I recently got a 150g (72"x18"x27") and think I might want to go with 2 oscars. I don't want to be constantly fighting the natural chemistry of my tap water. Testing immediately after de-chlorination, as well as 24 hours later gave me the same results... 7.6pH and 5-8°dKH. From what I've found 6-8pH and 12-15°dKH is the ideal range, yet someone on another forum told me my water is way too alkaline and way too hard for oscars and would cause health issues. These seem to be two very different opinions so who to believe?
Water chemistry for Oscars
- Thread starter Ryan_M
- Start date
For what it's worth, the water in my area is very hard with a PH of 8.2.
Oscars are very popular here & are sold in every fish store.
a local friend has successfully kept a healthy pair of Oscar's for years.
IMO. Keeping a clean well maintained tank, is often more important than having the prescribed exact water parameters for a particular species.
Besides, hatchery fish, which include Oscars, are commercially bred in waters of differing parameters depending on geographical location.
Oscars are very popular here & are sold in every fish store.
a local friend has successfully kept a healthy pair of Oscar's for years.
IMO. Keeping a clean well maintained tank, is often more important than having the prescribed exact water parameters for a particular species.
Besides, hatchery fish, which include Oscars, are commercially bred in waters of differing parameters depending on geographical location.
Agree with this.
But something to be aware of, the harder, and more mineral rich the water, in combination with elevated nitrate, the more susceptible oscars are to being scarred up by HITH.
And if you search the disease area, you will notice the plethora of posts about HITH and oscars.
This may be a result of them being so popular, but not realizing the importance of low nitrate water..
I believe if you are willing to do the appropriate amount of water changes to keep nitrate below 10ppm, water parameters such as high pH, and mineral content are non-consequential.
But this may mean multiple significant water changes per week, and frequent filter cleanings.
What is the hardness of the water (GH)? PH is not a measure of water hardness. You could be fine with hard water (GH 12+degrees) and moderate nitrates (nitrates between 10-20ppm) for 7 years, but eventually issues pop up like HITH.