OSCAR IN A 40 GALLON? [PLEASE HELP!]

[doomiedee]

A LOT of people will argue that a 40b is too small for a flower horn for life as well.

In my eyes, an Oscar and a flower horn are in the same category. They both reach over 12" if housed right. They are both big strong cichlids that need room. Long term, they both need a 75 gallon minimum.

This is not considering some of the smaller short body flower horn...

+1

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[Pfisherman]

It won't. People on here are idiots, and they just automatically think "Oh noez.....not a 40 gallon! Even oscar fry need a minimum of 75 gallonz!!!1!!!"

It's an 18" wide tank he's talking about here people. It'll be fine in there for a good while as long as the water perameters are kept in check with LARGE FREQUENT water changes.

I agree with this so much. I grew an oscar in a 29g for around nine months, that is by no means the best conditions so dont bring the flame throwers out. The truth of the matter any aquarium is to small for a fish compared to what they would get in the wild. I think that a 40b is okay for a single O for an indefinite amount of time so long as you keep the conditions proper and have adequate filtration. for filter think penguin 330 or emperor 350, then a good submersible heater and keep the temp at 76-80. a bare bottom may help you keep your **** in check, but even if you do use gravel dont for a second think he will leave any other decorations where you think they belong.

EDIT - Snowflake, my oscar is now living in a 75. She will tolerate no other fish other than the pleco that also grew out with her.

Also feed only quality food, no feeders. I am hooked on hikari, best food ever.

 

[ryansmith83]

this kind of makes no sense to me . a 75 is the same dimensions just a foot longer and about 4" taller witch isnt much of an difference form a 40 b granted mathematically its 35 more gallons size wise its not much bigger. and if you think about it a 4' tank isnt much swimming room for a 1' fish either.

35 more gallons is not much bigger? It's almost twice the volume. If you had the choice of a 500 square foot apartment or a 900 square foot apartment, which would you rather live in?

I personally don't think a fish that large and active should be in anything less than a 6 foot tank but that's just my personal opinion. After keeping large (12"+) South Americans in a 210 gallon tank I've come to realize that even that looks small when the fish get really active. The real issue IMO is water quality. An oscar is going to be an eating machine and it's going to produce a lot of waste. People always talk about how overfiltered the tank will be, but filtration does nothing to get rid of nitrates and DOCs in the water. This is going to be accomplished with water changes in most instances.

I think the reasopn so many people have suggested not getting an Oscar is because so many of us here have seen people "plan" to upgrade and it never gets done; not saying that this is what the OP is going to do.

Yes. I see this all the time on MFK, especially with younger members. Back to my point above: if they plan to upgrade and then it falls through, I always have to wonder if their plans to keep up the water changes fall through as well. I can't imagine how many stunted large fish there are out there. It's not my money and I'm sure it happens more often than not, but it still bugs me when people accept the responsibility for an animal that they cannot (or willingly do not) properly care for. Why not select a fish that's appropriate for the tank size you currently have, and then when you upgrade to the larger tank you can buy the larger fish?

 

[doomiedee]

35 more gallons is not much bigger? It's almost twice the volume. If you had the choice of a 500 square foot apartment or a 900 square foot apartment, which would you rather live in?

I personally don't think a fish that large and active should be in anything less than a 6 foot tank but that's just my personal opinion. After keeping large (12"+) South Americans in a 210 gallon tank I've come to realize that even that looks small when the fish get really active. The real issue IMO is water quality. An oscar is going to be an eating machine and it's going to produce a lot of waste. People always talk about how overfiltered the tank will be, but filtration does nothing to get rid of nitrates and DOCs in the water. This is going to be accomplished with water changes in most instances.

I mentioned it as actual tank size isn't much bigger. I obviously know its almost twice the amount of water volume. I agree with the fact that active fish need more elbow room and Oscars produce massive Bio waste. Witch over filtering doesn't make up for.

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[Endo]

A LOT of people will argue that a 40b is too small for a flower horn for life as well.

In my eyes, an Oscar and a flower horn are in the same category. They both reach over 12" if housed right. They are both big strong cichlids that need room. Long term, they both need a 75 gallon minimum.

This is not considering some of the smaller short body flower horn...

Sure, a lot of ppl will argue that, but thats also because they are thinking too much about it. Flowehorns are no way near in size potential of an oscar. 12" isnt common for FHs and not that big for an O.
Have you seen how flowerhorns are raised in thailand/vietnam? They are given a maximum size of 20g per fish, divided through multiple FHs, and they still grow very fast up to 8" in that tiny divided area.
Not that I agree thats ok to do, however, flowerhorns grow fast because of how active they are along w/ diet and aggression.
If you have good water conditions along w/ filtration, a flowerhorn will be FINE (not fully comfortable) in an 18"depth 40g, nothing smaller. Ask Seba, he's happy and doesn't even use the full 40g and yet he continues to grow.


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[Tayler]

It won't. People on here are idiots, and they just automatically think "Oh noez.....not a 40 gallon! Even oscar fry need a minimum of 75 gallonz!!!1!!!"

It's an 18" wide tank he's talking about here people. It'll be fine in there for a good while as long as the water perameters are kept in check with LARGE FREQUENT water changes.

spot on

 

[FuriousFish]

So, It Will Be Either Oscar OR Flowerhorn im not sure which though...

 

[Pfisherman]

How about a red devil?

 

[oscaroo]

I think a 40B is too small beacause the lack of hight. I think 50 gallons is the Bare minamum for an Oscar or flowerhorn. I am taliking bare minumum. I think 75 gallons is much better. 55s can work but the fish won't be nearly as happy. I think a high quality short bodied flowerhorn is best for a 40B. the best part is that you could keep it forever with no upgrades! If you are willing to upgrade I think an Oscar would be fine in a 40B till about 8 inches(prefrably 6-7.) They grow very fast.

 

[unlockwall]

about 1 year or so hope this helps i had oscars for about 2 years now they grow fast but it can take some of them a year to out grow a 40g atlest with mine it took it about a year to get to 10+ inchs in a 55g