kamakazi5815

well i just recently went to wal-mart and bought me some Oscars there about what maybe 2 inches long tops and i put them into my 29 gallon tank. its suppose to be a inch of fish = a gallon of water right? well kinda getting concerned case i also have two of the sucker fishes in there right now ant there about 5 to 6 inches in length right now. also my Oscars have just been staying at the bottom of the tank in this little corner is something wrong with them? well I've had this tank for quiet a while now but just never really had fish in it cause they always died i just want the best information that any of you people can give me and can you give me a diet plan of what they should be eating? hey i just want to keep these fish alive for once instead of them dieing lol :P

Nick G

Welcome to Fishlore. I'm sorry to tell you that your tank is way overstocked. Oscars need a minimum of 55gal for one and at least 75gal for a pair. If your sucker fish are common plecos they'll need a minimum of 75gal too. Oscars and Plecos are incredibly messy fish with massive bioloads. Oscars grow to 12 inches minimum and Plecos can reach 24 inches in length. I'm afraid a 29gal tank isn't even big enough to hold one of these fish as they all grow extremely quickly. Maybe you could look at moving them into a bigger tank?

TropicalGrimmish

1st you need to read this link a bout the nitrogen cycle. http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm

kamakazi5815

well yeah thanks for the advice i guess i'll have two save up some money and get me a 55 maybe probably 70 gallon tank but thats pretty big and thats gonna take time to strat the nitrogen cycle in will my tank hold up till then??

Nick G

Change 50% of the water everyday and you should be okay for now. See if you can get a water conditioner called 'Prime" as well, and add it to the new water you add to the tank. You'll need to change 50% of the water daily until your tank is cycled. You can buy a test kit or the pet store will probably test the water for you. Seriously though,the fish WILL outgrow the tank quickly, so you'll need to do something with them or they won't have room to move. You can feed the Oscars cichlid pellets twice a day,or flake food while they're still small. Feed the Plecos algae wafers. They'll also eat algae from the tank.

mathas

To be honest, probably not.

Oscars and plecos are both very, very messy fish, and they both can grow quite quickly (1" per month is not uncommon for the first 6-8 months of an oscar's life). I'm assuming you just have a normal filter, whatever comes in most 29g starter kits... unfortunately, once the fish start to grow a bit, those filters do not enough turnover and room for media to cope with the waste produced by any one of the fish you have in there, let alone all of the fish you have in there. They are likely going to be exposed to toxic levels of ammonia and nitrites while the tank cycles. If that doesn't kill them outright, it's an open invitation to a disease called hole-in-the-head, which oscars seem prone to develop under poor water conditions.

And unfortunately, even if they all somehow survive the tank cycling until you can afford and cycle a larger tank, I wouldn't add those four fish to anything smaller than a 120g, preferably larger.

Nick Goody's advice of daily large water changes with Prime is a good suggestion, but in my opinion, the fish would be better off if you can return them or trade them in at a different store if the one you purchased from won't take returns.

kamakazi5815

well ok think i'll take nick's advice and change the water daily, get a test thingy to test the pH of my water and add that prime stuff in or some other fish water conditioner. yeah thats a bigg fish i really have thought it only grow to like 5 inches tops but might just buy another tank probably 70 gallons and take my plecos back to the pet store and get me one of those plecos that don't grow ats large i thnk? well i still have my little rosy barb thats been alive for live three years now liveing in my little 2.5 gallon tank lol so if i'm able to get a 70 gallon, i'll just restart my 29 gallon tank with easier fish to take care of and breeed hopefully lets just hope my parents let me spend all my money on this

Nick G

Don't be too hard on yourself. Any responsible pet store wouldn't have sold you those fish without checking your tank size first. Unfortunatly most stores just care about the sale, not the fish or buyer.

kamakazi5815

well my parents won't let me get a 70 gallon tank so i'm gonna return these fishes and start with a clean new fresh tank, maybe just get some easy fishes to take care of and i want live breeders so i can breed them without a big hassle i also got some test and my tank i think is looking good, the ph level is 7.1, the ammonia level is 0, and the nitrate level is 0.1 this is a healty tank right?

Fish Addict

Its close to one.. Do you have a nitrite test? If theres some, then I think its on its way to being cycled..