new to fish keeping, need some advice whether on this subject or in general

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Hosanna16

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Feb 5, 2014
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Zach
What i have right now is a 4 gallon tank with a 120v filtration system and an LED light set(heater coming soon in mail), currently I have 1 Oscar which i just got recently. I realize that 4 gallons may not be to big but is it possible to add 1 maybe 2 more fish into this tank (I know my Oscar will attack anything smaller than it as well, the fish itself is about 1 1/2 inchs long give or take). If It is possible to add more fish am i limited to only other Oscar's? and /or Chiclids.

Also on a side note he is very active when no ones around but acts as if he's dead or dying when you get close plus rejects the pellets i try to feed him, is this because of their personality?

Thanks for all your help!

P.S. the tank in the picture is off ebay my tanks is basically empty only having rocks on the bottom, i ordered more decor for it which hopefully will be here soon

$T2eC16ZHJFoE9nh6pN!fBRSO7ml+y!~~60_57.JPG
 
Star_Rider

Star_Rider

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Ed
you mention you have an oscar in a 4 gallon tank.
fact: Oscars are relatively large fish and it's recommended they reside in a tank of at least 75 gallons.
granted your Oscar is young ..but given proper nutrition and care will quickly out grow a 4 gallon tank.
I would not recommend 1. keeping an Oscar in a 4 g tank. 2. I would not add more more fish to this tank.

the 1" per gallon rule is not very useful and you should consider the adult size of the fish when trying to set up the correct environment.
 
Jayhawk

Jayhawk

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First off, welcome to the forum. While we are a friendly group, you're going to get a lot of heat for keeping a fish that'd do better with a minimum 75 gallon tank in a 4 gallon tank even though it's very, very young. It will outgrow your tank in 3 or so months. I heartily recommend trading the Oscar back in (it should not act like you describe...unless your house is in the mid to upper 70s right now, it needs the heater, and if you didn't cycle your tank it's suffering from poor water quality).

So, I suggest taking the oscar back, and look at either fishless cycling (using ammonia - google has good instructions), borrowing a friends filter media to jump start your tank, or trying a product like Cycle to help with the cycling process.

Your tank is ideal for a single betta, maybe a trio of white cloud mountain minnows (or celestial pearl danios), or as a shrimp tank for cherry red shrimp.

Eric
 
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Hosanna16

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Zach
yeah i didnt know that until later, im very new to this, I am doing research on all this stuff still. I dont have any other way to get a bigger tanks right now. He is still only an inch long right now so how long do you think i have?
 
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Hosanna16

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Zach
in that case jayhawk im gonna have to save up to get a bigger tank for him, defiantly dont want to get rid of this guy, thanks for the warning i kinda figured i'd get some heat on this subject after i researched it more.
 
Star_Rider

Star_Rider

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I would say you really only have a few weeks.
while Oscars don't grow extremely fast it will outgrow a 4 g tank in a few weeks.
a 2-3 " oscar(would be my safe estimate of growth for 3-4 weeks) is way to large for a 4 g tank.

keep in mind that a young oscar should be getting fed several times per day. if you don't feed it enough you will stunt it's growth.
the feeding requierments change as they get older but the size of their food has more to to with getting them what they require as adults.. that coupled with a slower metabolism
 
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Hosanna16

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I decided to give him back to petco, which i would hate to do but our lease doesn't let us have a large fish tank otherwise i would have a 75 gallon tank immediately to keep this fish!!
Gonna have to switch to either a betta or a couple danio(s) like jayhawk recommended
 
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