Oscars?

[benzjamin13]

I have an Oscar in a 75g tank. I believe that an Oscar will be fine in a 50g tank. I know it might piss off some hardcore fish fanatics that I said that because they believe that a tank needs to be twice the length of the fish and as deep as the fish's length. As long as you have good filteration and it's a descent size tank, it should be fine.

And honestly...if you think about it, if you want to give a fish sufficient room, then technically you would have to give a guppy a 100g alone.

 

[DeLgAdO]

55 gallon would be kind of small for an Oscar, the tank would be a foot wide and Oscars grow to be a bit longer than a foot, look into a 75 gallon. Or see if you can get one of those wide 55 breeder tanks.

actually a 36x18x20 55 gal would be ok for an oscar by itself

tenecor sells them with those dimensions

 

[Biche]

The tank would be bare maybe except for a few other fish and the O' would be the only fish in the tank.

Thanks Guys, I really appreciate all the answers!! This has given me alot of insight , you people are great ! any other info on keeping oscars I would really love to.

 

[Biche]

Sorry, I meant there would be no other fish in the tank, just the 'O'

 

[rallysman]

I do know that you should keep up on water changes and filter maintenance, and if all possible remove carbon from your filters. Use an Aqua Clear and dont use the carbon, or something similar. This should help prevent HITH. Also feed a very varied diet!
goodluck

 

[evilfish]

feed them fish/meat or if you want to feed em pellets. but pellets are boring.

 

[Cyclop3000]

I also think a 55g for 1 oscar is enough, no problem. Oscars eat everything, expecially when they get larger. Juveniles I feed brine, bloodworms, chopped shrimps and chopped beef heart. Small guppies once a while keeps them moving around.

My oscars are getting big now, and they are like garbage cans. They'll eat anything I put in the tank. Earthworms, chopped fish, whitebait or silversides, shrimps, mussels, squid, goldfish, beef heart...name it they eat it. They especially enjoy the earthworms. And when i'm too lazy to thaw them food I give them pellets...they love those as well. Oh and they will love you if you feed them bettas

Good luck with the Oscar!

 

[nolemite]

I do know that you should keep up on water changes and filter maintenance, and if all possible remove carbon from your filters. Use an Aqua Clear and dont use the carbon, or something similar. This should help prevent HITH. Also feed a very varied diet!
goodluck

Are you suggesting that carbon is a cause of Hole-in-the-Head? From what I've read, I thought it was mainly from vitamin deficiencies.

To the thread starter, 55g I would say is probably a bare minimum, and once he gets full size in that tank, you'll ask yourself why you didn't just start off with a bigger tank in the first place. Keep up with the water changes like rallysman said, and you'll probably want to use at least one Aquaclear 500. Double up on the sponge.
Also, like rallysman says, a varied diet is good. When I had mine, they were getting Hikari pellets, Freeze Dried Krill, the occasional earthworm, frozen cocktail shrimp, and live Superworms. A note on the superworms: the Oscars really enjoyed these, but I heard from a person who I consider an authority on fish feeding afterward that fish have a difficult time digesting them. Perhaps large crickets would be an alternative. I would stay away from feeder goldfish.

 

[Fry]

how about 2 oscars in a 75g?

 

[rallysman]

Are you suggesting that carbon is a cause of Hole-in-the-Head? From what I've read, I thought it was mainly from vitamin deficiencies.

To the thread starter, 55g I would say is probably a bare minimum, and once he gets full size in that tank, you'll ask yourself why you didn't just start off with a bigger tank in the first place. Keep up with the water changes like rallysman said, and you'll probably want to use at least one Aquaclear 500. Double up on the sponge.
Also, like rallysman says, a varied diet is good. When I had mine, they were getting Hikari pellets, Freeze Dried Krill, the occasional earthworm, frozen cocktail shrimp, and live Superworms. A note on the superworms: the Oscars really enjoyed these, but I heard from a person who I consider an authority on fish feeding afterward that fish have a difficult time digesting them. Perhaps large crickets would be an alternative. I would stay away from feeder goldfish.

I've heard and read about carbon contributing to HITH, and when I moved my oscar to a tank without carbon filtration it did start to heal...HOWEVER there was a lot of other factors that could have had something to do with the healing process.....Also why use carbon when you dont need to? I try to just use it to remove meds or polish the water which isnt needed with regular water changes