Possible oscar

Hey there

I currently have a 100 gallon tank containing 5 tinfoil barbs (about 3-4inches each). I been seriously thinking about adding 1-2 oscars (maybe 1 because of their size) to the tank. What are your thoughts on this? will 2 oscars overstock it? Will 1 overstock it? Filtration isn't an issue I believe, my filter does 360 gals an hour. (With oscars you need double the tank size an hour I hear, so 200)

Anyways any help is greatly apreciated, ive done research but figured I would post first incase this is a mistake

 

Your Barbs will get larger, so you need to factor that in. You need to think about the adult size of the fish. It's not just about the filtration but space too.

Welcome to Fishlore!

 

Given my aquarium setup do you think I have the room? The 1 inch per gallon says so unless I'm missing something obvious

 

the 1 inch pergallon is Useless beyond compare

These guys will obtain 12" easy, and possibly up to 14-16" Its a big fish. 360 on a 100 gallon tank is not much. For those fish alone your looking at 1,000gph. Canister filters would probably work best with and HOB to help aerate the water, which is something they will like. Now, as for adding an oscar I think you will over go the bio load and space limits of the tank.

 

1000 gallons an hour? Wow that must cost an arm and a leg.. My canister cost about 300 if I remember right

 

You are under filtered for that size tank. For canisters the guideline is 5x the filtration. More is better. Depending on the stocking. You've got about 4x the filtration. For an Oscar you want 8-10x filtration as they are messy and large weekly water changes.

Jaysee is really good at filtration, maybe he will chime in shortly and if an Oscar is a good or bad idea.

 

Yes canister filters are less so then HOB, with HOB the general rule, which I admit isn't perfect, is 10GPH to the gallon. Of course, you can have more or less depending on bioload, many perffer more. Canisters are 5x -7x I believe. I agree that Jaysee should be able to better work this one out, hes probably also got some good ideas on the stocking as well.

 

I have a 60 gallon tank with an Oscar and a Flowerhorn and 2 parrot fish. It is too small and they are moving tI a 280 this weekend. You definitely do not have room for 2 Oscars. And, you will have to increase your gph. I believe that has already been addressed.

With my Oscar and FH I do 50% water changes and vacuum every 3 to 4 days. My filtration running at almost 1000 gallon per hour to compensate for the bio load. If you are prepared for keeping up on the maintenance I would do it. There is nothing more wonderful than my Oscar. He is more like a dog than a fish. He shows off for me, tries to get attention and begs for food. He'll even do a trick or two to try and get food from me. But you have to be committed to constant water changes, because they are very sensative to ammonia and nitrites and high nitrates. I can tell when something is wrong when his fins get ragid or a fungus appears on his pectoral fins - it is all water qualtiy related.

 

I would also like to add that you should add atleast 1 or 2 more barbs, they like larger schools. I still don't think a 100 will do for tinfoils and a oscar.

 

Makes sense, originally I was going to do a piranha tank but the risk of losing my arm petrified me lol (yes I realise its a misconception)
Sounds like ill just have to keep upgrading filtering systems with time and one day ill be ready for an oscar.. 1000 gph is out of my current reach

 

Good morning,

Filtration: One option would be to add 2 Aqua Clear 110's @ 500gph each. This would give you a total of 1360 GPH (gallons per hour) keeping your canister filter running too.

Currently with a special sale price of $63.56 each. A very good price!

For such large fish that you are wanting to keep, the more filtration the better as long as the fish are not being blown around the tank by the current. The fish you have mentioned should be able to handle the current with no issues.

Reaching the GPH needed for your aquarium may not be so far out of reach as you may think. These Aqua Clear filters do a great job and are lower priced than the canister filters. I'm currently running 6 of them on all of my tanks in addition to Wet/Dry filtration. I highly recommend the Aqua Clears. Note these are Hang On Back (HOB) and not canisters.

I'm sure others will chime in with stocking suggestions and tips.

Ken

 

I agree that current should be no issues, the barbs will probably like it tbh.

 

How does the waste from an oscar compare to a say a blood parrot or jd?

 

Well, BP and JD are generally smaller then oscars, but BP tend to like company so say having 3-4 of them may equal a oscars bioload, Ken would know more on that.

 

Good morning,

I would consider all 3, Oscar, Bloody Parrot, Jack Dempsey, large waste producers. I've kept them all over the years but I can't really say one produces more waste than the others.

Ken

 

Filtration isn't a problem for me, I can always buy more filters. Its the tank space that worries me