Oscar Tank Size, Compatability And Eating Habbits

[Rust]

Hi all

There seem to be alot of questions regarding oscars and tank sizes, so i thought i would write up abit of a guide...

Oscars are a large, bulky fish, who are VERY messy eaters, they need a large tank with plenty of filtration...

A rough idea of tank sizes

1 oscar - 75 gallons
2 oscars - 100 gallons
3 oscars - 125 gallons
4 oscars - 150 gallons
5+ oscars - 180 gallons +

Tanks mates

Providing you have a large enough aquarium with room for a tank mate, a rough idea of size is the guide above, alot of fish make good companions for and oscar such as:

Blue acaras
Green terrors
Firemouths
Convicts
Silver dollars
Tinfoil barbs
Plecos
Blood parrot fish
Large rainbowfish
Severums
Large catfish (pimolodus blochii, synodontis eruptus etc)
plus others

If your aquarium is VERY large (300 gal +)...you may wish to consider the following:

Arowanas
Pacus
Tiger shovelnose catfish
Datnoids
Mabled pims
Knife fish (clown knife fish, royal clown knife - providing they are alot bigger than the oscar)
Bichirs
tyre tarck/ fire eel
possible stingrays depending on tank size (and must be large) and the temperment of your O.

Filtration

Filtration is a big MUST for oscars as they are very greedy, and very messy...imo the filter should be running atleast 4 times the tank size, but more the better, plus more fish = bigger filtration

Food / feeding

Oscars will eat pretty much any thing, within reason, but some of the best food to feed them is:

Cichlid pellets
Bloodworms (not really filling once they get bigger but great when small)
Brineshrimp (not really filling once they get bigger but great when small)
Daphnia (not really filling once they get bigger but great when small)
Shrimp/prawns

DO NOT feed your oscars feeder fish bought from a store, they have no neutritional value, and have a high risk of carrying diseases, home bread feeder fish are ok as a treat if you so please

Tank decore

Oscars are very bostiorus fish and any loose tall ornaments may be knocked over and damage the fish or tank, oscars dont seem to mind decore, as long as its stable you can decorate your tank how you please, plants will be uprooted, and gravel may be moved around, bog wood, slate, or large pebbles seem to be the best bet, they also dont seem to mind sand...

Tank maintanaince

Weekly water changes are a MUST, if water conditions drop dramatically HITH (hole in the head) can offten occur, this is where the head tends to get infected and thus rott away leaving holes in your fishes head, a bad diet also plays a part in HITH. Oscars are not as sensitive as some fish, so although ammonia and nitrites should be avoided at all costs, they are able to withstand a much larger variety of water conditions. Eg. medium to high nitrates (50ppm). This is not a suggestion, and high nitrates (above 50ppm), will cause health issues over time, but short term it is less likely to affect an Oscar in comparison to alot of fish. These should only occur if for one reason or another you neglect your fish/ fish tank, if you over feed, and if you filter is not adiquet to the tank and size of oscar

Differnt types of oscar (most common):

Red oscar:

Red albino oscar

Tiger oscar

Albino tiger oscar

Golden oscar

Wild oscar

I think ive got most of the info, if i have missed somthing out please let me know, not sure if this is any good to any one but i thought id post it anyways lol thanks for reading

 

[minxfishy]

All this information is/was in the Oscar club, which is now pinned in the journal part of the forum, the club was closed by the powers that be, however, the information is still there.

 

[Knox213]

Nice guild

Can you add Filter types?

As-in like What YOU Would Recommend

(I've seen some oscar tanks with crap filteration and somes witch make there tanks look buetiful

 

[Rust]

Minxfishy - all the newbies on this fourm do not always know the ins and outs of a fourm, but by placing this at the top of the cichlid section and not in another section everts 10 of the same posts aday, like oscar tank size, etc.... ifi hadent been on this site 2 years ago (ive only just come back on) then i wouldnt know about the journals section, just lay off pal....

and knox ill get back to you on that

 

[minxfishy]

Excuse me, I apologise, I wasnt trying to offend you, just pointing out that the information is already in the cichlid section (unfortunately moved where it isnt so accessible). The information would be helpful if it was added to the species profile which is pinned.

 

[shelaghfishface]

hmm you could do with elabortaing on a lot of the info you have provided..


Weekly water changes are a MUST, if water conditions drop dramatically HITH (hole in the head) can offten occur, this is where the head tends to get infected and thus rott away leaving holes in your fishes head. the water prams do not need to be spot on as oscars are hardy fish , as long as the extreams are avoidided. .............that statement makes me angry!!

.. they need good water like any other fish.. and poor diet and water will cause HTH
they also require a stable diet that includes vegatables..ie peas..and i would aviod beef heart - its way too fatty, not even as a treat-feeder fish provide nothing for them so should be avoided
they also live for 10+yrs so serious consideration should be given to taking one on.

i have to agree with Minx.. there is a lot more and more accurate info in the pinned topic that already exists, i certainly dont think that this is worthy of pinning- its too general! i had a baby biorb.. so a much larger tank to me would be 4ft? 220l.. so i can have an oscar and a dat?

if a new member wants info they are and always have been more than welcome to ask

there are several oscar keepers that know what they are talking about

 

[Curiosity101]

I guess whilever people are happy to answer the questions then the pinned topic isn't needed. And it wouldn't need to be linked too anywhere near as often as say...cycling topics.

But I do think overall it looks like a really well written piece of info. And there is no way it's obvious to go look at what was the oscar club. I reckon for general questions it's perfect, and for any specific questions the oscar keepers could actually get properly stuck in passing on knowledge/experience. As opposed to typing out the same thing day in day out.

Just my opinion, but I don't think pinning this would be a bad idea if all the oscar owner/keepers agree the info is accurate enough.

I do agree with shelagh, I think the sentence

the water prams do not need to be spot on as oscars are hardy fish, as long as the extreams are avoidided

Should be adjusted to something like "Oscars are not as sensitive as some fish, so although ammonia and nitrites should be avoided at all costs, they are able to withstand a much larger variety of water conditions. Eg. medium to high nitrates (50ppm). This is not a suggestion, and high nitrates (above 50ppm), will cause health issues over time, but short term it is less likely to affect an Oscar in comparison to alot of fish."

 

[Rust]

ok folks, i shall make my wording abit more detailed and accurate....

 

[holidayinn]

Personally, I think the less pinned threads the better, but it was a good post and read nevertheless.

As mentioned before there is an Oscar profile, where this info can be added.

And I'd have to agree with the water parameters part, as imo every fish deserves correct water parameters.

It would be mostly beginners who would use this info and they should be encouraged to do things in the most responsible manner.

 

[Rust]

Curiosity101 made a good point on the prams, and i have since added the snippet he wrote thanks
Any thing else i should add or change?

 

[Curiosity101]

It's She actually... I'll let you off on that.

And it was just an idea. You didn't need to add it word for word...But thanks I guess

 

[Rust]

lol sowwi

 

[Cichlid_Crazy]

Rust...calm it down.

 

[Davo86]

you might also want to find some of your own images as those seem to be copyrighted to someone else

 

[Rust]

i am calm, and everyone is digging me for trying to help, so i wont try any more