Fishman13

I keep a zebra oscar that I bought about 6 mos ago at 1.5" in size, in a 29G all to itself. Oscar is about 5" or so now, maybe 6". In a book I read, which in the past the author has proven to have great knowledge about his subjects, he says it's ok to house one oscar only in a 29G for life and he will be happy if you do the following: Only a handful of gravel for the oscar to play and dig around with and some floating plastic plants, increased filtration 2 filters strong enough where one of them would be capable of filtering a tank of normal fish, and water changes at least 2x a week, changing 50% of the water over the course of one week. And obviously good fishkeeping practices...no overfeeding, proper water chemistry, ect. What do the oscar experts think about this?
Has anyone ever successfully kept a full grown oscar in a 29g for life and had the fish live 10+ years?

Thanks for your time and help

Blub

Neville

That's not a good idea! Oscars require at least a 55g tank! i've bought a 100g tank recently just to keep an oscar. They may grow up to more than a feet and can live for 10 yrs or more! Plants r not necessary for them if u put any they will dig it up but that's fun to watch. they will play with a handful of rocks u can also keep large rocks just to make the tank look nice, if u want ot keep tankmates u have to go for at least a 100 or 125 gallon tank. They r messy fish and requires good filtration and regualr water changes.

Blub

Barbrella

Keeping a fish alive is one thing. Keeping it properly and humanely is another.

A 29 gal tank is 30" x 12". An 12+ inch Oscar would barely have enough room to move and that would be inhumane.

Me too!

Wilhelm Joshua Tan

This are the accounts:
30 gallons-1
55-2
75-3
220-5-8

Neville

well, i'm not sure whether that is helpful or harmful for Oscars, but if u keep an oscar in a small tank, the fish stops growing, but its internal organs do not stop growing so eventually there's hardly any room inside the oscar for its internal organs! so this is harmful for the fish.