Oscars?

[LebronTheBetta]

Hello everyone! I've taken quite an interest in Oscars. Albino Oscars to be exact. There's only the color difference but I love them more than Tigers. Do any of you have them? My dad had one before and he loved it. :) I think it runs in the family. My dad said in a few years I'd get to have one or two! Do you guys have them? Any advice? I already know that they need REALLY big tanks, if they eat live foods too much they can get HITH, really aggressive, even more. With all the information in the internet, I don't know which one to follow. Can you guys/gals help me out? Proper tank size, best food, how to do water changes with them in it O_O, filtration, heating, etc.
Any advice or tips will be appreciated. Thanks!

[Oldfishlady]

Oscars are really awesome fish with loads of personality, playful and messy....Not just poop machines but eating habits too.....It almost looked like all the food is being expelled through their gills than what is going in their stomach....lol.....
This is my albino...


I had 2 in my 75gal and in about 12months they had outgrown it and I had to re-home them to a friend that had a 225gal after they spawned for long term keeping....I miss them too...such cool fish and I swear....if they could have gotten out they would have followed me around the house....lol......They never liked the way I scaped the tank and would rearrange it and would even take the plastic plants and toss them out of the tank after they got done playing with it. They would carry it around, play tug-o-war with it. They killed a couple of heaters, destroyed the intake on one of the filters.

Water changes-they loved water changes....lol.....I would siphon all the water out with one python that I would have on gravity to drain outside and another python I had hooked up to the sink to refill. First I would vacuum really good removing about 75% of the water-Then I would start refilling the tank and when it was almost full-I would start draining the tank again until nearly empty and the Oscars laying on their side-Then I would start the refill and they would play in the fresh water as it flowed in...so fun to watch....I did this on a weekly basis in the 75gal with 2 Emperor 400 running (turned off for water changes)

I fed them-fish that I culled, marble crayfish, my homemade food, fresh crappie filets and cichlid sticks....I wouldn't recommend feeding feeder fish-due to poor nutrition and parasites-unless you raise them yourself and gut load them.

HITH-as long as you provide proper nutrition and maintain good water quality-it shouldn't be an issue

I miss my Oscars....but I didn't have a big enough tank to keep them and I wanted to plant the that tank...lol.....So I got one spawn from them and re-homed.....

[LebronTheBetta]

Hm... Is a 100-150 gallon enough for 2? If that's too small I'll just get 1 in the future. They must roughhouse a lot. :D Sorry you had to rehome them. At least they have more space. Your Oscar is really beautiful.

[Oldfishlady]

Thank you...I had that one Albino and 1 Tiger-the albino was more friendly and would let you touch him and attack you anytime you put your hand, siphon, net..etc... in the tank and the Tiger was more on the shy side-she never really tamed down all that much....

IMO...a 125-150gal would be fine for long term keeping of a pair....
I need to make a place for a 150-225gal and setup a cichlid tank-but I would be so tempted to plant it and live plants usually don't fair well with most of the big cichlids..especially Oscars and that is what I would want....lol.....The only cichlids I have now are Angelfish I have in my 55gal NPT and are fine with plants. But next to Betta....I love cichlids..awesome species that come in a lot of colors too....

[LebronTheBetta]

Yeah, Cichlids are the most colorful of freshwater, right? I guess I'll tell my dad that we need a 125-150 gallon with massive filtration. I think I'll get plants that don't need anchoring. I've heard that they can mess those up. I'm also planning to get an Albino and Tiger because I could name it Yin and Yang. :) Probably something else but I like those names. Good luck with those Cichlids! Thanks for helping me!

[Relic]

Back in my younger days I had one in a 75 gal aquarium and with in a year he was so big he was knocking everything over and making a mess of the tank. I gave him to my grandparents who had an empty 175 gallon tank...the bought another big oscar and the only issues they had was that the oscars would sometime knock the hood off the aquarium...they had to put bricks on top to keep em from doing it. My grandparents went on vacation and I was in charge of taking care of the pets....went back to the fish room one day and found the biggest oscar dead on the floor and the hood and bricks laying inside the tank. They are awesome fish but they can also be a headache to care for.

[Curlyfatbottom]

Oscar
Use to have one a few years back
It was a red tiger long fin n I have it in a 125
Within a 1/2 year that fish grew 4x as big
Oscar is not a really picky eater
Anything small u toss in they will try to eat

[LebronTheBetta]

Thanks for your experience with them! My dad said he had a little baby one and it got so big! I'm willing to go through some tough times with them. I'll probably convince him to get a 125 g. Instead of a 100 g. I heard you can pet them once they get to know you? What about their slime coat?

[CharStarr]

The one thing I can tell you that I know from my dad also having an oscar in the past is do not feed them feeder fish. Theres a high chance the feeder fish are sick and they will pass it on to your oscar.

[LebronTheBetta]

That, I know. They don't have much nutrients anyway. I plan to give the Oscars the feeders 1x a month. I'm still going to QT, and hardly feed him any.