hey im a newb and i have some questions.

[sum_dude206]

ok im new to this hobby but anyway i have a new 55 gallon glass tank. and i am thinking of keeping one tiger oscar and one pleco. i know that oscars get to around 7-9" so ill upgrade to new tank size when i have the money. so i have some questions regarding the tank setups and steps.

1. what keep of water heaters would i use for a 55 gallon tank? should i buy an underwater heater or one of the heaters that hang on the edge of the glass? what are the brands you use? how many watts to heat up a 55 galllon?

2. what kind of fliters should i use? spoung? power filters? underwater gravel? what are best to use for messy fishes like oscars? and what are the brands you guys use?

3. how do you guys change the water of a large tank? do i remove half of the water or what? and also after i have half of the water gone, do i go to the tub and fill up large bucket of warm water and pour it into the tank? or can i just bring in an outside hose and fill up the water like that. but since the hose water is cold wouldnt it hurt or kill the fish?

4. what kinds of meds should i get to treat the water? the ammo killers, nitrate killers and what else? any other suggestions.

5. after i move everything to a larger tank, what other fishes should i keep with the oscar and the pleco? i am thinking of getting a pacu or a arowana. i know both get huge so that is why im saving up for a 200 gallon or so.

6. and can you guys give me some tips on how to keep an oscar heathly. i will probley feed it pellets or sometimes feederfish. should the temp be around 72-78? for the fish?

ok thats all , thankx for reading.

 

[wetmanNY]

We look into the Newbie Forum too. You shouldn't think you would be ignored there.

 

[ChilDawg]

Interesting (and good...they recommend that beginners get the largest tank that they can afford) that you would start with such a big tank, but I'm not sure that starting with such big fish is a good idea unless you have a lot of help physically near you.

That having been said, you will likely need to have a 75g or larger for the Oscar and Pleco. Oscars get to be a little larger than the size range you have cited--they can easily make it to 12" and some make it to 16" in captivity.

Strangely enough, both could be arowana food once the arowana grows large. Besides, you will need excellent water quality for the arowana (something which plecs do not help, and neither do pacus) and a much larger tank. A 180 is recommended in order for Arowanas to be kept singly.

Understand that I am not criticizing, I am just offering something to think about for when you get all those tankbusters. I am afflicted by the same "tankbuster-loving" syndrome as you, but I cannot house them in my dorm room, so jealousy abounds from this side of my message.

 

[O-man21]

Oscars get up to 15"...not 9" a 55 is minimum for a oscar.
1. I use "Ebo Jager"submersible heaters, and my rule of thumb is 50 watts for every 10 gallons.
2.I would probably get an 'Emperor 280"..280 gallons per hour filtered, and a smaller "Fluval" canister filter. In my opinion, I don't like Under Gravel Filters, and some other people here will say that too, so no UGFs, but get some small sized gravel if you want plants, larger if you don't want plants.
3.It depends on how much you change, get a "Python",available at most local fish stores, they connect to the faucet and dump the dirty water into it, then add water conditioner to the tank, then turn on the faucet and let it run into the tank via the "Python". With an Oscar, I would change probably around 50% every week to every 10 days.
4.Always use declorinator when adding new water, but right after you get the fish in, you might want some "Stress Coat", it helps the fish produce it's protective slime coat.After that, just use differents meds for whatever ailment your fish has, but you might want to consult us first.
5. Arowana's are Asian fish,and Oscars are South American fish, and Arawana's get 3 ft long, so don't get that with an oscar, you could get a larger pair of "Convict Cichlids" because they can get nasty when breeding, so they'll hold their own with an oscar.
6.Keep it around 75-78 degrees and feed him/her an assortment of foods, pellets,frozen krill,and occasionaly feeder fish after they have been quarintined. You have to quarintine a feeder fish because they can carry dieseases from the tank they were in. To quarintine a fish, you have to keep it in a 5-10 gallon pre-cycled tank for about 2 weeks, so you know that it isn't carrying any illnesses that your new oscar can get.
AND YOU CAN'T FORGET TO CYCLE!!! READ IN THE NEWBIE FORUM FOR CYCLING INFO!!!!

 

[ChilDawg]

Some of the Arowanas are South American, as a matter of fact, the Jardinis (most commonly sold Aros) are. However, just don't keep them with Oscars, as O-man and I have said.

Cons might actually kick Oscars out of a tank, they do the same to Piranhas when they breed (Stratton, "The Guide to Owning Central American Cichlids").

Glad to see that someone had equipment advice for you, that is not my forte, and I appreciate O-man21's info when it comes to that for my own future Oscar tank as well.

 

[O-man21]

you welcome childawg, we posted at the same time lol

 

[sum_dude206]

hey thankx guys! all of this info is really helpful!!!

 

[pinballqueen]

Originally posted by sum_dude206

2. what kind of fliters should i use? spoung? power filters? underwater gravel? what are best to use for messy fishes like oscars? and what are the brands you guys use?

4. what kinds of meds should i get to treat the water? the ammo killers, nitrate killers and what else? any other suggestions.

5. after i move everything to a larger tank, what other fishes should i keep with the oscar and the pleco? i am thinking of getting a pacu or a arowana. i know both get huge so that is why im saving up for a 200 gallon or so.


ok thats all , thankx for reading.

I use a Rena Submersible heater, and a Fluval 404 filter on my 55 gallon, along with an Emp. 380 (which has been replaced by the 400 series, as my filter is older) as a backup. I recommend putting as much money as you can into your filtration, as you understand just how messy these guys can get, and there is no such thing as overkill when it comes to filtration. I am also going to be keeping a very messy fish that gets large.

Don't bother with ammonia/nitrate removing chemicals. They will just interfere with the biological processes in your tank. They'll starve all of your bacteria. That sort of thing will sort itself out during the cycling process. Buy some test kits for these chemicals, though. You definitely need those. I also recommend having ich medication and fungus treatments on hand in case of those late-night emergencies when you look in the tank and notice disease, as well as some Stress Coat or other dechlorinator and maybe Melafix.

I agree with the other posters that said that an arrowana is a bad idea for a beginner, as well as for a tank of that size. Even with 200 gallons to play with, arrowanas will eat anything that will fit into their very large mouths, oscars and plecos included. However, they can be very skittish and be out-competed for food when they are little, so a large oscar and a baby arrowana would be a bad combination, because the arrowana would starve to death.

Pacus get to be quite the massive fish, but they are the better alternative between the two you have mentioned wanting. There is a restaurant in town here that has a single Pacu in a 300 gallon tank, and he takes up most of it....

 

[ChilDawg]

I'm not so sure that you would want a sponge filter for fish that large. We had about ten industrial-sized sponge filters when my high school kept Tilapia, and we constantly grumbled about having to clean out the *()* sponges almost hourly. I think that a pacu, plec, or oscar, kept singly, would make a sponge counterproductive. Kept together, unless you had other filters to back it up, the sponge would cause almost as much work as changing the water constantly. The only benefit which I could see would be a place for bacteria to build up, but, with adequate gravel, you should have that already.

 

[EagerAqua]

I was at my cousins over the weekend and all he has in his tank is a Tiger Oscar and a pleco. That is all his 65 gallon will hold. He has had his oscar for 2 years now and it is 13 inches. If you are prepared to deal with a fish that gets to be this size then go for it, but just remember that it will limit what you can hold in your tank in the future big time.

Eager