Oscar "Growing up process"

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
55 Gal - 1 Oscar, 1 Jack Dempsey, 1 Blood Parrot, 2 Green Terrors, 1 Zebra Danio. 10 Gal - 2 Tiger Barbs, 2 Angel Fish, 1 Male Betta

The ones in red let me break it down for you (not flaming)

1 Oscar will highly need a 75G since they can max out past a foot..
1 Green Terror needs a 75G let alone 2..
A lonely Zebra Danio..should be a group, and that Oscar, Jack Dempsey, and Green Terrors will eat it..
Angel fish should be moved to a 20G eventually if there not grown
The Betta should be alone.

Im also gonna say these are grow outs for all i know so im just gonna say if you did not know. :) But I hope to see pics of the aquarium!:popcorn:


 
Well, its not exactly what it seems. Both of the GTs are temporary, and are not fully grown (a 6 inch and a 4 inch), so i do not plan to have them when they are fully grown. The Danio is from way back in june of last year when i first cycled the aquarium, and it's funny cause the other fish which could easily fit him in there mouths don't screw with him. Hes so dang fast and hard to catch i've just left him there. So essentially in the next two months it should be down to 1 Oscar (8 inch), 1 Dempsey (4 inch), and 1 Blood Parrot (6 inch). As for the 10 gal the angel fish are still 2 inches, the betta is very social, and completely non-aggressive. Thanks for the help!
 
25% once a week?

I had to do 50% twice a week to keep Nitrates below 15ppm with 2 juvenile Oscars in a 90 gal.
 
xenoside;4984306; said:
Well, its not exactly what it seems. Both of the GTs are temporary, and are not fully grown (a 6 inch and a 4 inch), so i do not plan to have them when they are fully grown. The Danio is from way back in june of last year when i first cycled the aquarium, and it's funny cause the other fish which could easily fit him in there mouths don't screw with him. Hes so dang fast and hard to catch i've just left him there. So essentially in the next two months it should be down to 1 Oscar (8 inch), 1 Dempsey (4 inch), and 1 Blood Parrot (6 inch). As for the 10 gal the angel fish are still 2 inches, the betta is very social, and completely non-aggressive. Thanks for the help!
Click to expand...

But they will kill each other long before they're fully grown due to lack of space.

Just because the fish can still "swim" doesn't mean there's enough space, most cichlids will mark territories as soon as they become sexually mature (which happens as early as 3 inches for Green Terrors), the footprint of your tank is what matters here, and each GT can take as much as 2 square foot of space for themselves.

These are not community fish, they see every other fish in the tank as either a mate (compatible females) or competition (everything else)... and they will do their best to drive the competition away... which will result in dead fish since they can't go anywhere.

And we're not even mentioning the bioload :eek:

Just curious, what kind of filtration you have and what are your water parameters?
 
Indeed you'll need to be doing more than 25% a week... what's your current NITRATE in ppm? (Ammonia and nitrite need to be zero no matter what). Though fish can TOLERATE some nitrate in their water, the ideal is to get it to zero as well... certainly below 20ppm though... the only possible way you have nitrates in that range with 25% weekly wc is if your tank is heavily planted or you are running an algae scrubber... both doubtful... higher nitrates will be tolerated but will cause your fish to develop abnormally and shorten their lifespan...
 
badlad53;4984759; said:
Indeed you'll need to be doing more than 25% a week... what's your current NITRATE in ppm? (Ammonia and nitrite need to be zero no matter what). Though fish can TOLERATE some nitrate in their water, the ideal is to get it to zero as well... certainly below 20ppm though... the only possible way you have nitrates in that range with 25% weekly wc is if your tank is heavily planted or you are running an algae scrubber... both doubtful... higher nitrates will be tolerated but will cause your fish to develop abnormally and shorten their lifespan...
Click to expand...

It's virtually impossible to have Nitrates at 0 in a common freshwater tank, especially a tank with Cichlids that eat high protein food, grow fast and produce a lot of waste.

The only proven ways to do this would be

1. Planted tank (Aquatic plants to consume the nitrates)
2. Aquaponics (Non-aquatic plants that grow with their roots submerged in water)
3. Large sump with a deep, undisturbed sandbed (+3 inches of fine sand or more)

These 3 methods take time, experience and might cause a lot more problems than they solve (plants dying, rotting and producing more nitrates, sand bed being disturbed and leaking hydrogen sulfide, etc).

Anything below 20ppm Nitrates is widely regarded as "healthy" and most fish will thrive and breed under these conditions, I've read many studies that say Nitrates don't even become Toxic until they reach ~80ppm. (More sensitive Cichlids such as Discus might need less than 10 ppm at all times to reach their full potential, or so their owners say. I've heard of Discus owners changing as much as 75% of their water.... daily - especially when young).
 
Plenty of evidence to show that the lower your nitrates the better the health of you fish and the longer they will live... also a properly sized algae scrubber will easily maintain nitrates at zero no matter the species, the size of the system or the stocking level... and is very simple to set up. But as I said before at least aim to keep them below 20.
 
Also its only during the active rapid growth part of a cichlid's life (say 2 years max for an o, likely much less) that maintaining very good water quality is somewhat of a challenge. Once the fish is approaching its max size the feed should change from high protein to high fiber, as well as the frequency (in many cases you will only be feeding 1 or 2 times a week... the same ammount you at one time fed 2x daily! Much much easier to maintain water quality)
 
Well 25% water change per week is ok for me if u plan on getting rid of the GT (i would get rid of the O though but that personal taste).That's because Os are very very hardy fish
 
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