Oscars

[the_dragonslayer]

Oscars - Astronotus ocellatus :- is a member of the cichlid family. It's name derives from the Latin roots astron meaning star, and notus, meaning back, referring to the ocellated spot on both sides of the dorsal fin of the fish.

I have just come back home from having a look at a pair of Oscars that someone was selling and it broke my heart to see these two fish in a tank that was just too small for them. I did not buy them but I gave the owner a lot of advice.This has prompted me to come home and write this little note up for wanna be oscar keepers.

Most people do not realise that the cute little 1"oscar they bought in the pet store grows very very fast into this beautiful large oscar. I have seen too many oscars in tanks that just do not suit them. These are amazing fish with fantastic personalities and deserve a whole lot better. I have bred and kept oscars for many years and have also seen a lot of posts by people who want to keep these fish but don't know anything about what they require. It's always a good thing to because at least these people are asking the questions. I would hate to think about the ammount of people who do not ask questions and set up a tank for an Oscar or two or three that will just not suit them at all. These are my thoughts on what you should do set up a tank so you can keep these fish.

A fully grown Oscar can reach 12 inches in length and as you can imagine they do need a large tank. So if your tank is a small one find another fish to keep. Minimum tank for one specimen would be 120x45x45 cm about 250l.Extremely good filtration is required as these fish are messy eaters (mine were).Avoid bright lighting, people say this increases aggression but my opinion is these fish don’t like it.

I believe in natural decorations in my tanks, I stay away from little plastic divers, broken bells, ships etc, etc opting instead for natural driftwood and rocks with real plants. Just be warned that Oscars will rearrange your tank if they do not like how you have set it up (remember they have personalities). Also avoid sharp rocks/objects as these fish will fight (lip Lock esp when they are going to breed) and Oscars are always hitting into things and get hurt easily. They heal quickly, especially if water quality is maintained. Keep the water well filtered and clean. I do a water change of at least 25% minimum a week. - by doing so your Oscar will rarely get a disease and you will save yourself a lot of trouble. Good water quality is the key to healthy fish. They are not sensitive to water chemistry as long as extremes are avoided. Ideal temp of 26-27°C. Oscars will eat almost anything but they are gluttons so do not over feed them.

I just realized that this post is a lot longer than I thought it would be so I am gonna end it here. If you have any questions about these fish I will gladly answer them. Just remember this though if you wanna keep Oscars and enjoy them give them a large spacious tank they deserve it.

The above is strictly my opinion – But I had a little help from 2 beautiful 10†Oscars called Jeffie and Scarface.

Aneal

[sharn]

me too- im an oscar nut and luckily theres sites out there dedicated to them. i hear so many stories and have to help alot of people out of nasty situations where the LFS sold them three (very bad number, third wheel syndrome) and gave them a small tank to put em in. i have friends who have oscars pushing 14" and its not easy to house such a messy large fish, especially if theyre hyper agressive (IMO oscars are not aggressive fish, theyre territorial sometimes). my boy is hitting 11" or so now and i wouldnt imagine trying to put him into something smaller than 300L.

i go on the rule of 55gal min for one oscar, 75 (preferably 90) gal for two, dont even bother housing three and around 150-170+ for 4. i house one oscar in a 360L along with a sev, a shark and a stunted pleco and once you own a fish this size you see why they need that room. theyre not like angels needing tall tanks, theyre 'prowlers' and like to go up and down the tank watching their domain.

i have great faith in the beefheart recipe for feeding, oscars are prone to HITH and good diet is the start of preventing it or curing it. you can find it here- http://www.theoscarspot.com/smf/index.p ... 062.0.html oscars are the bottomless pits of fish IMO :lol:

i see people going 'oooh, theyre such agro fish' but theyre not, theyre gentle giants that can play up sometimes :lol: not many fish go thru obvious puberty but boy do these guys!! talk about getting snotty at 6" or so :lol: my oscar lets me put any fish i want in his tank as long as its not another oscar and i guess im blessed for that. it all depends on personality.

good to see another oscar nut around here, most people laugh and think im silly when they hear about Frankie and his night light (he goes funny in the dark and will bang into stuff causing him to freak and nearly knock himself out) but they really are like dogs. there isnt many fish that are going to greet you so enthusiastically whenever they see you move lol

its good to see another oscar nut around, im on theoscarspot if you wana come and check us out (not advertising for that site or nothing), this site still rules!!

[the_dragonslayer]

Good to see you too. And thanks for your reply. I love my oscars too and yes i am probably an oscar nut too.I have just had a 450l tank made for these 2. Have not had a chance to set it up yet but soon....Just waiting for the stand to arrive. take care

[herefishiefishie]

Yep I agree with the above post, that oscars are great pets & sadly people don't care for there needs. My mate could pat his, was a great pet.

Feeding them the wrong kind of foods like feeder fish{no nutritional value}, beef heart & high fat foods can lead to disease problems & yes they are prone to HITH disease, one of the worse fish for it. & yep i agree with the above comments about them being messy & their love of redecoration.

Frenchy

[Joze]

MTCW.

Oscars can and will fret without interaction

Oscars will lift lids - make sure its really heavy

Oscars will jump out - always keep a lid on them (I lost two this way in a day)

Oscars like plants, especially to pull out.

Good quality cat biscuits is cheaper, cleaner, less fatty and less phosphate that fish food for these food hoovers.

[sharn]

i agree with the interaction part, they dont need fish but they do need something going on around them that they can take interest in. theyre very smart fish and need all the interaction they can get. i have a set of toys for my O, ping pong balls, a plastic shot glass, a lego toy etc and they get changed over weekly. i often see him having a geeze at them whenever im not moving and he gets 'bored'. theyre sort of like puppies in tanks IMO.

i tried a cat biscuit once, not to see if i could feed him them often but if he would eat them. he didnt. i would be worried about saturated fats and oils in cat biscuits, they probably put stuff in there that fish dont digest easily? thankfully i have fish that like to think theyre the clean up crew so not much goes to waste :lol: red tailed sharks go good with oscars IME, they have tiny mouths that pick up those fine particles all the other big fish miss.

[quack]

i currently have 2 small o's about 6" in a community of american cichlids. i have brought a small remote control submarine for them and they love it

[Joze]

Sharn cat biscuits are made with virtually the same formula, only with less fat. Oils are fats.

Darn sight cheaper too by about for feeding 2 oscars and a giant gourami.

[the_dragonslayer]

I agree with all of you except maybe the cat biscuits. I have never tried them and am not too sure if I would. oscars are messy enough as it is.

Now just to add this to the above.

I believe that finding out information about the fish you wish to keep should not apply only to Oscars. Anyone who keeps fish should take the time to find out as much as they can about the fish they are wanting to keep and Any pet store worth their salt should be able to tell/provide you with information about the fish you want to buy. I did when I owned mine. I could even tell you the latin names of most of the fish I bred and sold (not showing off I was just very passionate about fish like most people here). But the onus is not just on the store, its also up to the person who buys the fish to find out what the requirements are and to find out if the fish they wish to buy are compatible with the ones they already have or the set up the have. Our hobby is not cheap, take the time to find out what you need to and you will save a lot of hassle later.

Its easy to sell a fish to someone, the hard part comes when they get home and have no idea how to look after the fish they just bought. I personally would never just walk into a store to buy a fish and be in and out of there in 5 minutes. I would take my time and watch the fish I wanted and pick the exact ones I wanted and make sure that I got what I was paying for. I looked for fish that swam properly, that had no obvious signs of damage/disease etc. Its not easy to do when its your common guppy I know but the point I am trying to make is "know what you are buying" and that was the point I was making when I started this topic.

Now for other things

Mystic - What type of Arowana do you have? I have kept 3 in my lifetime. One was in a large show tank in my store. I want to get another one but i want the black one but every store I have spoken to in hamilton say they do not import them so i will do without for now. Sad i know but I am patient and will find one eventually.

[herefishiefishie]

Well put Slayer...Its a shame not all lfs have the same approach you did.

I myself in my time was lucky to work under a real fish geek, even knew fish diseases by scientific name :lol:

I am not bad on scientific names on cichlids,{I am an african cichlid geek :lol: }...as for tropicals & the like :-? as long as I knew their conditions, disease problems, who gets along with who & the like all sweet.

We believed in the spending time with customers, if they told us they had Angels, then we would stear them away from neons.

Brad has the same approach too & for a little shop he is doing really well.{do i get discount for that Brad :lol: }He took over from his brother last year & has increased sales, profit....all from being nice basically, remembering names of people & what fish they keep. When he first started he used to ring myself or my old boss for answers to questions...now he dosen't need to :lol:

Also to add to fish selection on lfs, if you notice tanks are on a system, then observe other tanks for diseases, symptoms...Unfortunitly not all customers have the knowledge or whatever to really spot for some diseases. There have been times when visitng a lfs, see signs of fin rot, white spot...& customers are asking staff if they can buy, most just don't see the problems.

Frenchy