Rescue Oscar -Need Advice Urgently

[fishnovice]

Came across a baby oscar about 3-4cms that needs rehoming urgently as he's attacking tankmates
Before adopting him, I need to check:
1.How quickly do oscars grow -average size in 1 year
2. Minimum tank size for 1 oscar
3. Would this baby oscar be OK with adult non-breeding convicts and young 5-6cm jewels?
4. Will he attack and maybe eat jewels and cons when he's bigger?

Yes I know oscars grow huge 12in+, live a long time and are messy -that's why I'm checking. Have an empty 4ft tank he and maybe other cichlids can move into when he's older but no room in my home for anyhthing bigger than 4ft

 

[roadmaster]

Came across a baby oscar about 3-4cms that needs rehoming urgently as he's attacking tankmates
Before adopting him, I need to check:
1.How quickly do oscars grow -average size in 1 year
2. Minimum tank size for 1 oscar
3. Would this baby oscar be OK with adult non-breeding convicts and young 5-6cm jewels?
4. Will he attack and maybe eat jewels and cons when he's bigger?

Yes I know oscars grow huge 12in+, live a long time and are messy -that's why I'm checking. Have an empty 4ft tank he and maybe other cichlids can move into when he's older but no room in my home for anyhthing bigger than 4ft

In my view and from my expierience, A healthy oscar at one year, should be around ten inches long.
Minimum tank size for one oscar would leave me searching for at least a 75 gallon tank.
While the oscar may be ok with the jewels and or convicts now, It will as adult ,eat whatever it can fit in it's mouth.
I would want a filter capable of filtering six to eight times the volume of water the tank holds each hour. Example,,(75x6=450 gallons per hour)
Have kept these fish on occasion and found them to be fairly tolerant of other fish too big to eat while young but as adults all bets are offf as to remaining tankmates.

 

[dave_oddballs]

it is good that you are willing to home a fish in need but ultimately your 4 foot would be no where near the size required to house an oscar, its said that 75 gallons is a minimun, but i think even this is too small really.
id say that something like a 5x2x2 should be considered absolute minimum, thats around 150 us gallons.
but as you have said you have no room for anything bigger than the 4 foot so maybe try advertise it on here for people that can house it properly? to make sure he gets a good home maybe just give it free to a good home.

Dave

 

[fishnovice]

it is good that you are willing to home a fish in need but ultimately your 4 foot would be no where near the size required to house an oscar, its said that 75 gallons is a minimun, but i think even this is too small really.
id say that something like a 5x2x2 should be considered absolute minimum, thats around 150 us gallons.
but as you have said you have no room for anything bigger than the 4 foot so maybe try advertise it on here for people that can house it properly? to make sure he gets a good home maybe just give it free to a good home.

Dave

It's not my fish! Someone advertised it cheap for urgent rehoming and I offered to help out to prevent it getting into the wrong hands. As it's smaller than a molly at the moment and looks cute in photo a naive new owner may not realise he will end up with a huge monster fish next year..Wanted to check if it would be OK with my existing fish first though as they have priority. Have provisionally agreed to collect oscar on Sat but need to know
1. If I kept it till it reached 12in and outgrew my largest 4ft tank, how easy is it to rehome large oscars? Are they as difficult as big plecs?
2. When he reaches 10in can oscar actually eat an adult convict or jewel?
3. If I did manage to get a 5 or 6 ft tank, what fish would make suitable oscar tankmates?

 

[always4lora]

it is good that you are willing to home a fish in need but ultimately your 4 foot would be no where near the size required to house an oscar, its said that 75 gallons is a minimun, but i think even this is too small really.
id say that something like a 5x2x2 should be considered absolute minimum, thats around 150 us gallons.
but as you have said you have no room for anything bigger than the 4 foot so maybe try advertise it on here for people that can house it properly? to make sure he gets a good home maybe just give it free to a good home.

Dave

It's not my fish! Someone advertised it cheap for urgent rehoming and I offered to help out to prevent it getting into the wrong hands. As it's smaller than a molly at the moment and looks cute in photo a naive new owner may not realise he will end up with a huge monster fish next year..Wanted to check if it would be OK with my existing fish first though as they have priority. Have provisionally agreed to collect oscar on Sat but need to know
1. If I kept it till it reached 12in and outgrew my largest 4ft tank, how easy is it to rehome large oscars? Are they as difficult as big plecs?
2. When he reaches 10in can oscar actually eat an adult convict or jewel?

They normally end up back at the LFS where no one really wants them at that size. You'll get the odd person wanting them.

Providing the Convict or Jewel is full grown then no, it can bully it all the same , stress it out which in turn can kills them.

 

[fish_tank0311]

I have no experience with oscars, and dont no much about them, but i would buy it for the 4 foot, and keep it for a while, then start looking around for a buyer as he starts to go through puberty and get bigger. And suitable tankmates, only big fish, and certainly not other oscars. Oscars dont tolerate their own species. But maybe some large angelfish, plecos, maybe a arowana if you have the money, not sure what the other name is but google arowana if interested, tinfoil barbs maybe, they get large, silver dollars also maybe, look a bit similar to tinfoil barbs and also get big. Hope that helps. Good luck

 

[indigoj]

What are the full dimensions of the 4ft?

I'd say 300l for just the Oscar on it's own and with very good filtration.

They grow quickly so expect to have an 8" fish within a couple of months.

Jewels and convicts would be likely to tear it apart, even as it grows, Oscars are wimps really.

 

[fishnovice]

What are the full dimensions of the 4ft?

I'd say 300l for just the Oscar on it's own and with very good filtration.

They grow quickly so expect to have an 8" fish within a couple of months.

Jewels and convicts would be likely to tear it apart, even as it grows, Oscars are wimps really.

DECISION TIME -DO I GET THIS BABY OSCAR IF NO ONE ELSE WANTS IT?
I was worried about the oscar eating my fish when it grows big. hadn't thought about my cichlids attacking the oscar! I was told this baby oscar (3or4cm) is very aggressive , that's why they aare getting rid of him. Would such a tiny baby oscar be safe with
Male con 12cm incl tail
2 female cons approx 9cm
2 young jewels 6.5-8cm
Male con is not aggressive but the largest jewel and the albino female con are bullies. They used to fight each other at first and also attack another fish who had to be removed for its own safety but have now declared a truce. My tank is exceptionally peaceful for a SA cichlid community (fingers crossed!)Don't want albino and jewel fighting over baby oscar for dinner!If they are likely to attack baby oscar, it would cause big problems as oscar is too aggressive to go into my livebearers community tank, fry tank (1.5cm or less) or a 12 cm goldfish. I have 4 tanks at the moment, no room for a 5th unless baby oscar can go into hex tank I was planning for endlers. How long would it take for oscar to grow from 3 cms to 12+cm so he'll be safe with the cons and cichlids?

Tank is 4ft long, not sure about width maybe 16in (Will measure it tomorrow)

 

[indigoj]

Ok, I got my 2 baby O's at 2.5" (about 4cm) and they are now 5" I got them in September. So 4 months to go from 4cm to 5"

I kept them in an 80l 2ft tank for the first month then upgraded them to the 200l 4ft for 2 months and now they are in my 6ft. They have been in the 6ft 2 weeks and grown about 1/4 inch in that time!

O's are mainly aggressive to each other but at the size they one you are looking at is I think the convicts and jewels would bully him badly. I once rescued 2 Oscars and a Jewel and the Jewel bullyied the O's that were twice it's size.

The other thing you need to think about is can you house an Oscar for life? They get big and are messy, they can't really live with small fish and personally I wouldn't chance it with smaller meaner cichlids. An Oscar on it's own with no other tankmates needs 55 uk gallons as a minimum, preferably more (300l is 65g) but tank size is important, I'd say nothing smaller than 18" wide and 18" deep but that would need to be 5ft long, a 4x2x2 would be fine though.

 

[fishnovice]

Ok, I got my 2 baby O's at 2.5" (about 4cm) and they are now 5" I got them in September. So 4 months to go from 4cm to 5"

I kept them in an 80l 2ft tank for the first month then upgraded them to the 200l 4ft for 2 months and now they are in my 6ft. They have been in the 6ft 2 weeks and grown about 1/4 inch in that time!

O's are mainly aggressive to each other but at the size they one you are looking at is I think the convicts and jewels would bully him badly. I once rescued 2 Oscars and a Jewel and the Jewel bullyied the O's that were twice it's size.

The other thing you need to think about is can you house an Oscar for life? They get big and are messy, they can't really live with small fish and personally I wouldn't chance it with smaller meaner cichlids. An Oscar on it's own with no other tankmates needs 55 uk gallons as a minimum, preferably more (300l is 65g) but tank size is important, I'd say nothing smaller than 18" wide and 18" deep but that would need to be 5ft long, a 4x2x2 would be fine though.

 

[fishnovice]

Thanks for your advice everyone. Spoke to oscar's owner and explained the situation. He's just bought a spare tank and can keep the oscar on it own till it grows a little bigger and then he'll sell it.

 

[dave_oddballs]

good