How long has my brother got?

[A. gigas]

yup just give back the Oscar AND the Pleco back
and then teach him the ropes and let him help you clean your tank so he knows the responsibility that comes with fishkeeping and if he's still interested get him some ghost shrimp or a betta

umm, tough to say, but i don't have a single running trank of my own. XD
as far as ghost shrimp... he had some. they got eaten by the oscar.

Eeek...how old is your brother? Does he have some money where maybe he could pick up a 55 or something off craigslist? Make him financially responsible for the fish and he will learn quick.

he's 10. he IS responsibe for paying for his pet's needs (excluding dog food) he only gets $5 a week as allowance. also, mom says nothing over 20 gallons inside the house (she's worried it'll fall through the floor)

 

[Conor1148]

show her some math then.

a gallon weighs like 7.5lbs, correct?

an oscar needs atleast a 55 for the first year or two. multiply 55x7.5 and you get somewhere around 410 i think. now, that equals two pretty hefty guys.

depending on how big the guys feet are, thats anywhere from 1 to 2 sq ft of weight distribution to 200lbs of human. a tank would be much better at distributing weight and wouldnt "fall through the floor". so if she would still be uncomfortable with two fat guys in her house, then i guess your out of luck.


edit- about the oscar, i have a feeling it'll jump out before it dies from being in a small tank.

or put it in the basement or something?

 

[A. gigas]

show her some math then.

a gallon weighs like 7.5lbs, correct?

an oscar needs atleast a 55 for the first year or two. multiply 55x7.5 and you get somewhere around 410 i think. now, that equals two pretty hefty guys.

depending on how big the guys feet are, thats anywhere from 1 to 2 sq ft of weight distribution to 200lbs of human. a tank would be much better at distributing weight and wouldnt "fall through the floor". so if she would still be uncomfortable with two fat guys in her house, then i guess your out of luck.


edit- about the oscar, i have a feeling it'll jump out before it dies from being in a small tank.

or put it in the basement or something?

yeah, but my dad doesn't want another tank anyways. he thinks that his 20 gal high is enough. (also, we don't have a basement. if we did, it would be my bedroom.) XD

 

[Conor1148]

haha yeah if my basement was clean it would soooo be my room! we have a huge basement, and its nice and cool all year round

 

[katsrevenge]

Dude, as much as it sucks just let it happen. Get him to clean the tank and show him the ropes. I have bought my bro so many things for fish to try to get him into the hobby its not even funny. Try to embrace it, and really teach a younger one the proper way of keeping. I bought my brother a 90 gallon sw tank with filtration skimmer stand etc, and even a 14 inch bamboo shark and a 6 inch bamboo shark and a purple tang. He still doesn't clean tank, or feed them for that matter. I wish my bro would take an interest like yours


thats not including the 3g, or the 55g. This is what he ultimately wanted.....

Want a little sister??

I was once told you could keep a pair of rams (the very small kind) or a single betta in one of those setups if you add a heater. Otherwise, stick glass fish in there and call it good.

 

[Chicklette]

Explain to him and show him on the new how big they get. Tell him to do some research before he buys a fish. He will most likley die in that tank in a very short time. My Aunt had an Oscar in her 20 gallon with tropical fish. I explained to her about it and she went on the net, didn't realize how big they got. She donated it back to the pet store, plus I told her it will eat all of her fish. It's hard to explain things to younger kids but maybe he will listen if you show him some pics.

 

[Chicklette]

Sorry not "new", I meant Net (internet)

 

[A. gigas]

the problem is, he KNOWS how big they get. he just has the "i'll worry about that later" mindset.

 

[Chicklette]

Oh no, that's not good. I don't know what to tell you if he won't listen. He's going to run into problems big time. How old is he?

 

[manlyfish]

man you need to scoop up that oscar and take it back to the store then explain to him why you had to do that and get him a betta.