oscar fish?

Question

i have a 55 gallon tank and i was wondering what kind of oscars i should get and how many? petsmart has 2.5" oscars of all kinds. what do they eat and how much? what other fish can go with oscars?

Answer 1

Don't get an oscar. I know they look small and cute at the petstore, but they WILL grow into big aggressive fish. An adult oscar is longer than a 55 gallon tank is deep! You would need a bare minimum of 60 gallons for ONE oscar, 75 gallons is ideal.

The 1 inch per gallon rule is totally blown out the water (hehe). Imagine a 10 inch oscar compared to 10 neon tetras. Do you think the 10 neon tetras produce as much waste as the oscar? Would you put the oscar in a 10 gallon tank?

If you can upgrade to a larger tank, then by all means get an oscar. You could probably sell your 55 gal and buy a 75 gal for a little more. Oscars eat all sorts of food, such as cichlid pellets, earthworms, feeder fish (not too often), beefheart, shrimp. No one fish can go with oscars. Oscars are very aggressive fish and will kill any other fish that they can - including other oscars. If you had a huge tank, you could get a similar size fish of similar aggressivity such as a Texas Cichlid, but you'd need a minimum of 200 gallons.

As for which colour, just pick your favourite :) I'm partial to the normal ones but the red albinos are neat looking.

Answer 2

You can fit one Oscar in your 55 gallon tank. Because of the lack of depth the 75 gallon is a better size, butthe 55 will work. Unless they are a compatible mating pair Oscars do not get along - they are not community fish, they are territorial and aggressive.

All Oscars are the same kind, they just come in different colours and patterns, so what kind you get is entirely up to you.

Oscars should have a staple of prepared food like any other fish, that way you know they're getting a fully balanced diet. As supplements you can use shrimp, prawns, worms, insects (crickets), insect larvae, and if you can find a healthy source for them, feeder fish. They eat a lot, how much is impossible to say because it depends on how big they are, but expect to feed a lot and expect a lot of waste.

Many people seem to not realize Oscars are just one of many hundreds of types of cichlids, and there are plenty of choices of fish with the same character as Oscars that don't grow nearly as big, and are more suitable for a typical household aquarium. Do some research (www.cichlid-forum.com for example) and find out more for yourself. Good luck.

Answer 3

Since oscars are such pooping machines and grow so large so quickly, I'd really only recommend one for a 55-gallon tank. You could, in theory, do two, but in the event of aggression as they get older, you really wouldn't have enough room to separate them.

Don't feed them feeder fish - this does not provide all the necessary nutrients and vitamins, and more often than not, a lot of feeders carry diseases. And you don't want your guy getting sick off of something he ate.

Feed high-quality pellets designed for oscars to prevent certain diseases like Hole in the Head. Make sure you cycle your tank before adding fish. Make sure you have a filter rated for higher than the volume of your tank, as you will need it. Even with a good filter, you'll still have to do weekly water changes to combat nitrates.

Do not put any other fish in with an oscar - chances are, it will one day become food.

Answer 4

If you are going to have oscars, you should have ONLY oscars b/c they grow SO large (12+ inches) and are so aggressive. They can eat bloodworms, crickets, wax worms, red wigglers, feeder goldfish, and pretty much anything else that will fit in their mouths. However, their diet should consist of mainly pellet food b/c this contains the essential vitamins and minerals. You should feed pellets everyday (enough to fill their stomach 2x per day, and their stomach is about the size of their eyeball) and then something different as a treat 1-2 times per week. If you have a 55 gallon tank, then you can have 55 inches of full grown fish (1" per gallon), so you could have 4 oscars, which would equal 48" of fish. Even though Petsmart has some that are 2.5", you still can only get four b/c they grow very quickly, and if you get more then your tank will be over-populated when they are grown(which will cause water chemical problems and aggressiveness in the fish). Some people do keep Jack Demseys or Red Devils with their oscars (both of these are sold at Petsmart) b/c they too grow to be 12" and they work out fine, as long as you combine them when they are juveniles. It really doesn't matter if you get Tiger Oscars, Albino Oscars or Albino Tiger Oscars as long as you purchase them all at about the same size and at the same time if you can. If you need/want to buy them separately, make SURE you rearrange you tank ornaments so the fish that are already there lose thier territory. Good luck with your oscars!

Answer 5

you could put a silver dollor with it, but make sure its it size or biger, oscars can eat goldfish flake foods brine shrimp or guppies, it fun seeing them eat goldfish! It dosen't matter what kind you get. Tiger albino or red are the most common. If you have 50 gallons you could get 2 but they will grow pretty fast mine i got 2"in in a a year the become 4"in! had to sell them.

Answer 6

You can feed them guppies or any other live food like shrimp.
Other fish would be other agressive, similarly sized cichlids like Jack Dempseys.