RE: Don't Buy Oscar Fish - 6 Reasons Why

[TheReefer]

Hello; When in a hole stop digging. I get that shops have a lot of stock and pretty much have to keep fish in too crowded conditions. I figure the hope is they move the stock often enough that it is not long term. I also get that WC and large sumps help in a commercial setting so yes it can be gotten by with.
The folks on this forum are the customers who, I am guessing here, want to keep a fish long term. The "you can do something and be able to get away with it" hole has clear flaws. When I was young and uninformed I overstocked, overfed and did not do WC. I have learned better and keep very light stocking, feed sparingly and do WC. While my current practice is so much better for the fish I keep there is a downside.

That downside is that I simply cannot keep the wider variety of and number of fish. My tanks have minimal numbers of fish and not much variety such as I had in the past. I get most of us want, as I did in the past, to have lots of different and interesting fish. Many want the bigger species as well. So the concept of being able to get away with it is appealing. Has more to do with the wants and wishes of the fish keeper than with best care practice. I'll bet there are many who keep wishing for some trick or practice they can find so they can squeeze a few more fish in .

I may be wrong about this but have gotten the impression some feel having massive power filtration is just such a trick. I get this impression from reading threads.

Large filtration is important, as long as the fish get along and you keep up on water changes and the fish can move around and get adequate exercise the tank is fine

 

[EntoStentor]

Wow. I think he could have said "Why oscar fish are not good for beginners" or something.

Most of the "fish channels" on YouTube are crap. Aquarium coop is good though.

 

[Coryloach]

Stack 6 footers 2 high, 8 footers 1 high

The vertical space is for the plants.

Do you park your car in your garage?

Yes.

 

[Gourami Swami]

I think there is a big distinction between what can be done, and what should be recommended to people who don't know any better. If you run your tank like Ulu, and do tons of water changes, have crazy filtration... a 75 is probably absolute minimum (minimum, not ideal) for a single Oscar (in my opinion, of course). 55 is simply too small to me, because the tank is only 12" wide, and I have seen Oscars longer than 12". But, if somebody was asking me what fish to put in there 75, I would definitely advise them against an Oscar. A 125-150 is the smallest tank I would recommend one for. I kept a big rescue Oscar for years in a 90 gallon. It was all I had, and was better than the 30 gallon at the pet shop, so I made it work. But looking back, it was a bit small.

But on the topic of the video... The guy has a few good points, but overall just seems like another of the million youtubers nowadays who make videos just to make videos. Nobody needed this guy's Oscar video, there are far better ones on youtube. But everybody wants to be the next youtube sensation. That's fine I suppose, I just won't be watching.

 

[Supergeorge123]

You could keep an oscar better in a volume of water smaller than a 55 gallon with a larger surface area. A 50 gallon 48 × 18 × 13 would be better for the fish than a 55 gallon. I think the person who invented 55s had likely never kept fish in their life.

If there is consensus that a 48 × 18 tank or a 48 × 24 tank is large enough for an oscar than i believe we should not criticize people who want to keep 5 or 6 inch fish in 10 gallon aquariums because as i mentioned before both of those fish have the same amount of swimming space.

 

[Stanzzzz7]

Why people defend these people that think its OK to put a living creature in such a tiny space I will never know.
Can we not see just how bloody restrictive and claustrophobic and miserable that would be?
Come on people Where's your empathy for gods sake. Get real it's too small.

 

[RD.]

It's not ideal, but you could fit a couple of 6 foot specimens in here for life.

 

[skjl47]

Well seeing as fish cant talk, its hard to say for sure how happy they were, but they were healthy and looked happy, they were acting normal, eating fine, interacting with people, displaying good coloration, and living long, healthy lives

Large filtration is important, as long as the fish get along and you keep up on water changes and the fish can move around and get adequate exercise the tank is fine

hello; I can recall some years ago making similar statements. I was still into slightly crowded tanks with all that implied and even tho I had moved to much less stocking density than earlier years. I may have even used almost the same phrasing a few times. Of course it was about me and my concept at the time of having aquariums and not a realistic evaluation of what is a better situation for the fish.

Even tho I was doing better it was still a middle of the road practice. I could keep decent water most of the time and my tanks were not such "tightrope" affairs. I may some day decide to set up a similar tank again but if I do so I will not be able to in the future rationalize the behavior with such clichés.

Compared to wild conditions a very very few can afford the size tank that might approach such low density stocking. The other 99.9% of us are using relatively small glass boxes with most being closed systems. I may keep an Oscar in too small a tank some day but will know better. ( I probably will not but do reserve the option to be a _ _ _ _ _ _ _ fish keeper if the notion suits me.) ( I also will not post about it if I do.)

 

[Stanzzzz7]

People that defend Oscars in 55 gallons are selfish ass holes or at best, clueless.
No one has a gun to the guy with a 55, forcing them to choose an oscar. They chose that fish themselves. Not because their tank is the ideal size or the fish will have a nice life, but because they want it. They selfishly or nievely have it regardless.
There are many options in the hobby, a species for every size tank.
But no gotta have that big oscar people.
Like I've said before, those people are uninformed, selfish, retarded or just plain cruel.

 

[Ulu]

. . . I was 11 years old in the late 1950's when I started keeping fish I did not even know about the concept of regular water changes (WC). At some point I cabbaged onto the WC idea. Not sure if I thought of it or got the idea from someone else. . .

Getting older, you naturally developed habits.

If you were like me, there was no testing. I just changed water whenever it smelled funny or discolored. After awhile it was my habit on certain days to maintain the tanks all at once.

I remember back in the 70's I was paranoid about DBCP in the well water. I lived on an old ranch with the best fruit, and these old DBCP barrels scattered around. We ate the fruit but drank bottled water. I used to boil all my fish water!

But then I only had a 10 and later a 30, and I wasn't changing much by my modern standards. 25% a week maybe, after the first years of stinky failures.

Anyhow, good habits = healthy fish.