Need Help with oscar and setup

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I had an oscar in my brand new 60 gallon about 2 years ago... from less than 2 inches... in a few months, it wuz about 8 inches... in two years.. it's a feet long...!

When it wuz still small, he had a few other oscar friends, a green terror, a convict, a fire eel.... oh yes... trust me... listen to the advice... ALL of em were rehomed within the first 5 months~

The bioload wuz more than ridiculous!
 
I have a Oscar over a foot long with an Arowana in a 75..both have gotten along great and lived together for years..Used to have a pleco and Red Bellied Pacu with them, but they killed the pleco and the Pacu I put into a pond since it did get to big..The two are just fine together in the 75 though..it has a canister filter rated for 300 gallons, 4 biowheel, media and carbon filters. Sand bottom with rock and driftwood.
 
Anything big and mean enough to beat the crap out of the oscar! Kidding, but I dislike "them things".
 
Your gonna have to play it by ear. Some oscars are extremely docile and some are complete dickheads.

I couldn't keep too much with a full grown oscar in a 75 without hellacious filtration. The thing makes my 180 look like a complete mess for a long time after it eats.

Play it by ear... an oscar won't be 16 inches over night but it will reach 8-12 inches pretty damn quick. Growth seems to slow down around there. If your water looks like crap and tests crappy (aka nitrates) you need a bigger tank.
 
I have a Oscar over a foot long with an Arowana in a 75
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*facepalm*
 
75 gal i wouldn't mess with an oscar, i'd wait till you have either a 5' or 6' long tank. My plan is to try to keep a GT, Firemouth and a pair of delhezi bichirs in a 75 whenever i have a house and steady income. Just a thought
 
packer43064;4591385; said:
I would look into a 125, I have one. I love it, it's not crazy big like some people have but big enough for some "big" fish. The main difference is it's 6 feet long instead of 4 feet. Would fit along a nice bare wall, a piece of furniture really.

How long have you had the 75 for? I would just skip on the Oscar if you wanted more fish to a tank. Obviously buying a new tank is great but if you just want more fish the 75 is good for alot of fish.

To begin with maybe, but in reality that Oscar in a few years time will be 14-16 inches topping out. Believe me, it's small now but it'll grow quick and the tank will look small with even one Oscar for a 75.
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packer43064;4591420; said:
Green Terror's, Severums, Jack Dempseys, Firemouths, just to name a few. These would all work with a bigger tank. Not all of them in one tank, but you get what I mean. They'll fight at times, but that's what cichlids do.
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packer43064;4591385; said:
I would look into a 125, I have one. I love it, it's not crazy big like some people have but big enough for some "big" fish. The main difference is it's 6 feet long instead of 4 feet. Would fit along a nice bare wall, a piece of furniture really.

In addition to what packer43064 has stated, having a 6 ft. tank gives the Oscar more room to move around in, which is what they need. I had an Albino and a Tiger Oscar in separate 55 gal. tanks along with a couple of Banjo Pleco's (one in each tank). I put of one each in both tanks when they were small around 4 to 5 inches each. By the time they were 8 to 10 inches in size (4 months later), they were all in need of a larger tank. Granted, I could let them grow and continue to stay in the 55's, but I didn't want to stunt their growth. So I started looking for larger tanks. Living in a backwoods town at the time, it was impossible to get anything larger than a 55 gal. shipped in from anywhere through my LFS.

How long have you had the 75 for? I would just skip on the Oscar if you wanted more fish to a tank. Obviously buying a new tank is great but if you just want more fish the 75 is good for alot of fish.

This is great advise from packer 43064. If you really must have the 75 gallon stocked, I would choose cichlids that range from 3 to 5 inches in size as adults - or - as being fully grown. If you do this you can have a small variety of hopefully compatible cichlids, and your tank will not be overstocked. Keep in mind to, your bottom dwellers will have to be included into your tank stock inventory.

To begin with maybe, but in reality that Oscar in a few years time will be 14-16 inches topping out. Believe me, it's small now but it'll grow quick and the tank will look small with even one Oscar for a 75.
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In my experience that I had raising my Oscars (1 Albino and 1 Tiger) along with my 2 Banjo Pleco's, I have to agree once again with packer43064. These fish are discustingly messy. I had to clean my tanks twice a week (every Wednesday and Sunday) to keep it spotlessly clean and the water polished, for them, with water changes on the second cleaning of their tanks. I was running 3 Marine Land Bio-Wheel 440's per tank. And their tanks were still horibly messy as each day progressed after cleaning. I then took to lightly vaccuming their tanks every other day, just to try and keep up with the bio-load, with maintaining the bi-weekly maintenance.

When I could not acquire a tank larger than a 55 gallon, I knew eventually I would have to do something about getting a larger tank for my fish. I was looking for no less than a 90 gallon tank to house 1 Oscar and 1 Banjo Pleco. At the time, I was ignorant to the exhistance of the MFK website, nevr thought of building my own DIY tanks for them. DUH! I really didn't know what to do other than sell them. So, I put a for sale sign down at my LFS and in our local penny ad's paper (does the term "Penny Saver" ring a bell with anyone?). Within 3 days, I had a interested buyer contact me.

Unknown to me at the time, he was an Oscar breeder and was looking for a couple of male Oscars for his females that he owned. At the time of the sales transaction, my 2 male Oscars had reached a length of 21 inches a piece (tip to tail) :headbang2, and my 2 Banjo Pleco's had reached a length of 24 inches each (tip to tail) :headbang2. When the breeder had come to pick them up, he was pleasently surprized :eek: and pleased :D my Oscars were as big as they were. My Banjo Pleco's as well. He purchased all 4 of them and took them home and put them in respective tanks to mate with his female Oscars and kept the Banjo Pleco's with the Oscars they grew up with. The 4 of them ended up into separate 350 gallon tank each, which the breeder used for breeding tanks for his Oscars and eventually when the Oscars spawned, the breeder immediately moved the Banjo Pleco's into a 500 gal. tank with some other 8 to 10 inch cichlids he owned). I had bought my Oscars from (believe it or not) the Wal-Mart Store - Pet Department, in Show Low, AZ when they were 2.5" long. My Oscars were only in my possession for 14 months and grew to the monsterous sizes they were at the time of sale. I only wish I was able to purchased at least 2 - 90 gallon or 125 gallon tanks. I'd probably have them still to this day.

packer43064;4591420; said:
Green Terror's, Severums, Jack Dempseys, Firemouths, just to name a few. These would all work with a bigger tank. Not all of them in one tank, but you get what I mean. They'll fight at times, but that's what cichlids do.
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Once again packer43064 hits the nail on the head! Give the man a prize! I couldn't agree more. But as mentioned earlier, for your 75, I'd stock it with cichlids that get 3 to 5 inches in size. Port Acara's and the Rams are 2 of my favorites, next to Mbuna's.

I hope all of this helps with your discission making process. Keep us posted on what you decide. I'm anxiously awaiting for hopefully some updates and photo's.
Subscribed.
~David
 
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