Oscars

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Well I am a big fish person, I have quite a few of my own and I always tell my boyfriend about them, I guess I talked him into them. We went out together and bought a 10 gallon tank. I know the bigger the better in tanks but he didn't have the money for one larger at the moment and I wanted him to start with a beginners tank to get the hang of taking care of tanks and fish and such. Well we bought one that already had a small whisper filter, a heater and a glass hood and light included, plus quite a few samples of food and water conditioner and stress coat. I thought it was a good buy at only 30 dollars. When I was a beginner I bought a 10 gallon at 20 dollars with a very crappy box filter and no heater or hood and light. Well anyways, my boyfriend asked about cycling the tank to the manager of the store and he told us about the old fashon way of fish cycling, and how long it took and then he told us about buying something that supposidly had live bacteria in it, it just had to stay in the fridge until you set up your tank. I have never heard of that before and tried to tell my guy of fishless cycling and he said it took to long and if this works then why not do it the fast way. So I thought why not try it and get a ammonia testing kit soon. Well we got home and set up the tank together and put the bacteria in. Well the next day I came over and my boyfriend had 2 oscars, a white one and a orange one, also a unknown pleco. I almost screamed at him, I thought we would go fish shopping together because then I could tell him what fish were the right size for his tank, I was thinking some small tetra or something. So anyways he apologized and he promosed me that in about a month or so after he has saved up some of his money from work he will buy a much larger tank for the fish. They are just babies now. Well on to my question... what size tank should we get for these 2 fish and what is the best food to feed them and what makes them happy? All I know about oscars is that they are very aggressive and get huge. Alright, sorry about the long post, any help would be great. Thanks .
-Katie

 

[Ben]

No less then an 120 gallon tank will be fine for the two oscars plus the pleco which is probably a common pleco. I would recomend you take back the pleco because the waste and ammonia build uo would be massive with three very messy poop machines.

DD

 

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Thanks for the help. I know the pleco should probably go, he does make quite a mess. My boyfriend cleaned the tank today and said it was a mess. So does anyone have anymore advice about the oscars, the food they enjoy, tank mates, ect.

 

[Ben]

The food they enjoy = anything they can fit into their mouth
Usually meaty foods, but they can be known to take nearly everything, depends on the oscar.
For tank mates, and if you're going to have two oscars, are going to be kept to a minimal, as they usually have to be as big or bigger then the oscar to sucsesfully live with it.
Just a side note, the tank width should be more then one foot in length, any smaller and the oscar wont have room to turn around.

DD
EDIT: Oscars our South American fish and not African

DD

 

[pica_nuttalli]

FYI: a 125 gallon setup can cost anywhere around $500 or higher, brand-new. you may want to start looking around in the classified ads of your local newspaper or even try freecycle.org (of course, even used, a large tank will cost pretty big bucks)

if its doubtful that your bf can save up the money or make the space for a giant tank to hold $10 worth of fish, then you'll want to return the oscars to the petstore you got them from. if you can only find a 75g in your price range, you'll still need to return one of the oscars. odds are not in your favor of the two babies becoming a breeding pair--which if i understand correctly, is the only way 2 oscars could stand sharing under 80g of space.

there are a number of large bodied tetras that (in theory) could handle an oscar; if you are serious about building an oscar community, i suggest you make further inquiries in Cynaprids & Characins. (don't bother restarting this topic in NW Cichlids; i'm sure a mod will be kind enough to relocate this for you.)

best of luck!

 

[Clairel]

I would love an oscar....but none of my 2 tanks are big enough I have a 90 litre, and a 180 litre...

Good luck with them

Claire x

 

[chris2222]

Im just about to move my two oscars into a 700 litre (185g) tank. If you cant afford to go for a big tank let somebody else have them.

cant be much fun for two oscars in anything less than that when they are fully grown.