New Oscar, no experience! Advice Please!!

airforce231 · Jan 30, 2009

Okay.... here's my situation: A friend of mine recently decided that he could no longer care for a small oscar that he owns (2 1/2 inches). Not wanting to see something happen to the little guy, I told the friend that i would take him. I bought a 10 gallon tank along with an aquatech 5-15 filter, gravel bottom, and an artificial cave for him to hide in.

I also added a small albino plecostomus and a snail.

The oscar, that originally started off black with cream colored stripes turned very pale and has not returned completely to his original color. Occasionally he will come close, but never quite returns to the same color. Ive tried changing the water as well as changing around his diet, but nothing seems to work.

Also, before i received him, he would swim peacefully in the tank. Now he alternates between lying on the bottom and swimming as fast as he can with his eye pressed up against the glass.

Please help! Also any advice for keeping an oscar is very much appreciated as i am quite new to this.

krytan · Jan 30, 2009

Your oscar is going to grow to 14-16" and will need a minimum of a 75g tank. Common plecos will grow to 18-24" and will need a 100g+ tank.

airforce231 · Jan 30, 2009

I am already looking for a tank of that size. I am restricted to a 10 gallon by school policy (I live in a dormitory) until i obtain an apartment at semesters end. Will he be able to tolerate this tank for another 4 months?

shawnhu · Jan 30, 2009

I think the OP is trying to keep his Oscar alive, not worry about what happens months down the road. But good point.

Just wondering, what is your experience with fish, period? You obviously didn't cycle the tank, right? Did you declorinate the water? Do you have any test kits?

We're going to need this info before we can even start to try to help your fish.

You're going to shoot for 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite. You're also going to shoot for dechlorinated water, and chloramines removed. Seachem Prime is a product that does a good job at this, as well as Stress Coat from API. You should at a minimum, allow the water to sit overnight to allow the chlorine to gas off.

krytan · Jan 30, 2009

Oscars grow 1-2" a month and will out grow a 10g in less than four months.

airforce231 · Jan 30, 2009

I have not cycled the tank, but after reading your previous post, I did find the thread regarding that and am reading it as we speak. I did indeed let the water sit overnight as well as added stress coat (conditioner) and stress zyme (filtration booster) to the water. I have no test kits nor will i be able to get any until the weekend due to the relative unavailability of aquarium supplies in my area.

krytan · Jan 30, 2009

With an oscar and pleco in an un-cycled 10g tank you will most likely need to do large water changes twice a day until the tank has cycled, oscars and pleco are about the messiest fish you can get. A test kit is essential to doing a fishy cycle so you should get one as soon as possible.

shawnhu · Jan 30, 2009

Best you could do now is to keep the water clean, and keep lowering any ammonia in that tank.

Your biofilter is not up to par yet, and won't be for some time(4-6 weeks). You'll need to do water changes everyday to keep that water up to par, until you get a test kit and monitor ammonia levels.

For the most part, Zyme won't work, but what you can do is add a little salt to ease the transition and to neutralize nitrite, if there are any.

krytan · Jan 30, 2009

shawnhu said:
Best you could do now is to keep the water clean, and keep lowering any ammonia in that tank.

Your biofilter is not up to par yet, and won't be for some time(4-6 weeks). You'll need to do water changes everyday to keep that water up to par, until you get a test kit and monitor ammonia levels.

For the most part, Zyme won't work, but what you can do is add a little salt to ease the transition and to neutralize nitrite, if there are any.

Sorry but i disagree with the adding of salt part, imo the only time you should add salt is to treat ick.

airforce231 · Jan 30, 2009

What about adding an amonia away tablet? I found several of these among the random box of items my friend gave to me. Would they help? Some other things that also came with it are:

Start Right (with allantonin)
Tetra Easy Balance (with nitraban)
Jungle Clear Water
Hikari Algae wafers (I assume for the plecostomus)


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New Oscar, no experience! Advice Please!!

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