New Oscar owner needs advice...

[nero6370]

Greetings Everyone!! I am glad I have found this site; I have never owned fish before. I was in a pet store buying dog food and witnessed the feeding of the resident oscars and I was immediately hooked!!! I have been overzealous though; I now own 3 juvenile oscars, average size 3-4 ". I am in desparate need of a tank upgrade; I only have a 10 gallon tank at the moment (I can feel the rants coming my way), and I am doing partial water changes every other day to keep the ammonia level down. The water has been slightly cloudy for about a week now in spite of the water changes. I also add ammo-lock, stress coat, and stress zyme (10 ml each) every 2 or 3 days, but I don't see much improvement. The guy at the pet store advised me to add cucumber slices to the tank in an effort to adjust the ph. I have been feeding them crickets mainly with the occasional mealworm. I have fed them small feeder fish, but those have died too quickly to be practical.
I know my solution is a larger tank; I have been pricing several 45-55 gallon models, but the price is a obstacle for the next week or two. I could use some advice on what to do in the meantime to improve the water quality. Thanks for any help. Tom

 

[benzjamin13]

Welcome to MKF. Everyone here is always willing to help. Hopefully no one badgers you too much Obviously it looks like you're doing your best to keep water quality good while you look for a larger tank. I do suggest a bigger tank for 3 Oscars. Probably a minimum of a 75g will do for awhile. Good Luck

 

[Bud_Man_Jr]

go 75 gallon.grow alot of plants with a white sand bottom.put in some drift wood,some flower pots,and you will be stunned on how beautiful your oscars will look in a tank like that

 

[gomezladdams]

Dont put cucumbers in your tank .get the oscars eating pellet food (hikari cichlid is good)most of the time for 3 oscars your going to need a 72"x18" tank within 2 years. a 75g is ok for thier first year if they get along once they hit about 7" thier adult personality will show and youll know how good they get along

 

[desertdweller]

There's a product called Detox2. I am not sure what kind of filtration system you are using but you should be able to integrate it easily. It comes loose in a plastic container & you will need to bag it so it fits in whatever filter that you are using. It doesn't take a lot. It will significantly help with phosphates, amonia, organic waste, toxins, & even odors. Your local pet store should have it or something similar. That's a inexpensive fix until you get a larger tank. Good luck.

 

[StevePerry]

My recomendations:

Upgrade to a 55 gallon and find another home for two of your Oscars. You'll be looking at about an inch per month of growth, and in just 6 months, the bio-load on a 55 gallon with 3 oscars will be huge.

Get them eating a quality cichlid pellet. They may be resistant to change, only wanting favorite "junk" foods. If they refuse to eat pellets, starve 'em out. It may sound mean, but hunger will win over stuborness and they will eat what you offer. be strong.....they could hold out for up to three weeks. Offer pellets, if they don't eat them within a few minutes, remove the pellets and try later.

Water quality; Your water is "funktified" right now because it is probably cycling. Fish create ammonia as a waste product. Bacteria must get established to turn this ammonia to Nitrite, then more bacteria must establish themselves to turn this Nitrite to Nitrate (which gets removed and dilluted with regular water changes). When Amonnia, and Nitrite reach 0 ppm, and Nitrate slowly starts to rise, you tank has completed cycling.

You may also want to pick up a test kit to monitor these levels.

I hope I didn't baddger you too much. If you already knew some of this, I apologize. I'm just trying to help. Take care and good luck

 

[Slim2634]

in the meantime just put an extra filter on the tank for now, im sure walmart will have a cheapy you could buy. i would at least go with a 75 gallon because they oscars will have trouble turning around in something a foot wide. you know a good bit about the ammonia cycle and everything which is suprising since you havent kept fish before.

 

[StevePerry]

I don't think another filter is gonna help. If there are no bacteria to take care of Ammonia and Nitrites, then its just a water pump.

 

[nero6370]

I definitely appreciate all the feedback; I will try the pellets instead of the live food. I hope that may cut back on waste material. I have removed the cucumbers; but I am curious what the negative effects could be from them. At the moment I am using an under gravel filter in addition to a Marineland Penguin 100 bio-wheel power filter. It filters 100 gallons per hour and is adequate for up to a 20 gallon tank (according to the box).
I clean the filter off every 2-3 days and replace every week. I was advised in a reply to my original post to add another filter, but I may do an upgrade and replace the penguin. I hope that will help with the water quality. Unfortunately, I may have to wait a little while longer to upgrade to a larger tank form my current 10 gallon.
This brings me to my next question; how difficult would it be to make my own tank? I would love a 75 gallon tank, at least until they get larger. The largest my local fish store has is a 55 gallon model, which will only suffice for a short while. I don't wan't to get caught buying a half dozen tanks over time and wasting money; I would rather go for broke an get a tank that will last for a year or so. So anyone with some knowledge in tank construction please let me know what the best way to go would be; I know it will be some work but cheaper that buying. Thanks for any advice. Tom

 

[stotty]

I don't think another filter is gonna help. If there are no bacteria to take care of Ammonia and Nitrites, then its just a water pump.

Spot on


The best advice I can give you is filtration and water quality Oscars suffer from hole in the head worse than any other Cichlid. Heavily filtering the water and regularly large water changes in a small tank are a must. You probable know by now that they are very messy eaters. So keep that tank clean.