sharn

So yours dont defend off a good couple sqaure feet worth of tank?

gas bubble disease or whatever its called? dont think its very common though

My oscar is in a 460L with a severum, three silver dollars, a plec, a red tail shark (he was a rescue and would have been eaten if my O wasnt placid) and soon to be a synodontis. Other good companions if your oscar will allow it (some wont allow tank mates) are jack dempsies, firemouths, acaras, raphaels etc. Most new worlds do ok along with the larger cats. Giant danios or silver dollar are sometimes used to liven things up a bit. Oscars arent really the agro fish people think they are so there are a heap of tankmate options if you want to add some others depending on tank size. Like warren said 400L is really only best for two alone, perhaps a smaller plec, i wouldnt push your luck with big fish that can do damage just incase they decide to turn serial killer on another fish and its not an uncommon thing. Also i wouldnt attempt to get a breeding pair. If you get a pair you cant have anything else at all in that tank. And if buying juvenilies be aware they do go thru puberty and can get a bit wierd during that time. Anything from digging and moving things to attempting to kill anything in or near the tank. Oscars do require alot of room, but thats because theyre big messy fish but i wouldnt swap mine for anything. Hes defiantly one of the family and just as interactive as a dog You wont be dissapointed if you do decide to go ahead with them

Hey coelacanth, your syno zambezensis is a hemisynodontis membranaceus They were mislabelled on the list. Very cool dudes, got one myself

oscars!

Hummingbird- how are you able to do that if the tank needs them to complete a cycle? Do you just keep them and below detectable levels? If so wouldnt that take yonks to cycle?

I know its no excuse but its often not their fault, many employees are employed to work and sell prodcut, not to provide knowledge. Often the info they give you has been learnt from someone else that doesnt really know what the deal is with fish and it just goes downhill from there Leaving a tank for a day, or a week is going to make diddly squat worth of difference if there is nothing to start a cycle as you probably know :lol: At least with this crew here you'll be set

could just be spawning tiffs. keep an eye on him and see if you can pick out who may be bullying him

It sounds like your tank was cycling or it had a spike, your ammonia has dropped down and you may see your nitrite have a small spike soon. The reason your nitrates have dropped is because you did a w/c, they usually rise up as your nitrite drops back down and the cycle nears completion. I work at the one on hewletts road and i know what im talking about normally :lol: Unfortunatly a few stores would rather sell you a small tank than try and talk you into a larger tank just to get your cash (often people tell you to shutup and stop trying to take their money when you advise them that a larger tank is easier to keep ). If you do want to upgrade someone local may be able to help you out tank wise

We cant get Bio-Spira here, its a states thing i beleive and needs to be refridgerated 100% of the time otherwise it goes off. There are a few methods you can use to cycle a tank, fishless (using fish food, prawns, ammonia etc) or with fish and building up the stocking very slowly. One of the local club members may be able to chuck a handful of media from one of their established filters your way to get you started, what part of tauranga are you in?

I wouldnt go putting any meds on the wound directly at present if theres no signs of issues personally. Rams normally arent too fond of meds so clean water and a little melafix if you want (probably not needed tho) should do the trick. Im sure he will surprise you with his healing abilities :lol:

A 300L bin will fit two in comfortably. Long term to house all 4 together your looking at over 450L-500L, the bigger the better. Remember oscars are super messy fish so if you decide to take them on for a while have some good filtration or do frequent w/c's I do warn you though, they are easy to get attatched to so start eyeing up some space for a 6 footer now :lol:

I got a good tail slapping and a few pecks tonight from a discus who had eggs (normally have to push the blighters out of the way) and usually have to fend off the oscar. All of my fish are used to me having my hands in the tank, except my bristlenose and agassizi who usually run and hide :lol:

:lol: Gannet. Ill second that though, had problems with that brand.

Dont sweat it captain, im sure everyone here has been misinformed at one time or another and some more than others. I know ive made some big boo-boos in my time but you obviously care about them otherwise you wouldnt be on here and learning is how we make our fish happier

mine are 6500K, got them from a wholesaler also. paid around 12 each i think for them

Agree with the others re stocking. I think the 2 cons + oscar could work long term or the oscar and three silver dollars but the bgk get rather large and generally dont hold their own against boisterous cichlids too well. Also they cant match an oscars growth which could cause issues.

ive got thick sponge, filter wool and noodles in mine but i have a coarse sponge block over the intakes to catch any larger particles and that gets rinsed every time i clean the discus tank (every 3 days :lol: ). Its amazing how much crud i get out of them

Normally its actually harder to introduce another oscar than another species. Severums make good tankmates if your O will allow it in, alot of the time if theyve been alone for a while it can be hard to introduce other fish. A jack dempsy may also make a nice colourful addition. Geos, nics, firemouths, synos and so on also make good tankmates. Basically anything that isnt african (ph difference) and isnt too big (under 12"), in a 300L you are rather limited as to what you can put in with him seeing as they need 220L+ to themselves bare minimum. You also have other fish in there already. Dont over stock a tank just because it will look more active otherwise you may run into issues. My 460L looks relatively empty, it has an oscar, a severum, 3 silver dollars, a plec and a RT black shark in it but it works very well.

i would think it would get much too tall. what about that lilaeopsis mauritius grassy stuff? or perhaps tennellus chain sword (true or not true, they both stay low i think)?

two 200W should be fine. brand is up to you, personally i stay away from jebo and masterpet

im not too sure exactly :oops: in my case i didnt have much surface agitiation but i cant remember what else i had done differently (perhaps fed a different food or something) You can lay a piece of paper towel down over the gunk and that should lift it off

planaria?

up to you as to stocking (personally i think id leave it but its your tank ) but giant danios spring to mind if you want to get more?

protein film usually fixed by extra surface agitation IME