ocean4freedom Posted October 2, 2006 Report Share Posted October 2, 2006 Hi, Well, I've finally got what I've been after for a number of years - An Oscar! :-D I read on the forum last week that Hutt Pets had some in, immediately called them up, "booked" him (Could also be a her?), and picked him up on Saturday. Really pleased! :bounce: Now he's back at home in a tank with a bigger pleco and nothing else. Now my question is, what tankmates would work with him? The oscar is about 8cm at the moment and the pleco is about 15cm, so they are both in 60L tank for the moment, but they'll head into my 250L when they outgrow it. I've been told Firemouths, a single Convict and plecos woudl be good ones to add. I've already got the pleco so not keen on another one. Any views/ideas/warnings appreciated!;-) Cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SpidersWeb Posted October 2, 2006 Report Share Posted October 2, 2006 Those baby oscars are sooo cute. Good buy! They will grow very fast at that size. With the combo you suggested 300L+ would be about right, 250 could be a little on the slim side. Absolutely great fish to own, congrats. Our guy is 9 inches now and eats a LOT of food (we make our own for him), he also had a Danio for dessert last night, but its handy as I have somewhere to put my ugly fish and excess snails now 8) Firemouths are great but they can be absolutle poofters if they dont settle in right. Convicts are cool unless there is a male/female pair. Common plecs are good for oscar tanks, not only are they covered in small spikes but they stick up for themselves and dont have huge tasty fins. Another fish idea (for the future) are severums (Gold or Green), Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caryl Posted October 2, 2006 Report Share Posted October 2, 2006 Please shift the fish before you think it is too big for its current tank. Keeping them in too small a tank stunts their growth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocean4freedom Posted October 2, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 2, 2006 Don't wory Caryl, I'll be shifting them long before that is a possibility! What do you think would be a good match? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharn Posted October 2, 2006 Report Share Posted October 2, 2006 IMO in a 250L you would want nothing but a O and small pleco (commons get too large, so youll wana keep trading the big ones in for smaller ones). it is reccomended 55gal per adult O + small pleco which works out around 220L. you can substitute that pleco for a FM/con/other smaller hardy cichlid if you like. if you got a 75gal/300L (can ya tell i spend too much time on american sites lol?) you would be able to get away with a O, small pleco and another medium cichlid like a sev, jack dempsy etc. oscars are extremely messy fish and plecos are too, plecos seem to produce more waste than they eat :lol: you also want some good filtration on the tank, it is reccomended 5x per hour minimum with canisters or 10x per hour minium with internals/hobs etc. a canister/hob combo works really well. once hes 12-14" you will see why they need so much room, they are clumsy, messy brutes and require as much room as possible and you wont think the tank looks so empty then :lol: once they hit around 6" they start to hit puberty too which is when they can go a bit silly. most go thru a redecorating stage and some get extremely violent- best friends can become enemies in minutes so you need to watch out for tankmates during the 6-9" stage just incase. good luck with your O, they are great pets and will become like a family cat/dog in no time Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.PROPHECY Posted October 2, 2006 Report Share Posted October 2, 2006 14inch lol you dont see to many of them around do ya Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharn Posted October 2, 2006 Report Share Posted October 2, 2006 i know of quite a few but thats only cause im really into oscars and spend hours searching the web for pics of the big ones :lol: i think Tracey has a 14"er (not too sure ) but they are fairly common around the world. 12"ers are the average but 14 isnt uncommon, saw a 16"er once and oh my would i have loved to get my hands on that baby :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.PROPHECY Posted October 2, 2006 Report Share Posted October 2, 2006 16!!! wow! thort they max out at 35cm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharn Posted October 2, 2006 Report Share Posted October 2, 2006 35 is a good size (14"), i cant for the life of me find that 16" i saw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.PROPHECY Posted October 2, 2006 Report Share Posted October 2, 2006 anyway back to the topic i use to (up until last week) have my tank 300l tank overstocked but still worked well for over a year (till the fish got to big lol) i had 2x oscars both 25cm in length a red head cichlid 25cm in length 2x jackdempseys 15cm convict 10cm a foot long pacu and a 35cm pleco and i had no problems realy except the fish outgrew the tank lol just example of my tank, not recomended unless you have good filteration and do frequent water changes Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A.PROPHECY Posted October 2, 2006 Report Share Posted October 2, 2006 for a 250l tank id recomend some geo's (earth eaters) would look good and not agressive Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ocean4freedom Posted October 5, 2006 Author Report Share Posted October 5, 2006 Cheers for the help guys - gave me lots to think about and some direction for future plans Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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