Is keeping an oscar fish as a pet worth it?

[tlindsey]

There was a article years ago about Oscars in Tropical Fish Hobbyists magazine years ago stating the Oscar being one of the intelligent besides the Elephant nose. My mother had 2 Oscars that would get excited when she came down the basement to feed them, but when we showed up in the front of the glass it was lol no big deal to see us.

 

[dan518]

I thought the elephant nose was high up in the EQ scale because of the amount of brain power it needs to deceiver the electrical signals it receives not because it's intelligent. Also alot of scientists are now sceptical about the EQ scale as now crows and some parrots are being classed with the great apes intelligence wise even though they have relatively small brains.

 

[Skalper666]

Oscars are fun to own, but they so create a lot of waste and require a good deal of space.

 

[tlindsey]

I thought the elephant nose was high up in the EQ scale because of the amount of brain power it needs to deceiver the electrical signals it receives not because it's intelligent. Also alot of scientists are now sceptical about the EQ scale as now crows and some parrots are being classed with the great apes intelligence wise even though they have relatively small brains.

lol I had a Elephant nose and wondered why that very article listed them smarter than a Oscar. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

 

[tlindsey]

Oscars are fun to own, but they so create a lot of waste and require a good deal of space.

Thats the very reason I pass on them, but I like Oscars.

 

[Yuki Rihwa]

Oscars are fun to own, but they so create a lot of waste and require a good deal of space.

The reason I don't keep Oscar because it so popular and on massive scale of captive breed so the fish quality really low, most of oscar I saw in LFS around my area are look super ugly!

 

[kewpiefishypewpie]

It's too bad you're not closer to the US, Rapps has wild Oscars for sale.

 

[Jhncf]

Oscars are great fish and grow very quickly too, personally if I was going to keep one fish to a tank it would be a red devil/midas or something along those lines. This is my young oscar, top picture is when I got it and the bottom picture is 27 days later!

 

[Fishguy679]

You could keep an Oscar in a 75 gallon, but you coudnt many(maybe even none) tank mates with it in a 75 gallon. If you could go for a 125 gallon it would be more worth keeping beacause you could get more than just an oscar. If you can't get a bigger tank an oscar is still a great wet pet by itself and I would say it's still worth keeping BUT I would also consider a community of smaller/mid sized cichlids for a 75 instead if you want more of an active tank with more going on.

 

[skjl47]

but is it really worth it

Yes keeping them is worth it

I really love my Oscars.

Hello; No fish is worth the trouble of the upkeep if you do not like them. I have not kept them for several decades. I enjoyed them back in the day. Use to be that once I bought a fish it was mine till one of us died and that can be a while with an Oscar.

I read on this forum about folks trading a fish in if they do not like them. I guess that is possible but I have not tried it and doubt that I ever will.