Oscars, he most abused cichlid

[duanes]

I realize many people love oscars, and herein lies the problem.

Because they are so personable, greet owners so enthusiastically, and seem to be the most universally accepted anthropomorphic wet pet,
and because they, (in a doglike manner) beg for food, they are almost constantly fed too much.

And then, because fed too much, produce tons of waste,
unless that waste is regularly vacuumed out of the tank with a water change, end up essentially living in their own tiny glass toilets, and because many aquarists have been inadvertently bamboozled into believing chronically toxic nitrate is an acceptable norm, allow that nitrate (basically Oscar urine) concentration to soar, so oscars end up commonly scarred up by HITH disease as the mature, and because many aquarists believe feces sequestered in a filter, are out of the tank.
(the reality being), ….feces in a filter although out of sight, are still in the tank (as are many of their chemical components), so more or less, filtration (unless filters are frequently cleaned out) is akin to sweeping a dogs feces being under a rug.

In nature, even in the oxbows (those slow flow areas) in rivers that oscars tend to inhabit, are in 100% daily (sometimes 100% hourly) water change, and when tested, these waters normally result in undetectable (0ppm) nitrate.

And then there is the availability of space (or lack of) !
In nature a breeding pair of oscars will patrol and defend a breeding territory of somewhere between 500 and 1,000 gallons from all other cichlids, with a normal communal living space of about an acre.

Average aquarium size, is considered by many, adequate as low as 50 to 75 gallons, which are the equivalent of puddles, or at best, barely that of a rut in the road.

Not to mention line breeding, where only looks are considered.
Where natural selection (the survival of the fittest) health, or robustness may be sacrificed in lieu of pastel colors, long fins, or Glo, or even worse deformations such as short or balloon bodies.

 

[SalviniCichlidFan]

Average aquarium size, is considered by many, adequate as low as 50 to 75 gallons, which are the equivalent of puddles, or at best, barely that of a rut in the road.

My first aquarium book that I read had tons of great info EXCEPT it told readers that they could keep an Oscar in a 29 gallon tank. Lucky for me, I'm not a big Oscar person and also I found it suspicious that you could keep a 12-15 inch fish in a tank that's only 12 inches long.

I think the name of the book is "the simple guide to freshwater aquariums" by David E. Boruchowitz

edit: *12 inches width not length

 

[tlindsey]

I realize many people love oscars, and herein lies the problem.

Because they are so personable, greet owners so enthusiastically, and seem to be the most universally accepted anthropomorphic wet pet,
and because they, (in a doglike manner) beg for food, they are almost constantly fed too much.

And then, because fed too much, produce tons of waste,
unless that waste is regularly vacuumed out of the tank with a water change, end up essentially living in their own tiny glass toilets, and because many aquarists have been inadvertently bamboozled into believing chronically toxic nitrate is an acceptable norm, allow that nitrate (basically Oscar urine) concentration to soar, so oscars end up commonly scarred up by HITH disease as the mature, and because many aquarists believe feces sequestered in a filter, are out of the tank.
(the reality being), ….feces in a filter although out of sight, are still in the tank (as are many of their chemical components), so more or less, filtration (unless filters are frequently cleaned out) is akin to sweeping a dogs feces being under a rug.

In nature, even in the oxbows (those slow flow areas) in rivers that oscars tend to inhabit, are in 100% daily (sometimes 100% hourly) water change, and when tested, these waters normally result in undetectable (0ppm) nitrate.

And then there is the availability of space (or lack of) !
In nature a breeding pair of oscars will patrol and defend a breeding territory of somewhere between 500 and 1,000 gallons from all other cichlids, with a normal communal living space of about an acre.

Average aquarium size, is considered by many, adequate as low as 50 to 75 gallons, which are the equivalent of puddles, or at best, barely that of a rut in the road.

Not to mention line breeding, where only looks are considered.
Where natural selection (the survival of the fittest) health, or robustness may be sacrificed in lieu of pastel colors, long fins, or Glo, or even worse deformations such as short or balloon bodies.

Unfortunately everything you stated is facts but don't see any change. I like the Oscar personally but can't properly maintain one.

 

[RD.]

Agreed, but imo nowhere near the most abused. Numbers wise, probably many thousands of much smaller cichlids, kept in just as bad of conditions, die every day due to similar piss poor conditions. Let’s face it, overall this hobby is the direct cause of millions of fish deaths every year.

 

[Milingu]

Agreed, but imo nowhere near the most abused. Numbers wise, probably many thousands of much smaller cichlids, kept in just as bad of conditions, die every day due to similar piss poor conditions. Let’s face it, overall this hobby is the direct cause of millions of fish deaths every year.

Agreed.
But to defend our hobby at least a bit, most of these millions would not have made it beyond fry stage in nature.

 

[duanes]

I have had many jolts of reality in fish keeping over 60 years,
but have had 2 major rude awakenings, that conflicted with much of the accepted aquarium lore.

The first one came decades ago, when I became a chemist for a major water provider, and had to do daily water parameter checks on raw water from Lake Michigan, (and other water areas in Wisconsin) and found that raw the water seldom had any measurable nitrate at all,
and subsequently when, traveling to tropical countries in Central and South America, where my cichlids came from, parameters were the same...... undetectable nitrate.

Above are sample tested for pH and nitrate in 3 different water courses in Panama
Because this flew in the face of all accepted aquarium norms and practices.

The other awakening came, when I started spending time snorkeling with cichlids like Rocio (jack dempseys) and Mayaheros uropthalmus in nature, and seeing the size territories these 10" cichlids would command in nature.
A rated pair of JDs would defend a territory equivalent to a space of at least 250 gallons or more, from any other cichlid.
This reality also flew in the face of the idea that a 75 gal tank was adequate for similar size cichlids, in communities.

And today when I collect Panamanian cichlids, in a section of river the size of an acre, although I can easily net 50 or more tetras nin the course of an hour or 2,

I am lucky to get half dozen cichlids in the same area and time in that anmount of space.