commonly said things about oscars

[le patron]

you will have to change the water all the time
they are crap machines
theyre worse than plecos
youll have to vaccum the gravel often

are these true or not because if they are im seriously going to reconsider getting an oscar
p.s. im new to cichlids so dont flame

 

[killerfish]

Yes all sounds true to me oscars make a large Bio load

 

[labiatus55]

all true, they are a ton of maintenance , but many will tell you they are worth it.

 

[voss345]

so many other cooler cichlids than oscars, if you have a big enough tank for an oscar you have a big enough tank for cichlids that are cooler

 

[L.BelcherII]

you will have to change the water all the time You should do that anyway

they are crap machines All fish poop, just don't over feed them

theyre worse than plecos What's wrong with pl*cos?

youll have to vaccum the gravel often IMO, you should everytime you change the water.

I don't see why there is any Oscar bashing going on. They're a perfect fish for someone starting with cichlids. They're easily the fish with the most personality, they grow incredibly fast, and they're a good looking fish. If you have a 55 gallon tank or bigger...get one.

 

[Dmaan.]

nothing wrong with doing a lot of vacuuming lol.
some of us vacuum a lot regardless of having an oscar.
if you do a lot of water changes i'm sure it will keep
your oscar from getting HITH which oscars are very open to.

oscars are more of like pets, than something to view or own.
they doo create a large bio load but their pretty interesting to care for.
if i could, i'd put my oscar in her own tank.

 

[CTU2fan]

Those are all basically the same criticism...in short, they're big messy fish and need to be cared for appropriately. They also get called common and boring (around here) a lot. But they've been a hobby mainstay longer than pretty much any other cichlid besides angelfish which says something for them.

I'm not sure they're any more high-maintainance than any of the other really big (12"+) cichlids out there.

 

[Natalie]

Oscars are messy, yeah, but so are every other cichlid that reaches over a foot long. If you want a large fish, the level of care will have to be similar for any species. The reason Oscars get a bad reputation for this is because they're especially susceptible to Hole-in-the-Head and require good water quality to avoid the disease.

Also, I think it's safe to say that a lot of Oscars are overfed especially once they've reached adult size. Overfeeding contributes to mess and the need for more vacuuming.

 

[benzjamin13]

As long as you do a weekly maintainance, it's just like any other fish IMO

 

[Ang]

As long as you do a weekly maintainance, it's just like any other fish IMO

i aggree.