Public Service Announcement: Why an oscar needs a big tank

t_chelle16 · Moderator Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 3437

I'm currently treating one of my oscars for a mild case of pop-eye so I have him in a 20 gallon hospital tank. I just thought this would be a good time to illustrate one of the reasons why you shouldn't get those cute little baby oscars for your small tank.

Keep in mind that Charlie isn't even full grown yet. He's 10" SL (12" TL).

12" long fish in a 12" wide tank. Why even a 55 gallon tank isn't all that great for an oscar.

-Chelle

grnlemonade · Super Senior Member Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 1027

wow, nice looking fish. hope it heals. yea, t_chelle is right about the whole oscar thing an these pictures prove it. good idea with the pioctures t_chelle, so now alot of people know what you are talking about with the potential size of an oscar.

Obelix · Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 1:14 am Post subject:

Really good picture and thank god someone posted about it, way to many people buy oscars and kill them by putting them in tiny tanks, do some research. nice job with the pics chelle

J_acon · Member Joined: 12 Apr 2004 Posts: 115 Location: Melbourne

Nice picture man, thanks for the tip too.

t_chelle16 · Moderator Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 3437

I've come across a lot of people who simply can't picture their little 1" baby as a 12" - 14" monster so they don't understand why they need such large tanks. So since I have to keep him in the 20 gallon for a few days, I though it would be a good opportunity to get a visual aid.

And while I'm at it, here's another visual aid:

4' long 55 gallon tank (ignore the fact that I had africans & oscars together, that was before I knew any better)
July 16, 03 - Sherbert is about 3"

4' long 75 gallon tank
December 11, 03 (5 months later) - Sherbert is 7 1/2"

Oscars really do grow about 1"/month (up until about 6", then they slow down).

-Chelle

Obelix · Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 4:57 am Post subject:

Gorgeous Tank! must have taken alot of setup, I love thoes plants too. Thats an astounding amount of groth, ive never gotten into oscars since my budget is tiny and the lfs near us charges alot, so i didnt know they got THAT big quickly.

t_chelle16 · Moderator Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 3437

Obelix · Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 5:10 am Post subject:

Ah well we all need a midnite snack once in awhile, and thanks for the PM, i descided to stick the heater in their afterall

EDIT: are thoes shells on the bottom? god shells would look nice in the tank im currently cycling.

t_chelle16 · Moderator Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 3437

Yes, they're shells. But you have to be careful with shells because they'll slowly disslove and increase your pH and hardness. Which is fine for african cichlids, but not so great for most other fish.

-Chelle

Obelix · Posted: Fri May 21, 2004 6:15 pm Post subject:

How'd you go about moving such an enormous fish? Ive always heard about them beaing moved to hospitals etc but ive never seen a net big enough for that kind of job. Im gonna go see if they have a bag of shells at A.C Moore later on today.

t_chelle16 · Moderator Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 3437

When I moved them from the 55 to the 75 (they were about 5" at the time), I drained most of the water, and layed a clean, soft towel on the bottom of the tank, waited for them to swim over it, and lifted up the corners making a fishy sling. It wasn't too difficult but they still managed to splash water on the ceiling.

A few months ago I decided to change the substrate in the 75 so I tried the towel method again, but unfortunately they remembered and didn't want to go anywhere near the towel so it took forever to catch them.

This time for Charlie I used a really big fishing net. It still wans't easy because he is so big & strong and kept trying to hide behind Sherbert ("Take her, not me!"). I ended up getting soaked, water was on the floor 6' away from the tank (took 2 swiffer pads to mop it up), and I managed to cut my finger on one of his fins. I'm really dreading moving him back to the 75 so I'm doing some research into mild fish anesthesia. Not to knock him completely out, but at least calm him down some.

-Chelle

Obelix · Posted: Sat May 22, 2004 2:15 am Post subject:

Sheesh, well that towel idea was very creative, I just couldnt imagine moving a fish that large, ive seen some caplits at petsmart that is supposed to sorta clam fish down (sorta the same effect on the fish as "valium" has on humans) but it says it can kill smaller fish like tetras, guppies so im not sure how much of the medicine the fish would carry over and the other thing is it would take some heavy dosage, like 2 asprin sized pills per 5 gallons, dunno how long it takes to have an effect. Goodluck

Obelix · Posted: Sat May 22, 2004 2:49 am Post subject:

oooh chelle I can not beleve I didnt post this earlier, alright so my neighbor (hes 15) as am i, alright well his dad is a very well paid lawer and as my parents put it "he loves his son to death but hasn't a clue on how to parent" anyway he literally shovels cash into his wallet and recentally he descided he wanted a fish tank (he got the tank about 4 months ago) anyways I went over to his house and saw he had 3 "blueberry" oscars. I bit my tounge and didnt tell him athat they were painted, their were bigger obstacls to tackle. The tank was a 20 gallon one and quite frankly I was amazed he managed to stick 3 oscars in their. I told him that he should return them soon because they would get too big for the tank very quickly, of course he got very defensive as is his nature and we ended up arguing over it, after seeing this stirng I emailed the url to him quickly and he sent it back saying "their not experts, and thats not an oscar" as I said this was about 4 motnhs ago, anawys today a very humble, and also shakey I might add preston shows up asking me what to do, when i looke d in his tank the things could barely move around and had ick PLUS the worst case of HITH i have ever seen. So his dad refusing to buy a new tank poured a large amount of moeny into medication etc which wasnt working and that tank was really small. Anyways one had died and his dad works in baltimore MD and some of you may know has a rather famed aquarium housing everything from sting rays, to sharks and its just MASSIVE. So, for a fee they took the oscars. Thought I might share that since this fits in so very well. (I still do not know how they survived for 4 motnhs but they pulled it off)

t_chelle16 · Moderator Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 3437

At least they're in a better home now.

-Chelle

Obelix · Posted: Sat May 22, 2004 4:59 am Post subject:

erm... that post was painfully short, did i say something wrong?

t_chelle16 · Moderator Joined: 22 Mar 2004 Posts: 3437