CichlidFish.com - Fish That Think.

I decided that I need a larger tank for my Oscar and firemouth (I want to get another Oscar and firemouth). I found this guy selling his 100 gal with custom made pine stand and all accessories ( lights, canpoy, fluval, 3 heaters, powerhead, even the siphon that you hook up to your sink for water changes). All for $650 CDN. I then found out that he has fish to go with it. 3- 12 inch Oscar's and 2-firemouths and 2 loachs. He is selling them because he is suddenly single and is out of town too much to take care of them.

I told him I will take the aquarium and stand and supplies, but I would have to think about the fish (he has friends that will take what they can and the lfs will take the rest).

What should I do??? I want tank mates for my fish, but I also don't want my fish to get beat up. Should I take all the fish and after putting them all together then decide who I want to keep? Should I just take one Oscar and one firemouth? Should I take a loach?

I don't want to keep all of them because the reason I wanted a bigger tank in the first place is to give my Oscar lots of space.

I am going to look at the tank and fish 2 hours from now. I won't be picking everything up until Wednesday.

Any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated!!!

$650 CDN is how much in dollars? If CDN is more than US that's way over priced. I got my 100 gallon acrylic for a $100 US and then I built my own stand for $100 US. Then my filtration only cost me $100 US. SO I ended up spending $300 for everything except the fish and decorations.

CDN $ are less the U.S.$ (for now anyways)

But it does seem a little high!

I just got my 120 (glass) a few days ago for $107.00 (u.s.$)
free glass tops came with the tank
+ $26 (u.s.) for the 48" light"
(matching woodgrain black was even slightly cheaper)
+ $60 (u.s) for two filters for it.
+ $15 (u.s) Large powerhead with prefilter
+ $35 (u.u) for the 2 250 watt submersiable heater
SO $243.00 for everything new

Then spent about $6.00 to make a plain boring stand.

I'm not sure what the exchange differance is right now,but I belive that would still be somewhere around $300 CDN $

So would the used stand and fish be worth the price differance to you? If so buy it,if not look around more.


Moved to tanks and hardware section since this is mostly about the tank and set up you'll probally get more replies there



If you want to add your fish to an established tank like that make sure you totally rearrange it before you try it.

Good Luck.

$243 US is $380 CDN. $650 CDN is about $430 US. Man you guys have it good. Not only is your dollar better, but everything is sooooo much cheaper!

I have been shopping around since November for a new fish tank. You can't even buy a 20 gallon for a hundred bucks here. I was actually looking for a 75 gallon because the 90-100 gallons were so expensive (about $500 new). Then there's the stand which is minimum $200 for a simple metal stand. The flo. light for a 75 gallon that I was looking at this morning was $89.99. I was looking at Fluvals these last few months and a fluval 404 is $229.00 and I believe that was on sale. I almost bought one of those siphons today and it was $60 on sale. I'm so happy I didn't buy it! Before I found this tank set-up, I was going to buy a 67 gallon (new), with wooden stand and cabnet, lighting and glass top and I was going to pay $695 not including GST. and that was one of the cheaper ones I found (on sale). For us Canadians, this is not a cheap hobby. I would have never gotten fish if i would have known how much it would cost before hand (I inherited these fish). I'm really interested to know how much you pay for an Oscar!

But anyhow, I bought the tank which I will pick up next week. It comes with a fluval 404, 3 powerheads, 3 heaters, a beautiful custom made pine stand with matching canopy, 2 sets of flo. lighting, air pump, the siphon that attaches to the sink, test kits and supplies, and lots of tank decorations (rocks, plants , stone caves and wood). Plus any of the fish I want to take (which I will post anew topic about because really, that's what I need the help with). This is WAY less than what I would spend if I was to buy it all new. I will take pictures once its all set-up.

Anyhow, your right this should be posted in the tank set-up. I didn't even know there was one of those forums here!!!

Have I mentioned how good you American's have it??

$650 CDN is about $430 US.

WOW the CDN$ is a little lower then I thought maybe it's time to take a ride across the border:) at $430 U.S.$ I'd buy it if everything was complete and nice looking.

I'm really interested to know how much you pay for an Oscar!

I varies ALOT here and the u.s. even has alot different price on them between different places.
Locally right now small oscars 1-2" cost:
tigers and commons are about $2.99 - 6.99
Albinos and reds are about $4.99 - 9.99
Golds are about 14.99

At around 4" those prices double

Your kidding! I was looking at a baby Oscar today and he was $20! A few weeks ago they had a 6" Oscar for $45. No wonder no one I know keep fish.

I was looking at Fluvals these last few months and a fluval 404 is $229.00

Bonnie,
Congrats on the new set-up, sounds like a good buy! I just checked http://www.bigalsonline.com and it listed the Fluval 404 at $179.99 (Can), but then it says in the shipping info section that they do not ship outside the US (that was even after I clicked on the "ordering from Canada" link on the home page) ??
Can Canadians, or other countries for that matter not use this site? Or, do you have to arrange other shipping methods, that probably drive the cost higher than if buying from your LFS?

Good question. I've looked at the online stores but usually it is in US funds (so add 0.35 to each dollar spent) so it ends up not being any cheaper or more expensive with shipping. I never checked BigAls, but most of those places are based in the US and usually don't deliver to Canada or they charge heavily to do it. Are there any other Canadians on this forum? I'd be interested to know where they get their good deals from. I live in Edmonton and its not like there are only overpriced private fish stores here. We have multiple PJ's Pet Stores, PetSmarts, Petcetera's, SuperPet....plus lots of the smaller more specialized stores. There is a good variety and good competition which helps keep the price down, but not nearly enough!