A quick question about small Oscars,...

Just how quickly would an Oscar that is currently only about 2½ to 3
inches in size, out grow a 30 gallon aquarium? I am thinking about
purchasing one, and placing him or her into an aquarium that is
currently equipped with both a Dolphin 200 and a Whisper power filter
20, to help keep it clean. I might also add a Pleco to the tank to help
keep it clean too,...Any help on this matter would be very much
appreciated. ~Dean.

I would say about 1 1/2 - 2 years. If its the ONLY fish in there.

"Papa Red" wrote in message
...
Just how quickly would an Oscar that is currently only about 2½ to 3
inches in size, out grow a 30 gallon aquarium? I am thinking about
purchasing one, and placing him or her into an aquarium that is
currently equipped with both a Dolphin 200 and a Whisper power filter
20, to help keep it clean. I might also add a Pleco to the tank to help
keep it clean too,...Any help on this matter would be very much
appreciated. ~Dean.

Depends on how much its fed and what you feed it.

On Tue, 14 Feb 2006 17:16:59 -0500, (Papa Red)
wrote:
Just how quickly would an Oscar that is currently only about 2½ to 3
inches in size, out grow a 30 gallon aquarium? I am thinking about
purchasing one, and placing him or her into an aquarium that is
currently equipped with both a Dolphin 200 and a Whisper power filter
20, to help keep it clean. I might also add a Pleco to the tank to help
keep it clean too,...Any help on this matter would be very much
appreciated. ~Dean.

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The original frugal ponder ! Koi-ahoi mates....

I am now seriously considering going over to my LFS sometime in the
next few days, and if the same Oscar that I saw there today is still
there, I am going to purchase it, unless you folks can convince me that
I shouldn't.
Like I posted earlier, I currently have a 30 gallon aquarium that the
Oscar can call it's home. The fish currently living in there, three
small Bala sharks and three small Gouramis will be traded in. I have a
ten gallon tank with a cracked glass that I could raise crickets in, to
feed the Oscar. And there is a petro station nearby that sells frozen
bait shrimp, as well as other frozen fishing bait, to also feed the
Oscar.
Of the Oscars that my local shop has, only the one that I want to
purchase is not an unattractive whitish flesh colour. The particular
Oscar that I want is one that is predominantly greenish-black in color.
And it seems far more alert and observant of the things that are going
on around it, than any of the others that are there for sale. Also, I
have no idea how to tell it's gender, but if I do purchase it, I think
that I will call it "Fred". Any help on the pros and cons of owning an
Oscar would be very much appreciated. Thanks.~Dean.

You might want to check out the cichlid newgroup at
rec.aquaria.freshwater.cichlid. They would be a good choice to pose
questions to regarding your future cichlid.

Not to say that there aren't a lot of experienced posters here. It's just
that the cichlid newsgroup would be more catered to your fish of choice.

Fishman

"Papa Red" wrote in message
...
I am now seriously considering going over to my LFS sometime in the
next few days, and if the same Oscar that I saw there today is still
there, I am going to purchase it, unless you folks can convince me that
I shouldn't.
Like I posted earlier, I currently have a 30 gallon aquarium that the
Oscar can call it's home. The fish currently living in there, three
small Bala sharks and three small Gouramis will be traded in. I have a
ten gallon tank with a cracked glass that I could raise crickets in, to
feed the Oscar. And there is a petro station nearby that sells frozen
bait shrimp, as well as other frozen fishing bait, to also feed the
Oscar.
Of the Oscars that my local shop has, only the one that I want to
purchase is not an unattractive whitish flesh colour. The particular
Oscar that I want is one that is predominantly greenish-black in color.
And it seems far more alert and observant of the things that are going
on around it, than any of the others that are there for sale. Also, I
have no idea how to tell it's gender, but if I do purchase it, I think
that I will call it "Fred". Any help on the pros and cons of owning an
Oscar would be very much appreciated. Thanks.~Dean.

Ok, here goes. Short story is, you can keep it in there a little while
but really seriously consider buying a much bigger tank. I'll tell you
why:

I have had 3 oscars since I started fishkeeping. The first one lived
in my 20gal, but died after 6 months. It was 5cm when I bought it and
about 8cm long when it died. The 2nd one, lived for about the same
amount of time in the same tank, but grew even slower.

My 3rd one, which is my current living oscar, started off for the first
2 weeks in the old 20gal then I bought a 65gal (4 foot long) tank. He
was the smallest of all the oscars when I purchased him, but in only 3
months is already much bigger than the other two were at 6 months!

So my point is, their growth will be stunted if the tank is too small
and the water is not pristine. I'm quite sure my first two died
because I could not keep the maintenance of their tank up - Oscars are
messy messy eaters and they spit out a lot of what they eat through
their gills (you'll see when you watch them eat). So a lot ends up
rotting on the bottom of the tank. You'll find pretty quickly in a
30gal tank that the water will start to smell really bad and the
buildup of toxins in the water will be enough to affect the fish within
a few months.

Experts recommend that a single oscar needs at least a 55gal tank. If
you want two then you need an even bigger one. Any smaller and you
risk your fish suffering stunted growth, and development of diseases
such as Hole in the head (HITH) also known as head and lateral line
erosion (HLLE) - there's some pics of this on google.

You can occasionally find really cheap tanks on ebay. That's where I
got mine from! And I live in a 1 bedroom granny flat, it's small, but
I managed to fit the tank into my combined bathroom laundry...

Good luck, I recommend buying an oscar, they are the coolest fish, but
you'll only be able to house it in the 30 gal for maybe 2 months if
your lucky.

I've had Oscars grow from that size to ten inches within a year - IMO you
shouldn't get one unless you'll be getting a 90g+ tank within the next 3/4
months - if well kept they grow fast. If you can't keep them well don't keep
them at all.

Hi..

Any help on the pros and cons
of owning an Oscar would be very much appreciated.

Well, I remember someone who asked (me) on the pros and cons
of keeping fish and that I wasn't able to answer her
question in a way she finally accepted. ;-)

I'm with Sue..

cu
Marco

"Sue" wrote in message
...
I've had Oscars grow from that size to ten inches within a year - IMO
you
shouldn't get one unless you'll be getting a 90g+ tank within the next
3/4
months - if well kept they grow fast. If you can't keep them well don't
keep
them at all.



Agreed..also I think the OP has oft-stated that he is on a fixed
income..this may or
may not put the kibosh on purchasing
a large-ish tank to accommodate an Oscar. Let alone the upkeep and
associated costs.

JMO

lila pilamaya

PS Netmax..thanks for the heads-up on my syntax..working on trying to
figure out what changed..
not deliberate in any case.

I think oscars are enat, but they do require a good filtratin system
as they can get messy, and they do relatively large so sufficieint
size is another concern. I had two small oscars one time that we used
to feed live minnows to. I had a creek in the back yard and used to
catch minnows all the time to feed them. Those two used to eat the
minnows out of yur hand and even jump to get the minnows if yu held
them up out of the water.They were pretty neat, but they soon outgrew
even the 55 gal tank they were in. As in your other post concerning
them and adding a pleco. Thats a good combo to have.

On Tue, 14 Feb 2006 23:00:55 -0500, (Papa Red)
wrote:
I am now seriously considering going over to my LFS sometime in the
next few days, and if the same Oscar that I saw there today is still
there, I am going to purchase it, unless you folks can convince me that
I shouldn't.
Like I posted earlier, I currently have a 30 gallon aquarium that the
Oscar can call it's home. The fish currently living in there, three
small Bala sharks and three small Gouramis will be traded in. I have a
ten gallon tank with a cracked glass that I could raise crickets in, to
feed the Oscar. And there is a petro station nearby that sells frozen
bait shrimp, as well as other frozen fishing bait, to also feed the
Oscar.
Of the Oscars that my local shop has, only the one that I want to
purchase is not an unattractive whitish flesh colour. The particular
Oscar that I want is one that is predominantly greenish-black in color.
And it seems far more alert and observant of the things that are going
on around it, than any of the others that are there for sale. Also, I
have no idea how to tell it's gender, but if I do purchase it, I think
that I will call it "Fred". Any help on the pros and cons of owning an
Oscar would be very much appreciated. Thanks.~Dean.

--
\\\|///
( @ @ )
-----------oOOo(_)oOOo---------------


oooO
---------( )----Oooo----------------
\ ( ( )
\_) ) /
(_/
The original frugal ponder ! Koi-ahoi mates....