Oscar OK in bare tank?

[neutrino]

Sounds like you have it covered, but wanted to add my $.02 regarding bare vs. complex environments for fish since it's a subject of interest to me. There's been other study of this in addition to the reference Rocksor already mentioned. Guppies and trout are two species I'm aware of studies on. In both cases they've found 'enriched' environments resulted in better brain development, smarter fish, brains more like their wild counterparts. So I don't do bare tanks, even for fry (never have, actually, but this substantiates how I've always reasoned on it).

Excerpt-- example reference:
http://nevittlab.org/The_Nevitt_Lab/PUBLICATIONS_files/Kihslinger and Nevitt.pdf

We next show that hatchery fish reared in a more naturalistic setting in the wild had significantly larger brains than their lab-reared counterparts. However, relative cerebellar volumes were similar between wild-reared alevins and those reared in the complex treatment in the laboratory. Together our results indicate that, within the first three weeks of life, variation in rearing environment can result in brain differences that are commonly attributed to generations of selection. These results highlight the need to consider enrichment strategies when designing captive rearing facilities for both conservation and laboratory use.

 

[Ulu]

Thank you neutrino , and thank you all again, for making the effort to help me and to improve the hobby.

While I have proven that I can torture fish for 10 to 14 years before they finally succumb to my ministrations, I have never raised real A-1 show quality fish. Zed the Betta, and Felix the Oscar being my best to date. I retired 22 mos ago, and in that time I have had time to improve & expand my Aquarium.

Since I have over 10 tanks now, that's what the kids call my house: "We're going to grandpa's aquarium for Christmas . . ."

This is the first bare bottom tank I have run, and I adopted that method because it was the fastest to clean. Shortly after Felix matriculated from a 30 to a 55 we started remodeling the house and I had to move everything into one room. I already had too much to clean, and so never replaced Felix's gravel.

Now he is back in the front hall, at the crux of all the action, but it has been an adjustment for him. All the fish he used to see close by are now bigger fish and farther away. The dog is always around looking crazy. More people come and go.

I'm going to order a larger custom tank for Felix, and when that is installed he will get some actual aquascape, in as much as an Oscar will tolerate it.