Oscar Questions -

Hello. Someone just bought me an Oscar to go with my goldfish in my 150g. I explained to them that Oscars couldn't be kept with goldfish and that I probably wouldn't be able to keep the fish but as it turns out the fish is from out of town so I can't return it. SO I have a new oscar! Yayy for me.

Anyway I don't know what type of oscar it is (I'll be posting pictures soon) but it's about 2.5-3 inches long. For the moment its in a cycled 17g tank that has filters for around 70g so the filtration is good. The people brought it over just as I was cleaning my 17g so the poor thing was acclimatized to a bucket full of water and then again when It was put in my tank. It was lying around not moving much at all, but that might have been due to my tank being cold. Anyway it was put in last night and this morning it was still lying around which, I hear, is normal for oscars.

The people just arrived at my house again this evening with yet ANOTHER oscar . They said that they had bought two, one for them one for me, and thought about what I said about oscars not living with goldfish. So they decided that since they had goldfish and didn't want another tank they would just bring it over to me because mine probably needed a 'buddy'.

SO now I have two oscars in a 17g soon to be moved to my 75g. I just need some tips on keeping oscars.

1) What temperature should they be kept at usually, in Celsius if you don't mind?

2) What type of decor do they like? At the moment I have medium sized sand mixed with gravel with a single amazon sword in the corner and a small terracotta pot.

3) Can they survive well in a pH of 8.0?

4) Do they like schools better than just being two together?

5) Would they be able to live with largish angelfish and a Firemouth cichlid?

6) Do they like taller tanks rather than longer tanks?

7) Would it be better to have a lot of large rocks and caves in the tank?

8) Will it be alright for the oscars to stay in the 17g with the 70g filtration for at least a few weeks?

9) What are normal signs of disease in an oscar?

10) Since I don't know about sexes of these two oscars, is there a possibility of aggression in the tank if there is two males?

11) (A) And now for my biggest concern, FOOD. I have two kinds of food available for the oscars, other than feeder fish (ew) and veggies, if they eat it. These two types are Omega and C.P. Cichlid. I feed my flowerhorns C.P. Cichlid. Due to the fact that most people know what Omega is made up of, and I don't have an available packet to copy the contents, I'll just tell you what C.P. Cichlid is made up of. [INGREDIENTS : Fish Meal, Soybean Meal, Corn Gluten mea, Yellow Corn, Wheat Flower, Shrimp Meal, Fish oil, Monocalcium Phosphate, Food Coloring, Astaxanthin, Vitamins&Minerals.] [NUTRITIONAL COMPOSITION: Crude Protein Min. 35%, Crude Fat Min. 4%, Crude Fiber Max. 5%, Moisture Max. 12%. ] What do you think of this food for oscars? Would it be better for them to get C.P. Cichlid or Omega? Or should I mix the two and feed it to them?

(B) I also feed my flowerhorns a fish once a week. These fish are wild caught from the river near my house. I hire fishermen's kids to catch me about a pound of fish that are 1-2in long once a month. I then take these fish, which are dead a few hours before a get them, and deep freeze them whole after rinsing them off in R.O. water. After been frozen solid for over a week I take a single fish out of the bag and soak it in boiling water for about a minute. I then feed it to my flowerhorns as a treat. After my oscars begin to recognize me and stop being so skittish can I feed them half a fish once a week? Would this be a good addition to their diet?

C) What veggies should I feed them? I have considered giving them frozen peas soaked in hot water (taking the husk off of course). What else is a good veggie to feed them after they settle down?

12) Last but not least, should I put in a small pleco in their tank to keep the walls clean in case of algae? I think they'll probably eat small corries, correct me if I'm wrong, and a rainbow shark.


Thanks for reading my huge wall of text! Sorry for writing so much but I just wanted to make sure I had all my information out. I'll post pictures soon of them so you can assess their health and tank. Please speak your mind on what I should do, don't hold anything back! Thanks again.

 

Good morning,

Congrats on the new Oscars and accepting them graciously even though the gift is something you may not have chosen for yourself. Live pets as surprise gifts can put a person in a difficult situation.

Here is a link or two to get your started while you wait for other responses. Best wishes to you and your fish and I'll be looking forward to photos.

Ken

 

Thanks Ken! Although I have MORE bad news on the oscars. But, as I don't have time to type it all out, I'll wait till later this morning. I'll definitely check out those sites.

 

Hello. Someone just bought me an Oscar to go with my goldfish in my 150g. I explained to them that Oscars couldn't be kept with goldfish and that I probably wouldn't be able to keep the fish but as it turns out the fish is from out of town so I can't return it. SO I have a new oscar! Yayy for me.

Anyway I don't know what type of oscar it is (I'll be posting pictures soon) but it's about 2.5-3 inches long. For the moment its in a cycled 17g tank that has filters for around 70g so the filtration is good. The people brought it over just as I was cleaning my 17g so the poor thing was acclimatized to a bucket full of water and then again when It was put in my tank. It was lying around not moving much at all, but that might have been due to my tank being cold. Anyway it was put in last night and this morning it was still lying around which, I hear, is normal for oscars.

The people just arrived at my house again this evening with yet ANOTHER oscar . They said that they had bought two, one for them one for me, and thought about what I said about oscars not living with goldfish. So they decided that since they had goldfish and didn't want another tank they would just bring it over to me because mine probably needed a 'buddy'.

SO now I have two oscars in a 17g soon to be moved to my 75g. I just need some tips on keeping oscars.

1) What temperature should they be kept at usually, in Celsius if you don't mind?

2) What type of decor do they like? At the moment I have medium sized sand mixed with gravel with a single amazon sword in the corner and a small terracotta pot.

3) Can they survive well in a pH of 8.0?

4) Do they like schools better than just being two together?

5) Would they be able to live with largish angelfish and a Firemouth cichlid?

6) Do they like taller tanks rather than longer tanks?

7) Would it be better to have a lot of large rocks and caves in the tank?

8) Will it be alright for the oscars to stay in the 17g with the 70g filtration for at least a few weeks?

9) What are normal signs of disease in an oscar?

10) Since I don't know about sexes of these two oscars, is there a possibility of aggression in the tank if there is two males?

11) (A) And now for my biggest concern, FOOD. I have two kinds of food available for the oscars, other than feeder fish (ew) and veggies, if they eat it. These two types are Omega and C.P. Cichlid. I feed my flowerhorns C.P. Cichlid. Due to the fact that most people know what Omega is made up of, and I don't have an available packet to copy the contents, I'll just tell you what C.P. Cichlid is made up of. [INGREDIENTS : Fish Meal, Soybean Meal, Corn Gluten mea, Yellow Corn, Wheat Flower, Shrimp Meal, Fish oil, Monocalcium Phosphate, Food Coloring, Astaxanthin, Vitamins&Minerals.] [NUTRITIONAL COMPOSITION: Crude Protein Min. 35%, Crude Fat Min. 4%, Crude Fiber Max. 5%, Moisture Max. 12%. ] What do you think of this food for oscars? Would it be better for them to get C.P. Cichlid or Omega? Or should I mix the two and feed it to them?

(B) I also feed my flowerhorns a fish once a week. These fish are wild caught from the river near my house. I hire fishermen's kids to catch me about a pound of fish that are 1-2in long once a month. I then take these fish, which are dead a few hours before a get them, and deep freeze them whole after rinsing them off in R.O. water. After been frozen solid for over a week I take a single fish out of the bag and soak it in boiling water for about a minute. I then feed it to my flowerhorns as a treat. After my oscars begin to recognize me and stop being so skittish can I feed them half a fish once a week? Would this be a good addition to their diet?

C) What veggies should I feed them? I have considered giving them frozen peas soaked in hot water (taking the husk off of course). What else is a good veggie to feed them after they settle down?

12) Last but not least, should I put in a small pleco in their tank to keep the walls clean in case of algae? I think they'll probably eat small corries, correct me if I'm wrong, and a rainbow shark.


Thanks for reading my huge wall of text! Sorry for writing so much but I just wanted to make sure I had all my information out. I'll post pictures soon of them so you can assess their health and tank. Please speak your mind on what I should do, don't hold anything back! Thanks again.

ok here we go

1. I aint so good at cel but I would go 26 to 28

2 for decor the oscars will let you know what they like and dislike lol I would stay away from anything that has sharp or pointy edges though

3 as long as the ph is stable they will do just fine

4 because of there size they are usually kept in singles or pairs ( if they can get along!) anything more than this requires a huge tank!!! ( were talkin 300 plus gallons )

5 the firemouths they should be ok with I have no experience in trying to keep them with angels

6 they would prefer the long tank

7 I would make sure the rocks and caves are big enough that they can't move them

8 these fish grow at a an extreme rate for the first year so I would keep them in there for as short a time as you possibly can

9 depends on the disease if you see something you don't like I would take pictures test the water and do some research and post

10 there cichlids aggression is always a possibility you will just have to keep a close eye on them especially when they get larger

11 A. any good cichlid pellet will work
B there is really no nutritional value for the oscars in this so my preference is no
C you can try lots of veggies on them not saying they will eat them but you can try lol

12 as long as the tank is big enough and you introduce the pleco as early as possible so the oscars may not see it as a food source ( another reason not feed feeder fish) and your tank is big enough and your filtration system can handle it since oscars and plecs are massive waste producers

on a side note some people will tell you that 75 gallons is enough for two oscars but I have to disagree and tell you that for 2 adult size oscars alone I would go no smaller than 120 gallons not saying it can't be done with massive filtration and lots of hard work with water changes and stuff but to me 120 gallons would be easier to maintain

 

Skies the limit with these oscars, very awesome fish