Do oscars get sick a lot?

Hi guys. I have always wanted to have a large indoor fish pond to keep a few fancy goldfish in. Over the years of keeping fancy goldfish I really loved them because they were cute and personable, and even though they probably just associated me with food it felt like they were always glad to see me. However, it was really discouraging when I would give them the best care and understocked tanked and quality food and frequent water changes and they would still constantly be getting sick. Just from their malformed bodies.

I want to start a 300 gallon stock pond, but maybe not for fancy goldfish anymore as I am tired of them always having issues. I am considering looking into just 1 or 2 oscars. Do they get sick a lot in y’all experience? I just want to explore some option of larger and hardier fish that are still personable.

 

With good care they shouldn't. For starters, they weren't bred to be deformed, so that at least helps.

 

Water quality is an Oscars best friend and yours!!! Buy the largest canister you can afford to turn the water over as many times possible in each hour.

Attached is a photo of our Oscar. He is almost 5 years old.

 

Mine never got any sickness and I fed them tetra sticks of some sort and minnows from the bait store.
My cousin's son left his Oscar with my cousin when he set off for his next bad life choice. My cousin fed that fish dry dog food for years and years. He was very unhappy when his kid came back and put a ton of fish he caught in the tank and killed the Oscar as well as all the added fish. Not a single medical issue until death and it was eating dry dog food its whole life.

Now if you throw an Oscar in a nitrate heavy tank it will be VERY unhappy, like lay flat on the bottom of the tank unhappy. It will get used to it and go back to being an Oscar but they are not fond of bad tank conditions.

Other than that I think one could live under the wheel of your car and be fine.

 

Oscars that are exposed to subpar water conditions long term are prone to contracting Hexamita aka Hole in the Head disease.