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I have a 130 gallon tank with 5 cories, 2 red eyed tetras, and 5 black tetras set up for a little over a month now. I am running 2 aqua clear 500's, used a sand substrate, one amazon sword, and the rest are fake plants. I took my water to be tested to the LFS last night, she said it looked great but my water is really soft. I ended up walking out with 3 Red Oscars at $17.00 a piece, they're about 3 inches long and seem to be doing well. I realize that they will eventually eat everything in the tank, but I have a 5 inch pleco i want to add, and i definitely don't want him to become dinner for the oscars. First question, will they torture him to death? They're already trying to eat the tetras and cories. Second, is this too much bioload for the tank? I know that they're all big waste producers. Third, can anyone refer me to a good Red Oscar website? I want these guys to live a long, healthy life. Last, I've never actually watched these guys swim until now, is it normal for them not to swim completely upright? They swim kind of slanted at times and very curvey and snakey. I've never seen any other type of fish do this, but it looks pretty cool and I'm hoping they're not sick already. Sorry my post is so long. Thanks to all that reply.

Last edited by angie6999 at 08-Mar-2005 06:10

I'm glad you realize that about your other fish. Also know that the sword plant might become a play-toy.

That is a big bioload for the filtration you have. You should be ok as long as you stay on top of your water changes.

I personally would like to see some sort of canister filter on a setup like that. Specially one with that kind of bioload.

Your Pleco should be fine. Specially if it is a common. Wile he is young you won't see him often. Just make sure he has a cave small enough for only him to fit in. He'll come out at night to eat, greatly reducing the chances that he'll be harassed by an Oscar.

I doubt a Oscar would eat any Pleco, well maybe a really really small one. Other than that those spines are a great deterrent.

I've never seen an Oscar swim this way. I'd keep an eye on them if I were you. Maybe others can give you a little more help with that.

Thanks for the advice. I plan on removing the cories to another tank and adding the pleco. I do water changes once a week, 25%, should I increase this to twice a week? I will keep an eye on the swimming (actually, i have a hard time NOT watching them) but they did eat a couple of pellets last night, then again this morning. It's really cool the way they come to the glass to look at me, so I figured they must be hungry.

25% once a week should be good enough.

Who knows, bye the time they get big enough to really put a strain on your biological filter. You might be able to upgrade to a better filter.

Don't be fooled by a cunning Oscar... they ALWAYS think they are hungry!! Fastest way to cause problems in your tank will be to overfeed your greedy Oscar Fish.

You'll be lucky if you can keep all three of them together. They have a tendancy to become teritorial and fight... but it's just like people, different personalities cope in different ways. They might be fine because you got them together so young. When they get bigger, and expect them to hit 6-8" in under 6 months, they will eat anything that will fit in their mouths. I suspect they might leave the Pleco alone, but it's pot luck.

If you intend to keep your Oscars properly, then i suggest you get your own test kits. The odd swimming is something i've seen some Cichlids due because of high Ammonia and Nitrites - Lombardio in particular do it. Certainly when Oscras are small they seem to 'wiggle' and 'dance' a lot, which makes them seem very cute. They wont stop dancing for food, but the wiggle will leave their swim.

With your filtration, i suggest you lay-by or save up for a canister filter, atleast a fluval 404 or better. Still use the other filters with it, but with those 3 Oscars, when they hit 6" or bigger, you're going to need the extra filtration, and probably to increase water changes to 20% twice a week... which is 40% per week, up from 25%.

Some useful Oscar links:

http://www.oscarfish.com/
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Gallery/Descript/oscar/oscar.html
Do a google for Astronotus ocellatus and have a browse!

Happy Oscar keeping... you wont be disappointed!!

Thanks for the info. I will limit the food. I have all the test kits, everything looks good. ph 7.4, ammonia 0, nitrites 0. I will keep in mind about the fluval filter. I thought I did the right thing by buying 2 new Aquaclears, but I guess not.

i use to watch my oscar swim slanted and do other oddball antics. i think its a natural hunting technique and they use it when checking something out they arnt to sure about.

in my opinion i think your best bet would to get a couple more small oscars and put them in the tank also. wait for a pair to form and sell back the others. check with the store first to make sure this is ok. with a pair the agression will be very limited and who knows you could see babies heehhe. this also drops your bioload situation leaving you with less water changes needed. trust me when i say doing water changes on such a large tank is not a fun experience when you do it twice a week or more.

this is just a recommendation for something to think about not at all expert advice thats written stone by the fish gods lol. with what ever you decide i wish ya the best of luck and hope you enjoy your oscars for many many yrs to come

The freaksiest thing my Oscar's do is swim upside down. Yep, they do it all the time to fit through the 'obsticle course' of driftwood i build in their tank. They approach it from all sorts of angles to squeeze through, but one of my fish in particular has decided that he must go through upside down!! Very entertaining.

The other thing they do that i find amusing is work in together to remove, quite destructively, every plant i put in the tank. They take it in turns removing the leaves from Ludwigia gladulosa and Purple Temple (their favourite!!)... one leaf at a time, blow by blow. keeps them entertained until they have either removed all of the leaves or removed the plants from the gravel. Doesn't stop me replenishing their plant's, as they are much more civil to each other when they have some entertainment...

My Oscars swim completely upright head pointing downwards. Yesterday I tried to give them some frozen bloodworms as a treat. I was holding the package above the tank, trying to get them to fall out, when one jumped up, knocked it out of my hand, I screamed, and had bloodworms everywhere. lol. No, I'm not scared of them, it just shocked me. Now I have to try and trick them just to allow a pellet to fall to the bottom for the cories, since they grab those as soon as I drop it in the tank. They are very amusing fish.

i used to have an oscar that swum on its side and he lived for years i do believe it may be to get a better view of above him and below him.

cheers

Wow 17$ a piece!? Thats a little expensive for a 3 inch oscar. if iget a 3 inch oscar its only like 6 dollars.