A quick question about small Oscars,...

"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.


Please don't buy an Oscar for a 30g tank, you need twice the size. Before
you know it, the poor Oscar won't even be able to turn around in the tank.
Then you will have to sell it, give it away (not likely), or get a new tank.
No offence meant, but I must surmise from you previous posts, that you are
not really in a position to purchase bigger tanks. I would urge you to not
buy the Oscar.
Rick

"Beano" wrote in message
oups.com...
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.

I keep my 10in Oscar in a 60g tank, he lives with a large pleco and a small
(3 1/2in Jewel chiclid). The Jewel lives in a clay pot and he eats a good
bit of what the Oscar spills out of his gills. If it wasn't for him, my once
a week vacums wouldn't even be enough. I must tell you, it's very hard to
find a tank mate for an Oscar in a tank of that size.

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 read on a few websites that pleco's are just as messy as oscars.
Aren't they a bad combination? I mean sure they eat the oscars left
over food, but then they go and produce their own waste - won't this
just put more ammonia in there?

Anyway, regardless of whether pleco's and oscars are a good combo, in
this case, there isn't enough room for either of these fish alone in a
30gal tank, let alone both at the same time!

Save up your money for a big tank, it's worth it!

I agree a bigger tank is needed, but "any" tank mate will add ammonia,
and the pleco does good in its size and hardiness and ability to live
wth the oscar and do a decent job of clean up and not get picked on
in the process.

On 15 Feb 2006 05:59:35 -0800, "Beano"
wrote:
I read on a few websites that pleco's are just as messy as oscars.
Aren't they a bad combination? I mean sure they eat the oscars left
over food, but then they go and produce their own waste - won't this
just put more ammonia in there?

Anyway, regardless of whether pleco's and oscars are a good combo, in
this case, there isn't enough room for either of these fish alone in a
30gal tank, let alone both at the same time!

Save up your money for a big tank, it's worth it!

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


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

"Beano" wrote in message
oups.com...
I read on a few websites that pleco's are just as messy as oscars.
Aren't they a bad combination? I mean sure they eat the oscars left
over food, but then they go and produce their own waste - won't this
just put more ammonia in there?

25 to 30% water changes every week take care of the waste.

Anyway, regardless of whether pleco's and oscars are a good combo, in
this case, there isn't enough room for either of these fish alone in a
30gal tank, let alone both at the same time!

Save up your money for a big tank, it's worth it!

You a absolutely correct (see my other response in this thread)

"~Roy~" wrote in message
...
I agree a bigger tank is needed, but "any" tank mate will add ammonia,
and the pleco does good in its size and hardiness and ability to live
wth the oscar and do a decent job of clean up and not get picked on
in the process.


The Jewel that lives in the clay pot also helps out, at feed time he hangs
out under the Oscar and waits for the "crumbs" to fall. Not much makes it to
the "floor" I have found this to be a nice combo for my 60g. Clean and
healty.

On 15 Feb 2006 05:59:35 -0800, "Beano"
wrote:
I read on a few websites that pleco's are just as messy as oscars.
Aren't they a bad combination? I mean sure they eat the oscars left
over food, but then they go and produce their own waste - won't this
just put more ammonia in there?

Anyway, regardless of whether pleco's and oscars are a good combo, in
this case, there isn't enough room for either of these fish alone in a
30gal tank, let alone both at the same time!

Save up your money for a big tank, it's worth it!

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


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

"Rick" wrote in message
. ..

"Beano" wrote in message
oups.com...
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.

I keep my 10in Oscar in a 60g tank, he lives with a large pleco and a
small (3 1/2in Jewel chiclid). The Jewel lives in a clay pot and he
eats a good bit of what the Oscar spills out of his gills. If it wasn't
for him, my once a week vacums wouldn't even be enough. I must tell
you, it's very hard to find a tank mate for an Oscar in a tank of that
size.

That's a good arrangement. Oscars are very messy eaters with dried
foods. They're much better with softer foods (fish, worms, mysis shrimp
etc). With dried foods, adding another fish to feed under the Oscar adds
more bio-load, but then all that rotting uneaten food is quite a heavy
bioload as well (probably worse). A pleco would not be so advantageous
though (imo), as it consumes algae, adding to the waste, and the algae
was helping to remove the waste. Also they can get huge, and the small
ones can get stuck in the Oscar's throat. Having said all that, big
plecos habitate well with Oscars, but you need serious filtration
systems.

I think you've gotten lots of good advice in this thread. All I can add
is that Oscars are more like pets than most fish (which gravitate towards
hobby), and that with an Oscar, you will become one with your gravel
vacuum ;~).

Do heed the advice on growth rates and tank size. Under good water &
food conditions (which I think you could provide), they grow *very*
quickly.
--
www.NetMax.tk

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.

Ah,...Alas, I have decided to love them from afar,...C'est la vie, mon
ami,...And thanks folks,... If any of y'all ever get ta thinking about
purchasing an exotic, non-aquatic pet,...i.e., a snake, lizard,
tarantula, scorpion, et cetera, and have any questions, e-mail me. I
used to be a zoo keeper, way, way back in the stone agesLOL Pax
Vobiscum,...~Dean.

CON: Much nicer fish avail. for a lot less work.

"Papa Red" wrote in message
...
Ah,...Alas, I have decided to love them from afar,...C'est la vie, mon
ami,...And thanks folks,... If any of y'all ever get ta thinking about
purchasing an exotic, non-aquatic pet,...i.e., a snake, lizard,
tarantula, scorpion, et cetera, and have any questions, e-mail me. I
used to be a zoo keeper, way, way back in the stone agesLOL Pax
Vobiscum,...~Dean.

the Oscar thanks you, no doubt but on a totally different subject,
what did you end up doing
with your gaggle of 10-gallon tanks??

lila pilamaya

"Papa Red" wrote in message
...
Ah,...Alas, I have decided to love them from afar,...C'est la vie, mon
ami,...And thanks folks,... If any of y'all ever get ta thinking about
purchasing an exotic, non-aquatic pet,...i.e., a snake, lizard,
tarantula, scorpion, et cetera, and have any questions, e-mail me. I
used to be a zoo keeper, way, way back in the stone agesLOL Pax
Vobiscum,...~Dean.



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