waht do you think will happen (new tank set up with oscars)

Um...
if he doesn't cycle the tank? I'd give it... a week before either everything goes belly up, or he's got himself a pretty nasty case of... whatever thats really nasty.
If he does cycle his tank? Probably about a week before everything in there starts to beat the crap outta each other.

I hope you can read the sarcasm in my typing.

If your brother knows nothing about fish, then teach him. If he's unwilling to learn, at least try to stem the impending disaster. If you are going to knowingly let him do something like this, you are just about as liable to the disaster as he would be. Its up to the more knowledgable ppl to prevent disasters whenever possible. Preventing involves educating the less educated, and by intervening when you can. Sitting back and "collecting bets" is far from being part of the solution.

I hope you do the right thing,
-Richer

i'd imagine those fish'd generate a heck of a lot of waste, and even if they turned out to all be the best of friends (!), they'd be living a delightful sewer-like atmosphere.

i give them 5 minutes....tell him to change his plans, quick, because thats gonna be a huge hassle for the week that they live, lol.

i think they will live to cycle the tank. they will probably be overfed and just lay at the bottom of the tank so he will dump in a bunch of goldfish and the oscars might eat some get stuffed and lay at the bottom of the tank, water will get dirty and smell and then with no water changes water level will drop until heater dies and filter barely trickles any water. then there will be one oscar left and he will either get flushed, die or dropped off at a walmart or something. did he get the severums yet? ive seen oscars live together ok but i dont know about the severum.

id say 1 oscar at 2" is ok. 2 would push it. 2 with severums would be a bad deal. they might not fight, they might not die, but there sure as hell not going to be pleased. its not just about whether your fish can fit in the tank its whether your fish will be comfortable in the false environment youve created. hell, you could house a cat in a closet and it would live but that would be cruel. why should a fish being contained in to small of a tank be concieved as differant?

Originally posted by Hans
my brother, knows nothing about fish, but anyways, hes got a 10 gallon tank, ....

Click to expand...

I'd say guppies would be a better idea..

add another zero on to that tank size and you would have a good chance. My oscar and sevrum never fight but they have a lot of room to avoid eachother too. sevrums dont tolerate anything well and will probably die off first.

the oscars by themselves should be tough enough to withtstand the cycle, but with the severums in their too, i doubt it