Do oscars really thrive best in empty tanks?

[redmare]

So I've heard multiple times that oscars want a tank with nothing in it, or like a single plastic plant and a pot. I think this might originate from keeping oscars in minimum sized tanks and needing to maximize water volume and swim space, perhaps? My young oscar interacts with everything in her tank, and she's got a large wood/rock cave feature plus live plants. She's so engaged with her surroundings and it just doesn't make any sense to me that she would be happier in a big empty box.
I've begun a savings fund to upgrade her to a 6'x2' tank in a year so she can have enough swim room and stuff to interact with. Maybe I'm off the mark, I am new to oscars and large fish... But I've looked at some photos of their natural habitat, too, and it's not big empty bodies of water, it's streams and rivers with rocks and fallen trees and all sorts of stuff in the water. Does anyone have any insight into this?

 

[Jexnell]

True when young ornaments such as you described help the O enrich it's live. But as they grow big things change. They are not the most graceful of swimmers, and can easily hurt themselves on ornaments if spooked.
When my O was young she had a nice hardscape.
As she grew out it changed as her size did.

Here she is still in the 55gal, but had to remove the branches due to her size vs tank size.

Just introduced to a 125gal

Ornaments at this point are more hides for catfish etc. You really have to be careful with decor, you do not want any kind of point, sharp edge etc they can hurt/impale themselves when fleeing in panic mode.

 

[Jexnell]

Plants are hit or miss really depends on the individual. Toni whould shred them.

This was her 1 year birthday present. A giant Amazonian mother plant. After 6 weeks it was down to 3 leaves.

 

[redmare]

Plants are hit or miss really depends on the individual. Toni whould shred them.
View attachment 1453482
This was her 1 year birthday present. A giant Amazonian mother plant. After 6 weeks it was down to 3 leaves.

Thanks for the insight! So far Ursula seems to love her plants and not want to eat/shred them, of course we will see how it goes!

 

[Deadeye]

It’s a lot about swimming room and making sure they don’t injure themselves. It’s good to have some low lying decor but best to leave anything that gets in its way out. High rise stuff is best left to very large tanks with lots of room around it.

 

[Rocksor]

At a minimum have 1" sand substrate so that they can dig and make piles

 

[Jexnell]

I gave up filling holes they dig when they would dig in the same hole I was filling.