Oscars....they are funny...

[aldatar]

Hi...Wanted to share my experience with oscar fish.

They greet me everyday when i come home. They remind me of a dog that wags his tail when the master comes home. I put hand before and after i feed them and they respond well to that. They brush past my hand and i try to touch them gently, this way i can have a routine and they will get used to me doing that. I would like to train them to eat from hand. We shall see. They do have a pesonality, and i have never seen a fish doing what they do. They are messy but worth it and they love to eat...bottomless pit. I have 10 albino and 10 of the black and orange. I am planning on getting bigger aquariums as they get bigger. They are in a 90 gallon aquarium now, one day i will be brave enough to buy and maintain a 300 gallon tank or 330 like darbex has, that is a nice aquarium...huge.

Question for everyone...

How many gallon tank would be good enough when these guys grow up? They are about 2 inches right now.

This way i can plan to buy a big aquarium and would like to start a separate fund for that huge aquarium.

Thank you in advance for your input and comments.

[Mzungu]

Wow, so you have 20 oscars?

[aldatar]

yes...20 and they make a lot of mess...

weekly water change for them is absolute neccessity.

[stevenallenbarnard]

you might wanna start looking for that 300g pretty soon. I've kept oscars before, and they really are wonderful pets. mine would actually eat from my hands. (Funny story, One day I was feeding my oscars when my wife called to me from the other room. I had the food in my hand and my hand over the open tank. I guess the oscar was too impatient to wait 15-20 more seconds for his food, so he jumps out of the water and grabbed my finger with his mouth, lol. i didn't hurt but it definatly was interesting to see)

[sunrise]

Oscars normally grow 15" to 18". I read somewhere that one Oscar needs a 75 gallon tank minimum.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/oscar_cichlid2.php

Regards,
sunrise

[cichlid1409]

yep, fish can be alot like dogs. geoffs trophs give him kisses. seriously.

[aldatar]

Its amazing how a fish is able to respond like this towards us. I am going try and train them to eat from my fingers.

[myjohnson]

8' tank minimum.

It would look nice with 20 fully grown oscars!

[aldatar]

Hi,

They do get very impatient. They always eat like they have been starving. I feed them once a day and I can see their growth some of them more than the others.

They are messy.

[aldatar]

8' tank about how many gallons. I dont think i have ever seen an 8' tank. I think the largest i ever saw in person was 150 gallon and 5 or 6 feet long, it was nice.

Thanks

[myjohnson]

8'x30''x30'' = 375g.

They might need that wide room to turn normally.

[Oldsgirl]

Holy cow- 20 Oscars.... you'e going to need a HUGE tank and monster big filtration.

They're cool fish- I've had them in the past and really liked them, but they eat a lot, and as you said, are very messy.
Also, once they get big, the nipping at fingers isn't so fun. I had one that would get REALLY pissed when I'd clean the tank, and he's sneak up and bite my hand. It was nothing terrible- just like bad scratches, but enough to draw blood sometimes.

I also thought it was funny that he didnt' like the tank changing. If I moved the rocks, he'd brace his mouth up against them and swim hard (splishing everywhere, of course) and push the rock back to where it used to be. Another thing they'd do was grab the heater and bang it against the wall when they were pissed- I went through several heaters that way. What treasures :)

[aldatar]

Holy cow- 20 Oscars.... you'e going to need a HUGE tank and monster big filtration.

They're cool fish- I've had them in the past and really liked them, but they eat a lot, and as you said, are very messy.
Also, once they get big, the nipping at fingers isn't so fun. I had one that would get REALLY pissed when I'd clean the tank, and he's sneak up and bite my hand. It was nothing terrible- just like bad scratches, but enough to draw blood sometimes.

I also thought it was funny that he didnt' like the tank changing. If I moved the rocks, he'd brace his mouth up against them and swim hard (splishing everywhere, of course) and push the rock back to where it used to be. Another thing they'd do was grab the heater and bang it against the wall when they were pissed- I went through several heaters that way. What treasures :)

haha.... thats funny how he didnt like water changes. I dont think i will be able to keep all of them when they get bigger.

[JAYGEE]

haha.... thats funny how he didnt like water changes. I dont think i will be able to keep all of them when they get bigger.

Not to be a ****, but you should have thought of that before you bought 20.

[aldatar]

Not to be a ****, but you should have thought of that before you bought 20.

JAYGEE....

you are absolutely right...

i guess you dont make mistakes or find new information you didnt know at the time of purchase.

thanks