Is a 75 gallon tank enough for ONE oscar?

[Bizarre Wolfie]

I have an oscar in my 75 gallon tank alone. He gets live food (guppies and ghost shrimp) once every 2 weeks and other wise eats some raw meat a few times a week and hikari gold cihlid pellets for all his other meals. his tank is cleaned twice a week, has 2 sponge filters but looks "dirty" due to the wood in the back left corner of the tank.

The tank parameters are
0 ammonia
0 nitrite
20ppm nitrate
7.6~ PH

I rescued him from a guy that had him with a few other full grown oscars in a 55 gallon that was cleaned once a month and only fed pellets.






I posted Buddy (the oscar) on reddit and was told i am an *******??????? I was also called a ragebaiter and a terrible person for keeping him. Is it really that bad???

 

[Jexnell]

A 75 is a bit small for an Oscar. It may work if you do the work. I am talking 75% water changes every 3 days. Still it's not much room for an Oscar to be truthful. I wouldn't do it myself, a fout foot tank is just too small.
A fish that gets the size of an Oscar really needs a 6ft tank as a minimum. A 125 as a bare minimum, 180 would be better (6x2x2). Oscars are really dirty fish and you have seen it I am sure. The amount of food that flys out of the gills while it eats. And the size of the poo.
I started my Oscar in a 55 then upgraded to a 125gal. The fish activity level drastically changed after the move. She was just 8in when she went into the 125gal. But instantly you could see the difference. I know 2 feet don't seem like a lot but it does make a big difference.
Remember the simplest solution to pollution is dilution. The more water you have the easier it becomes.
I did fin level water changes every three days. And got great growth, a beautiful fish and a very active fish.


Water change day


And here she is with her Pimelodus ornatus tankmate. He helped clean up her mess from meals.
Above you can see some Silver dollars, they didn't last long as she tried to eat them, and thier activity level seemed to stress her out.

 

[HUKIT]

If you’re doing water changes twice per week then why does the picture show the aquarium with with quite a bit of evaporation? The water level is quite low. I will say maybe it’s the angle of your photo but looks like your fish is suffering from head and lateral line erosion(HLLE).

 

[Bizarre Wolfie]

If you’re doing water changes twice per week then why does the picture show the aquarium with with quite a bit of evaporation? The water level is quite low. I will say maybe it’s the angle of your photo but looks like your fish is suffering from head and lateral line erosion(HLLE).

He had HLLE when i took him in. Kanaplex got rid of it so just the scars remain. The pic was take 2ish weeks ago and i didnt use the lid that week

 

[Bizarre Wolfie]

A 75 is a bit small for an Oscar. It may work if you do the work. I am talking 75% water changes every 3 days. Still it's not much room for an Oscar to be truthful. I wouldn't do it myself, a fout foot tank is just too small.
A fish that gets the size of an Oscar really needs a 6ft tank as a minimum. A 125 as a bare minimum, 180 would be better (6x2x2). Oscars are really dirty fish and you have seen it I am sure. The amount of food that flys out of the gills while it eats. And the size of the poo.
I started my Oscar in a 55 then upgraded to a 125gal. The fish activity level drastically changed after the move. She was just 8in when she went into the 125gal. But instantly you could see the difference. I know 2 feet don't seem like a lot but it does make a big difference.
Remember the simplest solution to pollution is dilution. The more water you have the easier it becomes.
I did fin level water changes every three days. And got great growth, a beautiful fish and a very active fish.

View attachment 1562484
Water change day
View attachment 1562485

And here she is with her Pimelodus ornatus tankmate. He helped clean up her mess from meals.
Above you can see some Silver dollars, they didn't last long as she tried to eat them, and thier activity level seemed to stress her out.

Ok, I was planning on buying a 150 gallon soon so I'll keep him there. Thank you for the response!


Also, any idea on what size tank for a silver arowana? I plan to have one someday (definitely not within the next 5 years lol) and can't seem to find much info on one.

 

[Jexnell]

Ok, I was planning on buying a 150 gallon soon so I'll keep him there. Thank you for the response!


Also, any idea on what size tank for a silver arowana? I plan to have one someday (definitely not within the next 5 years lol) and can't seem to find much info on one.

I would suggest a 3ft wide 2ft high 8ft long as they can get 40in plus in length.

 

[phreeflow]

Well, it’s definitely better than crowded 55. Up your water changes as suggested

 

[EricTheRed]

Also, from the angle of your photo, it appears that your decorative log takes up a good portion of the tank and limits your Oscar’s ability to swim around the entire 75G tank. If this is the case, I would recommend removing the log. Also what is the deal with the unsightly algae/brown vegetable matter floating on the surface of the aquarium? It gives the impression you are not doing routine aquarium maintenance and is probably why you received such a negative initial response. Thanks for rescuing the Oscar and giving him a better environment than he previously had, but it seems like you have the ability and resources to do even better for him.

 

[Roger Mcfish]

What filtration are you running besides what looks to be just a sponge filter?

 

[tlindsey]

I have an oscar in my 75 gallon tank alone. He gets live food (guppies and ghost shrimp) once every 2 weeks and other wise eats some raw meat a few times a week and hikari gold cihlid pellets for all his other meals. his tank is cleaned twice a week, has 2 sponge filters but looks "dirty" due to the wood in the back left corner of the tank.

The tank parameters are
0 ammonia
0 nitrite
20ppm nitrate
7.6~ PH

I rescued him from a guy that had him with a few other full grown oscars in a 55 gallon that was cleaned once a month and only fed pellets.






I posted Buddy (the oscar) on reddit and was told i am an *******??????? I was also called a ragebaiter and a terrible person for keeping him. Is it really that bad???

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