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75-90 usg tank, how should i go about this.

1 single oscar

a pair of oscars

or

an oscar and other fish, mabey another cichlid or some silver dollars.


which would i enjoy the most. i don't usually like low amounts of fish in big tanks but i hear that oscars are very personable when they are alone.

chris

Personally, I love Oscars, they have more personality than most cats I have had. If it were me,(and it was) get yourself 8 juv oscars. Wait for them to grow out a little bit, out of those 8 you will get at least 1 pair. Pick your favorite pair and sell the rest back to the lfs. The way an oscar pair interacts is an amazing little dance that you have got to see. Even when not breeding an oscar pair is inseperable. Mine wander the tank slapping tailfins and rubbing on each other all day long. Be carefull when hand feeding oscars tho as they are very eager eaters and will on occasion mistake fingers for food, hehe. Also, when feeding be prepared to get wet, these guys attack the surface and mine have been know to thouroughly soak me just to get the morsel I am offering. On a side note, should you decide to go with an oscar pair, get yourself plenty of filtration, these guys are messy! On a 90 gal tank I would go with a min of 3 filters, 2 that have long leads to the top of the gravel and 1 that is a mid level pickup. Go with at least 750 gph turnover and add a powerhead set to dust the gravel, forcing the mulm towards a filter pickup. The ideal setup would be to put UGJ's in the tank forcing the mulm to pickups. Anyway, go with a pair of oscars, toss in 2 white tipped sharks for the extra help on stirring the bottom, and I think you will be more than pleased.

Last edited by tanker at 04-Jun-2005 07:38

2 oscars deffo just been to my brother 2day have seen his new setup for the first time he has a 10" oscar a 10" pleco and something im going to get which is a blue lobsterthe lobster hides under a "old roman ruin" whichh is susspended on 2 pieces of slate and the surrounded by gravel the lobster dug out the hole its self i'll try to get a pic and show you all

I house an oscar in a 90g. Used to be 2 but turned out to be 2 males, i kept the more passive. Its housed with 5 silver dollars, 2 severums, 5 yo-yo loaches, a 11" pleco, 2 BNs, and a few emerald green cats.

Filtration is a AC 500 and an AC 300, pickups are at different levels. Although it may be a it overstocked i have no water quality problems. I also have a 120 tank ready for setup once everything gets a bit bigger.

If you havent bought the tank yet id suggest going for the biggest possible. When i had 2 oscars the only thing with them was the severums, cats, and big pleco.


Bdadawg

silver dollars work great with oscars. i have 1 oscar, 1 severum, 1 firemouth, 3 silver dollars and 2 little bottom feeders in my 75 and everything is perfect. /:'

in one of my books it suggest and eartheater, what do you think about that comb. there are supposed to sift through the sand and really help stir it up.

chris

A wonderful choice for an eartheater would be a giraffe cat, these guys are the fish equivalent of a vacuum. I have them in 4 of my tanks and they are superb. 1 drawback is that you will not be able to plant your tank as these guys will rearange your whole tank nightly. The upside, you will never have to use that gravel vac again.

Last edited by tanker at 06-Jun-2005 08:56

you can probably fit a pair of oscars in there, or you can go with one and other fishes like you said. for a little while a oscar would look nice with a flag fin fish in the tank.

two oscars sounds apropriate for a tank that size

i love all the suggestions, thank you all. My real question is, how would i enjoy the fish the most, looking at everyone's post I would say they they a mixed oscar tank or a pair, but has anyone kept them alone in a tank, i hear they are a blast by themselves.


chris

In all honesty, only house 1 oscar and add other fishes such as silver dollars

OR

ONLY house 2 oscars and no other fish.

Oscars are very messy and have grow to 14" plus in a home aquarium, so picture 2 14" grown oscars in a 90g

Not much swimming space left...

Well it depends which take you are getting. For the 90 gallon it would work to keep a pair of oscars but you will need to be watching the water quality regularly. A 75 could also maybe hold two oscars but you will need to have frequent water changes and heavy filtration to accomadate two oscars. With either sized tank you get you could have possible tankmate of a plecostumus or some other large cichlid. Just remember that if you are getting tankmates for the oscar make sure they are not to small to be eaten at their full size. Good Luck with your oscars! There great fish!

Try get a pair of oscars! there's nothing better! Oscars have great attitudes and it's amazing how different each oscar actaully is

one of the good things about oscars is that they will learn to reconize you very fast. and after time they will grow and have different personallitys.