CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

Hi, Illyoung!  Glad to hear your ich problem cleared up.  As to the tank size, your O's will likely grow quite quickly.  You have a couple of things to watch.  The first is nitrates.  Oscars eat a lot, and waste a lot.  As they grow larger, they naturally produce a lot of waste, which then pollutes the available water, largely via the nitrogen cylcle -- ammonia/nitrite/nitrate.  Your tank will eventually develop bacteria to deal with the ammonia and nitrite, but the only bacteria that will break down nitrate are anaerobic, and so far we haven't come up with a safe way of keeping these in a freshwater aquarium.  Though not as toxic to fish as ammonia or nitrite, you need to keep the nitrate levels to 20ppm or less -- otherwise your fish start having health and other problems.  Two big Oscars in a 55 make it quite difficult to keep nitrates within a healthy range without frequent, large (over 50%) water changes.  Most of us just don't have the time or fanatacism to keep up with the number of water changes to keep up with that kind of biomass in that small amount of water, ergo the recommendation for larger tanks.  The greater water volume buys you time between changes.  Add a dempsey and a pleco -- also large waste producers -- and the problem increases.

The other situation to keep an eye on is aggression.  Cichlids are territorial, and larger fish generally need larger territories.  With your mix, as they grow could very well see some violence that you probably wouldn't in a larger tank.

Hello to all. Happy easter! Hey Dan whats going on. I had some trouble a while back with adding fish. If you dont know I had two tiger oscars, well after i got my tanked cylcled and my O's comfortable I read up on what else I could put in the tank. So I bought a Jack D. come to find out it was a Convict. The next morning the biggest O was dead the Convict killed him. So I took the convict out and put him in a 20gal tank. He still there by himself right now until I get a bigger tank. So that morning with plenty of frustration I went and bought 3 more baby O's. I gave the Oscar that lived through the night to a friend so he wouldnt give the new babies any bad habbits or get them sick cause he was the one who had ich pretty bad. But now its just 3 tiger oscars in my 55gal tank. I have had them for about a month and a half. They are about and inch I also have about a 5inch alge eater in the tank. They all get along fine right now. But my problem is the feeding of my oscars!!!! I feed them pellets, worms, blood worms, shrimp, and some insects i find around the house like ants and some tiny spiders. But I notice that two of the oscars eat everything a give them, they are the biggest of the three. The smallest of the 3 his name is Butch. He eats everything except pellets. Everytime I give pellets he just swims at the top of the tank looking for something else to eat I suppose. I am trying to see what I should do. I dont want them to get big a pick on him. I also know that 55 gallons is not big enough for three O's! How long before I have to get another tank and what size should i be looking for? Hey thanks for all the Help you guys and girls have taught me a lot in the past looking foward to learning more!!!

I would say for 3 Os, minimum 120 if they get along, but 160-210 to assure territorial pleasantry and water quality.  If you are extremely lucky, you might get away with a smaller tank than that, but someone with trusted experience should chime in on smaller tanks than I listed (like Mark).  The general rule is 55-75 per Oscar.

Sorry to hear about the evil convict and losing two close Os.  Do you visit the one you gave away?

Hi, Illyoung! Good to hear that things are going well.  One thing to bear in mind is that 3 is often not a good number for Oscars.  If all 3 are male, you'll have constant fighting over territory.  If 2 males and a female, a pair will form and the 3rd fish will be attacked.  Same thing if 1 male and 2 females.  If all 3 are female, a "false bond" will form, and the 3rd fish will be beaten up.  You get the idea.  Be prepared.

Oscars can be picky, but they're not likely to let themselves starve, so he'll probably come around.

Could that be why two are bigger?  They pretty much hang together most of the time. And the smaller one is by himself most of the time. What should I do, I dont want no drama in the tank but I dont want to take any of them out. Any suggestions ?

    In my experience for the past 3 years when ever I saw spots all I did was raise the temp to 82 - 83,  ich can't live in temps above 80, that way I avoid having to put in meds that could harm not only the cycle in the tank but I also avoid harming any fish in the tank that are too sensitive to meds.  I have seen spots completely dissapear in as little as 2 days.  I always have a little bit of salt in my tanks, and I add an extra bubbler because the warmer water doesn't hold air as good.