oscars in a 55 gallon?

Question

i have a 55 gallon tank and i was wondering how many oscars i could get for it? i was think ing like 4 tiger oscars. wut kind of back ground do they like, rocks, plants, or a lil of both. i was going to get them tomarrow. and i was thinking of getting convict cichlids with them so i could have them breed then feed the babies to the oscars.

p.s. plz answer all the questions

Answer 1

You should not put ANY oscars in a 55 gallon tank. You could maybe get away with one, but never forget to do a weekly water change. Oscars are high waste producers, and an adult oscar can be as long as a 55 gallon tank is deep. Really, 75 gallons PER oscar is recommended.

If you're set on getting an oscar, get a bigger tank. If you only can have the 55 gallon tank, please do not get an oscar, as it will never thrive and be happy in an undersized tank.

If you do get a proper tank, they do like plants, and you could have rocks but you don't need to.

DON'T get convict cichlids to go with oscars. The oscar will just eat the adult convicts.

And do not set up the tank and put the fish in right away. You need to cycle your tank first. In the wild, and in established tanks, there are nitrifying bacteria that break down toxic ammonia from fish waste and excess food into less toxic nitrates. In a brand new tank, these bacteria don't exist, so any fish in the tank will produce ammonia, which, not being broken down by bacteria, will kill or weaken the fish. So, of course, it is vital to cycle your tank.
There are a few methods. Do you have access to an established tank? These bacteria live in the gravel and in the filter cartridge, so if you can get some from another tank, you can put the bacteria right into your tank (don't let the gravel or filter cartridge dry out). If you do this, in a day or two, your tank will be A OK.
Another way is to get Bio-Spira. It is the actual live bacteria in a little pouch, and your tank will instantly be ready for fish.http://fishstoretn.com/bio_spira.html......

You can also put a source of ammonia into the tank, such as fish food every few days, or a piece of shrimp. You can also use a fish as a source of ammonia, but I don't recommend this - it borders on animal cruelty. Without bio-spira or bacteria from another tank, the bacteria will eventually develop, but it will take at least 2 weeks.

You should invest in an ammonia, nitrite and nitrate testing kit so you can keep an eye on your levels. It's worth the 30$, and you can observe the ammonia, nitrite and finally the nitrate spikes, and then you will know your tank is ready.

So, yeah, don't get an oscar for your 55 gallon. Why not set up a peacock tank instead? Look up Peacock Ciclid on google images... they're amazing and much more suitable for a 55 gallon tank.

Answer 2

A 55 gallon will support 1 adult oscar. You could put 4 in there now, but in around 1 year you'll have to get a bigger tank for them.

You'll also find that convict cichlid babies are extraordinary at hiding and your oscars will not eat them. You'll end up with too many fish that you can't find homes for.

Answer 3

Oh Zoe you never cease to amaze me.. A 55 gallon tank is 4 feet long and 2 feet or more high. Oscars get to be "About" a foot long, impressive specimens can hit 16". Do the math, a 4 foot aquarium with 55 gallons of water will give the Oscar equal mobility space than a 75 gallon tank.

General rule is 4x the body of the fish for mobility space, Oscars being 1 foot long will adequately live inside a 55 gallon tank. We're not here trying to produce the worlds best breeding stock Zoe, its a fish, a loveable cute fish. Why should somebody with adequate hardware to facilitate keeping several of these be detered from your zionist methods?

I'll do the math for you since I'm sure you wont.

>>55 Gallon Tank!
14 inches long - Adequate for any 12 inch fish to turn around in, 2 inches clearance if the fish does NOT bend its body while turning.
20 inches deep. Thats some damn impressive Oscar growing to that size, I dont disbelieve it, but it is impressive to say the least Zoe.. And lets not forget that when Oscars swim.. They do so in a HORIZONTAL MANNER >_<. This isnt an angelfish or Halibut Zoe... Seriously do you just answer to everyone because you have no dayjob? Hopefully you do and wont quit it..

48 inches wide. 4 times the length of a 12 inch fish... Plenty..

>>75 Gallon tank!
18 Inches long... thats 4 inches longer than a 55 gallon aquarium Zoe, are you REALLY giving your oscars so much living space with the extra 20 gallons?

21 deep ... 1 whole inch more than a 55!!!!!

18 long ... again, the same as a 55 gallon aquarium...


I've no true idea why you believe that statistics undermark the growth of Oscars, I dont know why you think they get 20 inches, though I'd buy one if I could... For someone who is looking to stock a tank with oscars, it is very rash for you to make these claims without thinking about what it is you're saying.

With your morality and ethics for fish keeping Zoe I'm suprized you even have fish in a glass cube, your ideals state that every fish should be in a massive aquatic environment, and I somehow seriously doubt you have a 8,500 Metric tonne lake in your yard stocked with cichlids...

So to the question....

You can keep several oscars in this tank, I wouldnt reccomend getting just 1, 2 would be great if you can pick up a male and female as a pair. Oscars are very emotional fish, I've watched mine die of depression after one hopped out of the tank through the aperature for the powerfilter one night.. 1 committed suicide jumping out of the hood... 3 others died from loneliness.. Point behind all this is that Oscars in particular do much better in groups compared to having a solitary specimen.

Oscars if adequately paired, will not rival over turf/territory and accept each others presence... This being said... With successful pairing you can keep more oscars together.

Yes Oscars produce an abundance of waste, but so do children that eat too much chocolate... What do you do with a child who pigs out on chocolate? You just change its diaper... What do you do with wasting Oscars? Clean their tank more regularly if there's a serious "waste" problem.

If there is a waste problem that is unable to be managed by water changes, products such as "Waste Control" by Nutrifin are available to cut down on ammonia spikes, If you find yourself doing larger than neccessary water changes, you can supplement the loss of bacteria with Nutrifin's "Cycle" product which promotes aerobic bacteria.

Hell Zoe, if I had a shilling for every person I know who has 1 (lets not even mention pairs) of Oscars in tanks smaller than 75 gallons, I'd buy answers.yahoo and ban you from spreading misinformation.

Answer 4

A fifty 5 gallon tank is the minimum length tank reported for a unmarried tiger oscar. you need to shop the tank at 72F - 78F. in case you desire to maintain a pair of oscars, you need to improve to a a hundred twenty five gallon tank.

Answer 5

i would only put two max in there. you can add other species, like a pleco, or maybe another compatible smaller cichlid! as for rocks and what-not, go with what you like. temperature and water movement is more important than those things. they do need hiding places, tho. and as far as the convicts go, breeding is not as easy as it might seem. if you want to breed feeders, i would reccomend mollys or guppies! good luck!

Answer 6

I think you should probably save Oscars for a bigger tank. They can get pretty large. Uh... goldfish are great! LOL

Sorry I use my 55 gallons as a goldfish community tank. Their very entertaining. *smile*

Answer 7

You could get the four Oscars, but they may outgrow your tank. I would only put rocks in the tank, because they will eat all the plants. If you do get plastic plants they will rearrange them eventually depending on the size of the oscars. Convicts are usually more aggressive, especially if they are breeding. I would just feed the oscars, pellets or feeder fish. If you do get the convicts make sure they are smaller than the oscars.

Answer 8

How many Oscars have you won?

Are you really Charlton Heston?

I loved that one line of yours...."Soylent Green is PEOPLE!!!"