Oscars, Easy To Breed Or No?

[Zagggon]

I have an oscar that is 6inches but I dont know the sex of it. I was thinking of getting another one of around the same size and hoping they are diff sex but that could go bad if they are same sex =/..

also my current oscar is in a 55g tank with 2 convicts and 3 plecos but im getting rid of the cons. would a 55 be big enough to breed oscars? i know it wouldnt be the super ideal setup but i guess what im wondering is would it work overall tho?

 

[idlefingers]

As oscars grow up, they're notoriously difficult to introduce new tankmates to. To get a breeding pair, you'd need to get a group of 6 or so young ones and let them grow together until a pair forms and you can remove the others. From what I've read, this would be unlikely to work with a 6" oscar.

You can't just get a second oscar and hope for a pair to form.

Apart from any of that, a 55g is too small for a single oscar in my opinion, let alone multiple ones and plecs. What type of plecs are they? To breed oscars, you'd need a 180g (6' x 2' x 2'), I think..

 

[Zagggon]

2 common plecs and 1 rhino plec. ya i guess ill prolly just leave the tank as it is. might just get some shrimp for my 10g now that i got rid of my cons that had grown up.

hey also do you think that trumpet snails would be good in an oscar tank to help clean the gravel?

 

[idlefingers]

You're very overstocked. Commons get large - between 12"-24" and I just read that rhinos are a similar size. So you're tank's too small for them to start with. Oscar's need a 75 as a minimum, so it's small for your oscar, too. Some people do say you can get away with keeping an oscar in a 55 on it's own, with no tankmates and no gravel or decor, but I wouldn't say that's a very enjoyable existence for the fish.

You need a larger tank if you plan on keeping all those fish.

 

[Zagggon]

Well funny thing is all those fish have been in my 55g for the last 2 years and they are fine. Not everyone is a fish nut man and is able to buy their fish their own 100+g tank...

Also I have got to point this out because it drives me crazy hearing you people say that peoples tanks are overstocked when many of those peoples fish are in 100% perfect health, have never had ick/hith/diseases at all and yet here you guys are telling them the sky is falling and that their setup is to small all because a fringe radical group has scared you all into believing and adhering to these radical standards that MAYBE 3% of fishkeepers actually adhere too...

(oh boy they gona go really cookoo now lol)

 

[Tolak]

2 years is not a long time for a plec that can live for 20 years or an oscar that can live over a decade. You will not actually know if these fish are in perfect health until you see what their lifespans end up being. If you search the internet for forums that specialize in oscars or plecs you will find folks that do and have kept these sort of fish for 10 to 20 years, and have seen the shortened lifespan of fish kept in less than optimal conditions.

Yes, they will need a larger tank, and no it isn't some fringe radical group. I would say at least 80% of the aquarists I deal with in person, offline, do keep their larger cichlids, plecs, and such in large enough tanks to accomidate them, the other 20% are newer aquarists with less experience. In any given month I run into & shoot the bull with 20 or 30 different breeders & fishkeepers, there are 4 or 5 that keep, breed, or raise larger plecs & cichlids. For tanks 120 to 180 gallon tanks are a normal part of their life, a couple load up their garages with 150 & 300 gallon commercial rubbermaid tubs.

 

[severum boy]

Well funny thing is all those fish have been in my 55g for the last 2 years and they are fine. Not everyone is a fish nut man and is able to buy their fish their own 100+g tank...

Also I have got to point this out because it drives me crazy hearing you people say that peoples tanks are overstocked when many of those peoples fish are in 100% perfect health, have never had ick/hith/diseases at all and yet here you guys are telling them the sky is falling and that their setup is to small all because a fringe radical group has scared you all into believing and adhering to these radical standards that MAYBE 3% of fishkeepers actually adhere too...

(oh boy they gona go really cookoo now lol)

No, your quite right. Not everyone can afford to buy and run a 100gal+ tank. But guess what, we all make do with what weve got and buy fish that are of a suitable size for the tanks we have.
I know, there are people on here that seriously bug me about over stocking. I can't stand the "inch per gallon rule". Then people say "ohh, but it only works in small tanks with average mass small fish", if you ask me, its misleading and pathetic. But if people keep the water quality of the tank well, then chances are you wont get any diseases, and this will mask the effects of being kept in a tank to small for it. What size are your fish anyway?
I can name a few instances where fish have been kept in a tank too small for them, or over crouded and they have died. RadaR's Tetraodon suvatii: too small a tank, it died from ammonia poisoning. My own Perunno (due to ignorance on my part): died from Nitrate poisoning from being in an overstocked tank. Big commons produce a huge amount of waste which is very chunky in shape and volume, and you will need a huge external to suck it all up, or else they will be living in a tank with poo all over themselves. Think it wont happen to yours? Think that yours wont get soo big? Think that an internal filter will cope? Good luck pal, cos i can't wait for you to say how big these guys are.

 

[darkwolf29a]

Having read a bunch of stuff about Oscars, and owning one now...I don't know what to think, honestly.

See...here's my problem:

1) LFS says 30 gallons are fine for an Oscar... Now, before you flame me...I know that's not true. I can't imagine keeping mine in a tank that small.

2) I have a book that says a minimum of a 55 gallon tank. I'm going with this, by the way... So...flame on, but whatever. There's only him and a pleco in there. And...once I move...that tank will be getting MUCH bigger anyways.

How much is too much?? My two fish aren't that old, I know that. My Oscar is 2.5in, and the pleco is 5in. So...they aren't adults yet. I realize this. But, honestly...you can find anything on the internet stating anything. I have a friend that has a pair of Oscars and they do just fine in his, book recommended, 75 gallon tank.

Now...understand...I hate overstocking, love overfiltering. I don't consider my 55 overstocked with two fish in it. I don't consider my 20 gallon overstocked with 3 tiger barbs and a crayfish. They're both understocked and I like it that way. Now, will they remain that way??? I don't know. It depends on how big the fish. Am I planning for them to be in those tanks for the rest of their lives??? NO, I'm not. What I'm dealing with now is what I can put, reasonably, in my current apartment, so that my fish can be happy and grow. Ok, my Oscar will get to 8in in a year. He still won't outgrow my 55 gallon tank in a year. Then....he might decide that the pleco is a nice snack...I don't know.

I guess what I'm saying here is: Get the biggest tank you can get for the fish you want. My Oscar is my favorite fish, and I have wanted one since I was 9, and saw my first one in 30 gallon tank.

I grow cautious of taking a lot of advice from a lot of different places, because...in order to satisfy every single recommendation I have gotten for my Oscar, I would have to go out and get a 300 gallon tank today, because...he won't be happy in anything less. Well...I don't know about that. The pleco leaves him alone, and I don't, so he seems pretty happy, and spoiled rotten, to me. And I'll continue to breed ghost shrimp for him in a 10gallon tank for him, so he has a snack.

You can flame me all you want, but I think a 55 gallon is fine for now. Maybe you'll need a bigger tank somewhere, maybe not. Only time will tell that.

 

[severum boy]

A good point well raised. I would say a 120x45x45cm is the minimum for an MALE Oscar, not a 55gal. Anything in gallons is toatally misleading, what stops anyone from getting a 45x30x120cm high tank? Why shoudent they? Its over 55gals so its fine right?
What im saying is, we have to be as specific as we can or else people will buy that 45x30x120cm high tank, put an Oscar and a Common in it and say "hey, its what you told me to do, get a 55gal, so I did".
Female Oscars in my experience dont grow as big as a male, maby to 10". So they need a smaller tank as a minimum due to the smaller biomass. A male of 12" is nearly twice the size of a 10" female. A tank of 90x38x38cm will be fine for the whole of its life. But, how do you prove its a female? The Genital vent could give a clue, but im not sure if there are any differences in Oscars. Head shape: to me females have smaller heads. And if cource adult size. But if you want an Oscar in a 90x38x38cm tank, getting one baby and hoping that its a female wont work. It will need to be rehomed if its a male. Best thing to do is to buy a large "second hand" female from a shop that no-one wanted.

Darkwolf: what is the book that says a "minimum of 55gals"?
Also, are you feedign the Oscar anything else other than shrimp?