Should have died down tommorow, once it has I'm going to look at transplanting some well established media into the filter to kickstart the tank as I'm not a patient person (one of the biggest reasons I didnt go discus lol)