Prove my dad wrong on oscars

[mybirthdateisfake]

I had a 10in oscar which was originally in a 30gal grow out for my 400gal pond. Today it took enough attacks from my jag in the pond and died. My dad blames me for putting the oscar out the 30gal while I obviously, just tried to do the best for it. I've already told my dad to add structures to the pond so the cichlids could divide territory, but he just wouldn't. Should've that oscar lived in that 30gal for life or was it better to die in the pond?

 

[jjohnwm]

Neither. Those should not be the two options that face this fish.

Buying and combining fish like this with either no research ahead of time that would have warned you of this potential outcome...or knowing about it and willfully ignoring it...and at the same time not having adequate alternate housing...is the problem. And calling your 400-gallon tank a "pond" is just playing word games. If you have a one-acre body of water you can call it a "lake" if you wish...but it's a pond, plain and simple. In terms of natural bodies of water, 400 gallons isn't a pond; it's a puddle.

Harsh? Maybe. But...how long did the Jag hammer on the Oscar? He didn't kill it in seconds, it took some time, and a bunch of repeated and brutal attacks. Did you just sit and watch that? That's harsh.

I'm sitting next to a 30-gallon tank as I type this, and I'm imagining somebody trying to shoehorn a 10-inch Oscar into it. Animal abuse like that is harsh.

Don't you have another thread going with questions about what fish to buy for your hoped-for big pond next year? Perhaps you should be concerned about the fish that you are currently abusing and killing rather than the ones you plan on adding in the future.

And trying to blame this mess on somebody else, i.e. your father, is really the icing on this cake.

 

[Sinister-Kisses]

I obviously, just tried to do the best for it.

Also jumping on the harsh bandwagon here but - nope. You very much did not try to do the best for it.

As already said, NEITHER of those options are okay for an Oscar and NEITHER were the right way to go. You can't seriously think a 10" fish should live in a 30gal tank for more than like 5 minutes?

Your pond is not that large. 400gal is not much bigger than the tanks most people here have. If you take a look at OTHER "pond" posts, they're usually closer to 1000gal or more. 400gal doesn't leave you enough space to try dumb **** like adding a 10" Oscar to a jag's already established territory. Just, wowza.

Please either take this seriously and do some damn research, and stock APPROPRIATELY - or just abandon the hobby entirely since right now it's basically just animal abuse.

 

[esoxlucius]

I don't know what's more amazing here. According to your info you are 92 years old, which is pretty impressive, but the fact your father is still alive just blows me away!! Lol.

I'm guessing that you're not 92, right? And going off the poor Oscar debacle I'm guessing you also haven't really got much of a clue about fishkeeping, right?

Whichever way you slice it I'm afraid you're on a hiding to nothing here.

 

[duanes]

Whenever a cichlid determines an amount of space, be it 150 gallons, or 500 gallons, to be its personal territory, any new cichlids you add will be at a disadvantage and considered a territorial interloper to be vanquished.
If you originally had started the jag, and the oscar together at the same time, when young, they "probably" would have worked out territorial space for each other.
But adding cichlids piecemeal to any tank, big or small, you've got maybe a 50/50 chance that both will live.
In nature a male managuense can easily claim a territory much larger than 400 gallons.

 

[newworld]

My god give the kid a break….u guys never killed fish before? Animal abuse? Don’t keep fish in a glass box then guys…Come on… mybirthdateisfake u did what u thought was best it didn’t work next time do more research and hopefully have a better result…have fun it’s a hobby

 

[Bearsjfk]

I agree with duanes post above. I think anytime you add cichlids into a tank with cichlids that have already an established territory things can go wrong. I found out the hard way a long time ago. I had a 125 gallon African cichlid tank with a ton of hiding spots. I thought I could just add in fish without any repercussions. It took a couple of times before I realized I had to rearrange my whole tank if wanted to add new tank mates. I believe the confusion of establishing new territories allowed the new fish to blend in better and become part of the community. I always prefer to start cichlids out young together, but anytime I’m adding them I always change up the decorations/ hiding spots/break of sight lines.
And try to add more if there aren’t enough. Good luck