Keepers of oscars in 55's

[bluegryffin]

Perfect, that's exactly how it should be done! Try working in a pet store trying to convince people oscars DO eat food other than feeders......

Yeah, try telling that to the dumb college guys in my town that only want to have oscars to watch them eat smaller fish. It may be "cool" to watch predation, but if any of us were dropped into the amazon without cellphones and stuff......we'd sing a different tune. Nature's cool, but a glass container isn't really nature in my opinion.

 

[oscarcrazy]

Come on now people!! A 55 is not a horrible home for an oscar. I bet most of you, and several of you by your own admissions (myself included), have kept big fish and tanks to small to be "perfect" for them. A 55 with a single oscar is not abusive to the fish. Remember, oscars have been in the hobby for a while now. Kept, raised and bred when a 55 was considered huge!! I kept a single albino with a monster plec in a 55 for about 6 years. The albino was a brute! Well over 12 inches. I did have a holt magnum for filteration and religiously did 25% waterchanges every week. The tank and its inhabitants died after I moved out to go to college (silly parents, not taking over my responsiblities).
Yes, a 75 is much better, and a 120 better than that. Why don't we just demand that they all be kept in a frickin' lake!
55 will work fine with proper care, not IDEAL, but not ABUSE.

 

[pdbrady]

Sorry Bluegryffin for turning the "theoretical" into an actual debate. Got into the heat of the moment....

 

[oscarsftw]

This argument is silly...This all depends on how much maintenance you want to do for the entire fish's life...55G is really not that bad for a single adult Oscar by himself, it's really plenty of room and when he turns around it's not much of an bend maybe just his tail....Hell my Oscars reverse backwards lol (they are only 6-7 inches big). I do agree though 75G is recommended for a full adult Oscar and 50G per additional Oscar.

When it comes down to a fishes health it's not the size of the tank but mainly his diet and water quality.

 

[pdbrady]

When it comes down to a fishes health it's not the size of the tank but mainly his diet and water quality.

That's my main argument. Yes, I point out the size issues, but the fact is that most people who keep oscars in 55's don't keep up on the maintenance. That's where it all starts, plain and simple. With the size issue, I just get tired of hearing people talk about their 3 year old "monster" 10-11" oscars. That's not a monster, that's stunted.

 

[jgallagher1980]

how can you speak for "most" people? some people yes, but please dont make blanket statements.

 

[Gage]

IMO a 75g is the BARE minimum, but i believe in giving the fish enough room to easily turn around with having to bend there tail, and i believe keeping an oscar in a 55 is cruelty, just my opinion but im sure there are people who agree with me in saying that oscars arent meant to live in a 55g, they get the same size as a Red Devil, yet no, a male red devil can NOT be kept permanently in a 55, so why should an oscar, on average, oscars grow even bigger then devils, with 12" being common for devils and 14 being common for oscars.

 

[Red Devil]

clean up for derail and inappropriate subject...please keep this thread on course.. thanks

 

[mike dunagan]

Lets get this back on track, otherwise we will have to close it

 

[Arthur]

This thread is too funny, just because you can keep a fish a live in a tank doesn't mean it's good for it. To all the people that posted about keeping oscars healthy in 30 gallons; that's pretty small and not really a good idea and it may have worked, but you really shouldn't bring it up as though it's a good idea.

Oscars should be treated like any other fish that easily grows to 14+ inches and given a tank that it can turn around in. Bottom line I wouldn't keep an oscar in anything narrower that a 12", if you want to keep your oscar in a 55 gallon at least go buy a 50Br.