Keepers of oscars in 55's

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i currently have a 7 1/2" oscar in a 55 and it seems to love it since it spent the first 3 years of its life in a 29


no signs of hith but then again i take very good care of my tanks, and so did the idiot that had it in a 29. he just had an oscar in a 29 so its stunted.
 
First off… I completely agree that a 55 gal is too small to accommodate an adult Oscar…

But when you guys say a 14” fish can’t turn around in a 12” deep (front to back) tank… That’s just not true… fish bend…

I’ve temporarily housed my 13” Oscars in 12” deep (front to back) tanks and they turned around just fine… they just bent their bodies a little… I’ve also kept the same Oscars in a 6’ round 300 gal Stock Tank, and when they turned around in there… guess what… they bend

Dude… fish bend…
 
I know I may get flamed for this but here goes
My first tank was a 30 gal and my first fish was...you guessed it an Oscar...I was a newb!
Had him for 4 years and he was approx. 10" when he passed.
He never had HITH. He died from electric shock when he busted the heater(I know another newb thing to do...glass heater with an O)

I agree this was not right....now I know better!!!
100 gal minimum I think.

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I've got 5 Oscars. I wouldn't keep one in a 55g on a bet. I'm always surprised at the number of 'fish poeple' (LFS owners even) who don't understand bio-load. To keep an Oscar all by itself in 55 gal of water you'd need to religiously do 75%-90% water changes once a week to keep nitrates under 20 ppm, which is the generally accepted safe level for Oscars (at the risk of being flamed). It takes a dedicated fish-keeper to do that. How many Oscars end up with HITH when kept religiously in water under 20 ppm nitrates? I'd venture to say none (gonna get flamed again). For psychological reasons alone why would someone keep an Oscar in a 55 g? Because they physically 'fit' in there? In my opinion that's cruel. 12"-15+" fish need room. And Oscars (of all fish) need lots of fresh clean water so their nitrates stay under 20ppm. I keep mine much lower. I've found most people don't even know what their nitrates are, and that surprises me. Just my 2 cents.
 
TwistedPenguin said:
For psychological reasons alone why would someone keep an Oscar in a 55 g? Because they physically 'fit' in there?
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For the same reason people keep goldfish in bowls :shakehead
 
Arthur;2226860; said:
yea as said you can keep an oscar in a 55 with out getting HITH, but it'd take lots of work and is not really a good idea to keep fish in a tank that is narrower that the fish is long
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Agreed. Large fish deserve bigger no matter how you look at it.
 
My oscar was in a 55 and he got HITH no matter how many water changes or what filtration i had. moved him to a 75g and he healed up. I wouldn't do it ever again. an adult would have a hard time turning around too. There are a lot of cichlids that are smaller that have just as much personality.
 
I guess the thought is you could keep an Oscar in a 55. But IMO who would want to,thats alot of work for one reason keeping it clean. Oscars love begging at the front glass, I cant imagine enjoying that show they give with there tail slapping the back wall as they play.
 
I got 2 oscas in a 25. They are fine, they are in with a lepronius, catfish, and others. All will be upgaded to a 125.
 
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