Noob at Cichlids and Sun Cats

[Zak03]

Hey guys, I'm new here. I got a 40-gallon tank with 2 baby Oscars (tiger and red) and 1baby sun catfish (aka eclipse catfish). I know, the tank will be too small eventually, but I plan on moving them into a bigger tank-75 gallons or possibly more-when the Oscars get bigger. I am new to both catfish and Oscars, so I don't have a lot of experience taking care of them, but I'm confident ill do well and they'll live for years to come.

My one worry is that the Oscars will grow too big too fast and might eat the catfish. the catfish is about 2 inches, and the Oscars about 2.5". I read that sun cats will hit around 5" in the first few months and then they'll slow down, but that the Oscars will grow about one inch a month for the first 7-9 months. Do I have to worry about the Oscars outgrowing the catfish and then eating it?

 

[BIG-G]

Welcome to MFK!
For long term care I think 75 is going to be to small for all those fish.
Oscars do grow quickly and are very messy eaters.
You will need to really stay on top of the water changes and maintenance.
The eclipse cat get larger then 5 inches.
I would expect it to get somewhere around 12 inches
The problem is the Oscars will grow much faster.
When I kept Oscars they tend not to pay bottom feeders much attention so it may be okay for a while.

 

[tlindsey]

Hey guys, I'm new here. I got a 40-gallon tank with 2 baby Oscars (tiger and red) and 1baby sun catfish (aka eclipse catfish). I know, the tank will be too small eventually, but I plan on moving them into a bigger tank-75 gallons or possibly more-when the Oscars get bigger. I am new to both catfish and Oscars, so I don't have a lot of experience taking care of them, but I'm confident ill do well and they'll live for years to come.

My one worry is that the Oscars will grow too big too fast and might eat the catfish. the catfish is about 2 inches, and the Oscars about 2.5". I read that sun cats will hit around 5" in the first few months and then they'll slow down, but that the Oscars will grow about one inch a month for the first 7-9 months. Do I have to worry about the Oscars outgrowing the catfish and then eating it?

Welcome aboard

How long have your aquarium been running?
How did you cycle it?
Did your lfs encourage you to purchase those fish?

 

[Zak03]

BIG-G
Thanks for the welcome. I understand. The catfish will grow to be almost 18" fully grown, but that will take years and a lot of good care. I'm just afraid of the Oscars outgrowing the catfish too fast and then eating him. But you said that they don't pay much attention to bottom feeders and that does help ease my worry, but I read that they will eat anything that fits in their mouth (same with the sun cat), so I'm still a bit apprehensive.

And I do plan on getting a much bigger tank (100+) for long-term, but that will take years.

 

[Zak03]

Welcome aboard

How long have your aquarium been running?
How did you cycle it?
Did your lfs encourage you to purchase those fish?

It has been running for about a week.
I'm a bit confused about what you mean by "cycle it."
And what is an IFS

 

[tlindsey]

It has been running for about a week.
I'm a bit confused about what you mean by "cycle it."
And what is an IFS

I appreciate your honesty. You are a noob to fish keeping so we are here to teach and help. The very most important thing to know before fish keeping is the Nitrifying Cycle for filter with bio media which beneficial bacteria will feed off the ammonia that is produced by your fish.
LFS stands for local fish store. It takes an aquarium weeks to establish and complete the Nitrifying Cycle.

 

[tlindsey]

https://goo.gl/images/spcirz

 

[BIG-G]

Basically the nitrogen cycle starts by adding any biological load to the aquarium ie fish waste or uneaten food. This decays And produces ammonia, bacteria forms to break down the ammonia and produce nitrite, bacteria forms to break down the nitrite into nitrate. Then as you do water changes the nitrate is reduced.
For the most part that’s it for most fish keepers.
Technically there is another step where the nitrate can be broken down into nitrogen or taken up by live plants. Or gases off directly.
But for now just focus on the nitrate being the end of the cycle. This is why water changes are so important.

 

[tlindsey]

Basically the nitrogen cycle starts by adding any biological load to the aquarium ie fish waste or uneaten food. This decays And produces ammonia, bacteria forms to break down the ammonia and produce nitrite, bacteria forms to break down the nitrite into nitrate. Then as you do water changes the nitrate is reduced.
For the most part that’s it for most fish keepers.
Technically there is another step where the nitrate can be broken down into nitrogen or taken up by live plants.
But for now just focus on the nitrate being the end of the cycle. This is why water changes are so important.

Thanks BIG-G desperately looking for a good linkhttps://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/fish-in-cycle-assistance.696652/#post-7851870

 

[Zak03]

I appreciate your honesty. You are a noob to fish keeping so we are here to teach and help. The very most important thing to know before fish keeping is the Nitrifying Cycle for filter with bio media which beneficial bacteria will feed off the ammonia that is produced by your fish.
LFS stands for local fish store. It takes an aquarium weeks to establish and complete the Nitrifying Cycle.

I have a hang on the back filter, and I put in these cartridges that come with these packets of activated carbon, so I'm assuming it like a 2in1 so I have a bio-filter and a mechanical filter.
I did not consult with my LFSs about which fish to buy. I didn't want to have a community tank of a lot of small fish (which my brother has), but rather only a few bigger fish. so after spending a couple weeks researching on the web about what kinds of fish fit my criteria, I settled on Oscars and the Eclipse catfish. I actually originally thought about keeping only one tiger oscar, but over time, I started to also really like the sun cat and red oscar