ok, i just bought an oscar to put in my new tank. its a 120g. i wanted a small one (for money reasons) but mainly to watch him grow. i will stock up the tank slowly, but since its a newly cycled tank im taking it slow. its been a llooooooong time since i had oscars. is this tank too big for him since he's only about 3". the lfs i gothim from just fed him some crickets as treats and pellets. so i put some bloodworms in the first night and he ate fine. i put a feeder in with him the next night and its still in with him. just gettin your input on this. i know they are sulky babies lol. so i think he needs a little time readjust. let me knwo what you think
oscar help
- Thread starter zspidel
- Start date
their is no such thing as a tank that is too big lol, and don't feed feeders. especially feeder goldfish from the petstore as they carry parasites most of the time and have almost no nutritional value. if you must feed feeders then either breed them yourself or quarantine them, and dont use goldfish use guppies or platys or something. better alternative would be a staple diet of pellets with supplements of frozen foods like blood worms, shrimp etc and insects. good luck with your new baby O and yes they are sulky but it sounds like your guys is adjusting well
Sarah88;3947012; said:
thanks for your input. i know there is no tank too big lol. but part of owning an oscar is watching them suck up fish lol. i know not to feed them all feeders for hole in the head, but ya gotta admit, its cool. my big concern was him not being able to find his food in that tank cuz he came out of a little 10g. thats all. but i love the little guys. i wasnt gonna buy them, but when i stuck my face up to the glass they all came over to me and were jumpin out to get my finger... i just had to get one. there better than owning a dog lol
yeah they are great fish, and feeders as a treat every now and then are fine you just have to take the precautions i mentioned. its not necessarily HITH that they will get (though its possible) its internal parasites that you really have to worry about. if your really set on feeding feeders then you should set up a little ten gallon tank and breed some guppys or something so you know they are safe and healthier. and IME Oscar no matter the size should have trouble finding food haha and main cause of HITH is poor water, so just make sure to keep up on wc and keep nitrates below 20ppm and your O should stay nice and healthy (will take awhile though for that little of an O to dirty that big tank lol, just make sure to keep an eye on it)
I think he will be fine. I never met an Oscar that couldn't find his food. They are pretty much the garbage disposal of the fish world.
I like to get my Oscars young and in pairs. I personally think they do better that way. Also growing up together they seam to be less aggressive with each other.
They can be tough if needed though. I recently moved two Oscars in with my Red Snook. The Red is the biggest fish in the tank and was kind of pushing the others around. One of the Oscars, the smallest fish in the tank, got tiered of the reds crap and put him in his place. He dose not bully the Oscars any more.
I like to get my Oscars young and in pairs. I personally think they do better that way. Also growing up together they seam to be less aggressive with each other.
They can be tough if needed though. I recently moved two Oscars in with my Red Snook. The Red is the biggest fish in the tank and was kind of pushing the others around. One of the Oscars, the smallest fish in the tank, got tiered of the reds crap and put him in his place. He dose not bully the Oscars any more.
Sarah88;3947058; said:
ok, i do have a 10 w guppys in my 8mo old daughter's room. so i plan on feeding them. i will be adding probably 2 more O's. to my knowledge, in a big tank with good filtration you could have 1 O per 40g. and since im running an xp4 in the 120, i feel confident that it can handle that. what do you think? oh also, since its been a while, are there any other Os other than the typical O, tiger and albino that you see at petsmart. its been a while since ive paid attention to these. i have a very nice tank and wouldnt mind spending the money for the right fish
as long as a pair doesnt form and you do LOTS of water changes then it should be OK though a little cramped, 40g per O isnt really adequate since one by itself needs a 75 g tank, Os are SUPER MESSY fish as im sure you now so 3 in that amount of water will be tough, but if you keep up with 50% weekly waterchanges and dont over feed then you should be able to keep water parameters OK, just make sure to test it frequently and do more wc if needed. If your willing to order from somewhere jeff rapps (tangledupincichlids.com) has some great wild oscars from different location points that have some great markings, but im not sure if he has anymore in stock or not, you can use the search function to find threads about wild oscars (a nice one is the peru Os)
zspidel;3947075; said:
Your xp4 will be good for now. I would still look at maybe adding another as they grow. I might have been the one to mention the one to forty theory. I just made a DIY canister filter with a pondmaster 1800 magdrive pump for @ $160. I have 6 oscars in a 180 and they are loving the extra flow.
Here is a pic of the first run.
koidaddy,koidaddy;3947166; said:
Do you have a link describing your build, or some pics to share on how it works??