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So, the time I've spent the past couple of months looking at fish I've gone from saltwater, to freshwater, from small schooling fish to large fish. I want an albino oscar. I don't know if a 75G is big enough for an oscar it's entire life or not, but so far my stocking list is as follows:

1 - Albino Oscar
1 - Pleco of some sort

That's as far as I have gotten, but as far as I can tell... not much I can do with an oscar for tankmates in a 75G. Maybe two oscars and a pleco? If they're both males, will there be a problem?

Big fish stocking suggestions welcome. Even if it's not an oscar, over the past few days I've decided I want a big fat fish.

I would just go with the one oscar and maybe a pleco that does not get too big.

My other choice was a tank based around gouramis, but I couldn't decide on any tank mates I thought would look good with them. I'm also absolute crap when it comes to plants, so a fish that will do well without them is a must.

I may eventually get into adding plants, but in the begining, there will be none. I also haven't decided what sort of substrate I want. I guess I'll be able to decide once I'm stable on a choice of fish.

How many fish can you safely cram into a 75g? Its hard just to put two little fish into a 75g and wait for them to grow up.

Okay after grilling the hubby, he kept oscars.

Two males would be fine together in a 75, they won't attack a pleco too badly since they've got armor, and they'll tear up any plants, even java fern. So if you're not big on plants oscars will be the perfect excuse to not have them .

You might want to look at silver dollars instead of oscars. the ones in the office tank have kinda grown on me. They're not aggressive so they can be kept with smaller fish unlike oscars.

^_^

I love the look of silver dollars, and I had thought up a tank of silver dollars, glass catfish, and some sort of hatchet fish. I really like the glass catfish, and I'd want a little school of them, but I couldn't decide on any definate tankmates so I gave it up. I'm still not comfortable with ordering fish online, and the local stores don't really have glass catfish anymore, or silver dollars, which were both common in the past.

I still have time to pick. I'm going to do a fishless cycle, so I'm not going to be buying any fish for a while. I'm setting up the tank tomorrow evening, and I'll start it then. Although, before I've seen on this site people recommending pure ammonia. The saltwater forum I was on for a short period when I was researching getting a sw tank started just said a small piece of fish or a few shrimp dropped in the water would adequately cycle the tank. Could I use a piece of fish, or fish food?

I'm going to need more fish tanks already and I haven't even started yet. I just love the oscars, and I really would like a big albino oscar. Before I embarked on this I had a complete idea of what I was going to do. I've gone from a 180G SW tank to a 75G FW tank. I may just get two 55G tanks, and put them back to back in the space between the living room and dining room, sort of as a divider. I wish I could find a nice cube to put in the living room around coffe table level. I realize though that if I do any of this, I can NEVER have kids past the age of two in my house, lol.

Now I just wish I was getting to 180G, I'd love a giant gourami.

As of now, I'm going with two albino oscars and a pleco. I know decoration could be destroyed, upturned, and tossed against the glass, and plants are a no. My friend has a very large oscar who has those decorative marbles as his substrate. When he's hungry he'll start picking them up in his mouth and spitting them with some force against the side of the tank, lol. I would love to go with sand, but I hear a HOB filter will be torn up with sand. I intend to not have one filter running on the tank, I want to have a smaller filter (like one for a 40-50g) running on each side.

It's hard to break myself away from the little fish. I've found myself staring at sparkling gouramis and bettas, and neons, and guppies. Then I think "How many of THEM can fit in a 75g..." Then I give up on trying to stock a tank around sparkling gouramis and go back to the oscar idea.

Although, I still love the idea of silver dollars, glass catfish, and some other sort of fish. Not sure what kind yet.

You could use organic detritus and pieces of fish etc, but that will also seriously increase the amount of harmful bacteria and fungus in the water, so pure ammonia despite being much more toxic, does not heighten the levels of harmful bacteria so much and only promotes the good types. Its also, much, much faster.

I know both adam and babel are good fish gurus, but id still be hesitant about having two same sex oscars in a 75, they sometimes tolerate no company at all. Oscars are a foot long fish, and a 75 to them , is after all not that big. You can try it sure, but make sure you can either return , give away, or sell one oscar of the fighting kicks off. They can often do a lot of damage in very little time, and its not unusual for one oscar to dominate so much that the other refuses to feed, suffers abnormal growth or becomes especially suseptible to hexamita. Immunosuppresssion is a common side effect of suboordinate stress.

It might work, and it might not, but its probably a good idea to have a tank seperator on standby , just in case. You can always do a heath robinson job out of tough plastic mesh or perspex with drlled holes and just affix it with clips if need be.

I'm definately going to have to talk my husband into a bigger tank. Or I'll have to scrap the oscar idea and go with smaller fish. Now to find pure ammonia, hardware store? I haven't looked for it yet, since... no tank YET. I'm going to pick one up today. I should have just got the 180g when the petstore guy was going to order it for me and sell it to me for his cost plus tax. I'll see what I can do today.

Oscars are awesome

This is my 75g which at the time was home to an oscar, sev, and plec. Unfortunately I lost the sev after we moved

It has a gravel substrate that the oscar doesn't bother with. The plastic plants are another story....he pulls them up, pouts, my oldest son replants them, they get pulled up again...

I kwym about small fish, sometimes I look at the tank and think how it would look with a huge school of rummynoses or something else...eventually I'll have another large tank

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

I found a tank, stand, canopy, filter, gravel, and heater for around $700. I don't know if that's a good price or not. I guess I'll have to go look at it and decide. I have a space with a few inches to spare that will fit the whole set up right next to my wall entertainment stand. I worry about the sound and vibrations my big tv might make though. Maybe I should shop around on my way to the fish store. Although, he said he would sign me up for their preferred member card, which will save me 10%, so basically I won't have to pay taxes and the size of the purchase will make the cost of the membership free. I've been into one of their stores before (one that was farther away, not this one) because I was waiting for our appointment with our house builder a while back and wandered into it. They have a HUGE selection of fish. 70% of their business is fish and fish supplies. They're a small business with 3 stores in the same town. My LFS here on the island scares me, their tanks smell funny and they are completely plagued with snails. Hopefully this store will have nice, clean, tanks and healthy fish. Then I won't have to order online. I may end up getting a 55g, just because the 75g tank, canopy, and stand might not fit in my blazer, and 45 minutes to an hour one way is too far to drive twice for anything I can't carry. We'll see. I'm off, and when I return, I shall do so with a tank. I'll post pictures.

So, I got the tank. I ended up getting a more expensive one. The stand was a LOT nicer, and it came with two emperor 400 filters that fit into the hood (i did check, they are changable) and a light, but I don't know or care about wattage as plants are beyond me right now. I did see a regular tiger oscar that was probably a foot long, and he was GORGEOUS. I'm in love. If it had been an albino I would have died and cursed myself for not getting a tank and cycling it sooner.

They have very good stock, and all their fish seem to be healthy. They had a lot of big red oscars, but I didn't like them as much. I've also looked at flowerhorns (i think?) and I saw a pink one I really liked. I'm not sure how big they get though and if a 75g would hold one.

Are their any fish similar in body shape to an oscar that don't get SO big but aren't small? I'd love to have more than one fish in my tank.

Also, this may be a stupid question. I've read I'm supposed to add ammonia until the ratings are .05 ppms and keep it there until the ammonia rating drops. Then also keep adding that amount while waiting for the nitrates to drop. It seems I'd be doing an awful lot of testing to find out just how much ammonia it takes to get the levels to .05ppms. So, does anyone know approximately just how much I should add into a 75g tank to get things rolling? Do I add this same amount every day?

Severum is a common oscar tankmate

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There is water at the bottom of the ocean

Congrats on picking out a tank you like , and from what sounds like a pretty decent shop. I'm sure they could order you the albino oscars that you like, especially since if you remind them what sized tank and stand you just bought from them . Even if you do see an albino you like I bet they'd put it on hold for you. Some of the smaller LFS in the DC area tended to do that. The biggest local one didn't just because they had sooo much business.

As for the ammonia, yeah that does seem like a lot of testing, I think I read somewhere on here that it was around 5 drops a gallon. Maybe try doing a search for "fishless" and see if that can be confirmed.
Don't you already have tanks set up though It'd just be easier to start the filter material on those tanks IMO as going with ammonia...

Flowerhorns are a hybrid fish, and many keepers don't like them for that reason. I think that you should just go ahead with the oscars that you really want, I don't think anything else weill make you quite as happy. I've never had them myself (always thought they were a bit ugly ) but Adam loved his and can't wait till we buy a house so he can convert the lounge room tank back to oscars, so I guess I'll be learning all about them soon enough .

^_^

I had 2 tanks, both were 29g. One was bowing out in the middle and I was afraid it was going to bust one day, so I had to give the fish to a pet store and throw away the tank. Shortly my other tank did the SAME thing. So I have made a promise to myself to NEVER buy a tank from walmart again. Never. Sort of like me and fish at walmart, NEVER.

I knew we were going to move within a couple of months, and I didn't want to restart with a new tank and then have to move it. So I just waited. We moved into our new house in the middle of march, and I've waited this long to even get another tank.

This tank has very thick glass, and top and bottom middle support. It cost a little more than the one he originally priced me, but I'm happy, and I got a 10% discount, so I came out ok. Although the drive home through jacksonville with a tank stand hanging out of the back of my blazer made me nervous the whole way home.

I've got everything set up now, gravel is in, filters are running, light is on... for what reason I don't know, but it's on! Pictures coming shortly, as soon as I find the usb cable for my camera hook up.

My husband asked me what I was putting in it, I said "A betta."

OOOO that is a very nice stand

The bowing might have been uneven floors In anycase I'm glad you didn't give them a chance to bust! If you have a level around the house, or know someone that does you might just want to double check tank and stand before setting everything up....just a thought.

If the hubby doesn't like the idea of a betta, you might suggest one ghost shrimp I'm sure he'd like that idea .

^_^

Our floors are even now, trust me, when I was down on my knees installing that tile with a leveler and redoing what wasn't right... yeah. I checked to make sure the stand was level anyway before I filled the tank up. I'm sure in our other house though the floors weren't the only things unlevel, lol.

I just know my husband is going to have a problem with the noise level of the filters. I can see it now... I'm going to have a planted tank with one betta in it so I can leave the filters off when he's in the room, lol.

The poor tank looks SO small compaired to the T.V. and entertainment center. My T.V. is the same width but is taller, lol. It makes me feel like I have a tiny little tank.

For the fishless cycling I read I need 5-10 drops of ammonia per every 10g of water. I bought a box of Cycle, which I know probably doesn't help, but I'll use it anyway. I'm letting the tank sit and the filters run for 24 hours before I start adding ammonia. It'll be easier for me to remember to add it every night rather than every morning anyway.

While doing fishless cycling, do I need to do a water change? There aren't any fish, so there isn't waste or food going into the tank, just ammonia. So even if it got cloudy I could just let it run it's course and let the bacteria build up right?

Hopefully without water changes, and regular adding of ammonia it will cycle a little quicker than it would if I was using a few small fish to cycle. I lost my water testing kit in the move, so that's another reason I haven't started. When the owner gets in today I'm going to take an hour off for lunch and go get the test kit and the ammonia.

After the tank is cycled, I can just start off with a big oscar right? Or should I up the ammonia level a little to deal with the bioload of a large oscar?