how much time

Do you need an estimated time so you can save up for a larger tank?? i dont know that much about Oscars but i think they are fairly fast growers compared to other fish. A friend of mine had an Oscar and told me it was similar to keeping a dog in regard to care. They wont stand filthy water, and they are big messy fish . Your Oscar wont be happy in a small tank for very long, if i were you i wouldnt wait around, start saving and invest in a 55 gallon asap if you are keeping him on his own or at least a 75gallon if you intend getting a mate. They are such gorgeous little guys if i hadnt started my malawi tank i definitely would have gone for an OSCAR... gorgeous

One more thing, without sounding harsh, finding a way to stunt somethings growth doesnt make sense to me, why buy the fish if you werent prepared to house it?? leaving it in it's small tank will result in either a dead or sick and deformed Oscar. Dont kid yourself that a ten gallon will suffice, get out as soon as you can and house this beautiful fish properly ok

i agree. trying to stunt a fishes growth is like slowly killing it. it really is bad forn the health and life span. if you stunt a fishes growth it will die much earlier, not mention that many disease and health problems can easily occur in these types of fish. thats why so many gold fish die in months. they arent meant to be kept in tiny fish bowls. they need large aquariums, just like your oscar does.

Now! Oscars grow fast, and will quickly be stunted in a 10g.

My first cichlid was an Oscar (shame on them for selling it to me) and i too put it in a 10 hoping to upgrade once it got bigger, but i found that in 4 months my 1" oscar was about 7" long. Then he outgrew my 29 and i had to give him away. I fed him a lot of live food tho, but still. you have about a month, maybe less.

I agree with kittykat in that you have less than a month, when my tiger o was that small it was growing at least an inch per month, so get a bigger tank, the sooner the better.

Now would be a good time to upgrade. Get a 75g, 55g are not wide enough for oscars. At the very least, get something like a 60g bowfront, heck, a 50g breeder (made to be wider yet shorter) would be better than a 55g, IMHO.

Agreed. Less than a month... go out right now and get that 75 gallon tank. The smaller ones will "suffice", but they really need as big as possible.