Is It Ok to Buy A Pair of 6" Oscars?

Another option would be to get 4-6 juvi's and grow them out and keep your favorite 2 But if you want instant tank fillage, then yeah...check out what conditions the larger fish have been kept in...and if it checks out, go for it.

as long as ur prepared to feed 2 fast growing fish yeah go for your life kick ass fish i loved watching mine breed at about 4 in the morning lol and for some reason they did it more often with a moonlight(so i could see my synadontis)

Here is some info about oscar. This guy gave pretty detail of tank size and other info you might be interested to know.

If that 2 oscars can live in your tank, they gotta count themselves lucky while they are still in 6" size. I've seen LFS treat those oscars so badly that I wanted to lecture them. In one LFS, I found 4 8" Oscars live with 5 12" Pacus in a 55 gallons tank. If that's not abuse...I don't know what's that call.

http://kingsoftheaquarium.tripod.com/oscars.htm

Hi,

The only thing that would concern me would be your tank size. I think one adult would be fine in your 90 gallon tank, but IMO it would be best to house 2 adult Oscars in at least a 125 gallon tank. That way they would have more swimming room and generally be happier in the long run. Others here may disagree, as this is just my opinion for what it's worth. Whatever you decide good luck!



HTH

Originally posted by dcallen
Hi,

The only thing that would concern me would be your tank size. I think one adult would be fine in your 90 gallon tank, but IMO it would be best to house 2 adult Oscars in at least a 125 gallon tank. That way they would have more swimming room and generally be happier in the long run. Others here may disagree, as this is just my opinion for what it's worth. Whatever you decide good luck!



HTH

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I'm surprised that you were the only who mentioned this.

The website I attached on my last message mentioned the same thing that if kept more than one Oscar, have to have bigger tank, 180 gallons since Oscar do grow 1' or more, need room to turn.

I mean while they are 6" are great in 90 gallons, but Oscar grows fast. Then tank upgrade will be necessary. dcallen is totally right.

Personally, 6" from LFS...you never know what these fish have been fed. I just don't trust the fish store clerks. That was another reason I got a juvenile Oscar. It is more fun to watch it grow to a massive fish.

Another thing is that if oscar is grown from juvenile, owner can monitor how much food in take the Oscar should have. Owning a big fish from the start, it is hard to understand and know how much an Oscar should eat. It really depends on the Oscar daily eating habit.

I usually put 3 cichlid sticks for my 2" Oscar. He can only take 2 cichlid sticks a day. The 3rd one he always left on the bottom of the tank for later snack.

Peifc,

I agree. I don't put much stock in what the LFS employees say as I have yet to find a really knowledgeable person in this town that knows about Cichlids, and we have quite a few LFS in the area to choose from. I tend to lean heavily on what I learn here at AC from experienced fishkeepers and from what I read on the Internet. I also enjoy watching juveniles grow into adults, it's nice to see the fruits of your labor. To reiterate on what peifc said. Two 6" Oscars would be fine for now in your 90 gallon setup but there would come a day in the not too distant future when you would want to move them into a larger home. A 90 gallon tank is a very nice setup but you may be surprised at just how small it will look with two 10-12 inch monster Oscars in it. I have 8 smaller Cichlids in my 70 gallon tank and I'm already saving for a 125 gallon tank as mine is starting to look too small for my fish, and they are not yet adults.


Good Luck!

id go with the juveniles, it is fun to watch them grow and interact with each other.

Originally posted by peifc
Here is some info about oscar. This guy gave pretty detail of tank size and other info you might be interested to know.

If that 2 oscars can live in your tank, they gotta count themselves lucky while they are still in 6" size. I've seen LFS treat those oscars so badly that I wanted to lecture them. In one LFS, I found 4 8" Oscars live with 5 12" Pacus in a 55 gallons tank. If that's not abuse...I don't know what's that call.

http://kingsoftheaquarium.tripod.com/oscars.htm

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Think about it. Do you really think that LFS ordered in those Oscars and Pacus? I doubt it. More likely is that these were trade-in fish whose owners had nowhere else to take the fish but the LFS. What's the store to do, chuck the fish? No, they house them as best they can hoping that someone will eventually buy them. Most LFS's don't have large tanks for holding livestock.

Anyway, next time use your head before you label people as "abusers".

Heck! Of course I thought of the fact that those Oscars were traded in by previous fish owner, but I doubt that was recently since I've seen those fish in that same tank for a year or so. How I know? Because they are just around the block where I live. And it happens that LFS is a chain petstore. I will not name the name, but they have always been treating the fish badly.

Does it make sense to you that small 1" Blood Parrots of less than 10 live in 55 gallons tank while gigantic fish of 8 or 9 live in the same size of tank?

There are good LFS. And there are bad LFS. And this LFS is one of the bad one.