Adding Albino Tiger Oscar(s) to New Tank

[MrBeta]

Greetings! I love this place and I figured it was about time to stop lurking and post.

I recently purchased a 36 gallon bowfront tank which is currently occupied by a 4 inch Oscar. I just added him yesterday from a smaller temporary tank and was wondering about the guidelines for adding another. I've read that you're not supposed to add another if the Oscar has already established it's territory, but is it possible to add another? The tank has already been cycled and has a 250gph canister filter cleaning house. Is the tank even big enough for two?
Also do I need to try and sex the one I have and try to get a mate?

Sorry for such a long first post. I tried searching but didn't really achieve much...

Thanks in advance.

 

[Fat Homer]

I don't personally keep oscars, but from what i know, a single adult will require a tank of 50G+ so in short, i guess the answer is in the long run, no it won't work...

 

[Trisomy21]

A single Oscar requires 55 gallons minimum! A rule of thumb for Oscars is to have 6-7 times the tanks capacity in filtration per hour with a canister filter, 10x that with a HOB, coupled with weekly 50% water changes, they are messy fish. Adding a second Oscar is out of the question unless you plan on upgrading to around 110 gallons. You can't sex Oscars so you won't really know until you see them spawning.

 

[Jon M]

It's already been said above me but I'll just verify. A 36 gallon bowfront is much too small for just the single Oscar alone let alone two. Oscar in anything below 55 gallon long tank is out of the question so I'd return them and do a bit more research on another fish you can keep in your 36 gallon bowfront. If you are interested in cichlids you could do two Convicts, or a FM/Con, or any combination with a small dither school so your options are there, but certainly not with Oscar.

Sexing Oscar visually is impossible and wouldn't make a different anyhow in this current situation.

10x turnover on hob is dead on. As far as 6-7x turnover with canisters, that's a bit extreme and not necessary... With Oscar a 4x turnover on canisters is more than sufficient and weekly wc more around the area of 70-80%.

 

[Trisomy21]

Yeah that makes more sense ^ except more filtration isn't going to hurt. 80% water changes? #&%^ I'd better buy some hose for my sink, buckets aren't going to cut it for those water changes lol. Just about to get an Oscar this week, so I'm not too far off with what I've learned.

 

[smitty03281964]

I think you can add the second oscar with out much of a problem from the other. Over time you will look at there size and know whether 36 gallons is too small. It is not ideal but it could work especially if they don't beat on each other.

 

[Trisomy21]

They grow ridiculously fast, almost an inch per month, so you'll be needing to upgrade your tank even quicker with two of them. Bad idea.

 

[Jon M]

Python is your best friend trisomy21 and extra filtration never hurts but can be unnecessary.

I think you can add the second oscar with out much of a problem from the other. Over time you will look at there size and know whether 36 gallons is too small. It is not ideal but it could work especially if they don't beat on each other.

Way to provide awful information on Oscar keeping.

 

[Trisomy21]

This puppy?

I've got the tap connection just no hose, I'll hit up the hardware store and rig up something.

 

[Jon M]

This puppy?

I've got the tap connection just no hose, I'll hit up the hardware store and rig up something.

If you already have the connectors I would say it's 100x more easy on your pocket book to finish it at the hardware store. Only part I'm glad I got from python was the 2 ft bell. It's very convenient to have one so long.