Cleaning up after a messy oscar

[FoamyOpals]

This is my first post here so I hope it's in the right category.

I've got my first big fish. A 12 inch oscar. He was a little bit of a rescue amd impulse buy as the fish store couldn't get him to eat. He is temporarily in a 40 gallon tank and I do daily water changes (about 50 percent)
Temp is 80 degrees and he has a bubbler he really likes to swim through.
Don't worry too much about his trank size. We are getting him something larger very soon. Either a 75, 90 or a 125.

I got him eating very quickly, he's eating krill, brine shrimp and blood worms right now. He will not touch pellets.

My question is about his eating habits. He leaves a lot of mess in the tank. I net out and siphon as much as I can daily but is there a fish that might clean up after him? I'm more concerned about wasted food than actual fish waste. I keep fancy goldies so I'm no stranger to siphoning and water changes.

Is there a good bottom dweller I could look into to clean up his spit out food?

Also i wouldn't mind any links or advice to how to proceed with his Permanente tank. If I should keep him alone or get some other fish, what size you recommend and what kind of decor they like, driftwood rocks and plants or an open tank?

Thanks very much for reading my long post!

 

[tlindsey]

Welcome aboard Emily


Nice of you to rescue the Oscar but don't delay on a larger aquarium and I suggest 125 gallon. I would suggest a Raphael catfish or Synodontis.

 

[TheOscarFishKing]

I keep my three oscars with and eight inch pleco and what a lot of people don't realize is that plecos are actually catfish and some species will eat left over fish was not just algae.

 

[dan518]

Starve him for a few days, then try him on pellets, much better for him and create less mess. If you want bottom dwellers for the enjoyment of owning them, then get some, but don't get them to clean up uneaten food, they add to the bio load and make more mess then what they clean.

 

[Jexnell]

I have some Roseline sharks as dithers, these guys are the best bottom clean up crew ever. They even hover around the oscars as they are eating and grab all the bits that come out of thier gill plates and mouth. They can get to 6in long so I would guess they will still be viable when my oscars get big. At the moment my oscars are 4in and the Roseline are about 2.5 to 3in long. Like others have said tho starve him for a couple days to get him feeding on pellets. Adding more fish will add to the bio load so will need to be ready for that ahead of time. I also have 2 spotted Raphael cats and a Blue Phantom pleco. The whole crew makes the sand cleaning very easy for me.

 

[Gourami Swami]

Hello,
Oscars are messy eaters no matter what they eat, but like dan said it is better to get him eating pellets as the staple of his diet. It will be less messy and healthier for him than 100% protein will be. As for the tank, the bigger the better. I would say a 90 would be sufficient to keep him alone or with a couple smaller tankmates, though if you have the means to get a 125 or bigger it is certainly better. For tankmates, you could put some other peaceful (ish) south American cichlids with him, and a few small catfish or dithers. Plecos do well although they add a lot to bioload, Raphael cats and pictus (as long as they are too large to eat) do ok too.

 

[FoamyOpals]

Welcome aboard Emily


Nice of you to rescue the Oscar but don't delay on a larger aquarium and I suggest 125 gallon. I would suggest a Raphael catfish or Synodontis.

The new tank is coming very soon. He was in about twenty gallons at the fish store and they appeared to be having a bacterial bloom in the entire freshwater system. He is much happier now! But a bigger tank was always the plan.

Thanks for the suggestion. I definitely am on the lookout for a good deal on a 125.

 

[FoamyOpals]

Hello,
Oscars are messy eaters no matter what they eat, but like dan said it is better to get him eating pellets as the staple of his diet. It will be less messy and healthier for him than 100% protein will be. As for the tank, the bigger the better. I would say a 90 would be sufficient to keep him alone or with a couple smaller tankmates, though if you have the means to get a 125 or bigger it is certainly better. For tankmates, you could put some other peaceful (ish) south American cichlids with him, and a few small catfish or dithers. Plecos do well although they add a lot to bioload, Raphael cats and pictus (as long as they are too large to eat) do ok too.

haha okay thanks! I have noticed a lot of other posts online of people asking my same question but I didnt see any answers that really helped. I think I will feed him this stuff for a week or so since I dont know how long he was off food at the store and then try to get him onto pellets.

 

[Randys]

I read somewhere that silver dollars with pick through the feeding mess an oscar makes. They need to be kept in a small group though.

 

[FoamyOpals]

I read somewhere that silver dollars with pick through the feeding mess an oscar makes. They need to be kept in a small group though.

In my research since I posted this I think ive decided on some silver dollars when we get him into his permanent tank. I love the look of them. Thanks!