help me im new!!!
- Thread starter plain old fish
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That is a big question. Do you already have a tank? If not then you need to ask your self what kind of fish do you want and how big of a tank can you have, do you want fresh water or salt water, tropical fish or cold water fish? There are a lot of questions that need to be answered first. Once you know those then it will be easier to answer your question.
thanks for the help
well i bought a fish tank a couple weeks ago and i have set it up and it looks like it is going well. i am thinking of keeping freshwater fish like a discuss or an oscar. my tank is 4ft long 2ft wide and 2ft high. i am pretty sure these are tropical fish.would these be ok in this size tank?
well i bought a fish tank a couple weeks ago and i have set it up and it looks like it is going well. i am thinking of keeping freshwater fish like a discuss or an oscar. my tank is 4ft long 2ft wide and 2ft high. i am pretty sure these are tropical fish.would these be ok in this size tank?
Usually discus are only kept with other discus, and are very high maintenance. I know some people who keep them do large water changes everyday, so I woud consider that before investing in such expensive fish!! As for other fish with oscars, it depends on exactly what kind you are interested. Your best bet is to go to your LFS, get some names of fish that interest you and come home and do lots of research! 
research
In this site are Species Profiles, that is a good place to start.
Big cichlids like Oscars have specific sorts of fish they can mix with. Delicate cichlids like discus are best with only other discus or perhaps small tetras of certain sorts that can handle high temps. Discus are not for beginners, IMO, way too expensive and may tend to bet ill too easy.
What sort of tap water do you have? That makes all the difference, for some fish need hard water and some fish need soft water and many can adapt but have strong preferences. Do you know your pH, KH and GH? Keeping the fish that are best in your water is a good place to begin!
In this site are Species Profiles, that is a good place to start.
Big cichlids like Oscars have specific sorts of fish they can mix with. Delicate cichlids like discus are best with only other discus or perhaps small tetras of certain sorts that can handle high temps. Discus are not for beginners, IMO, way too expensive and may tend to bet ill too easy.
What sort of tap water do you have? That makes all the difference, for some fish need hard water and some fish need soft water and many can adapt but have strong preferences. Do you know your pH, KH and GH? Keeping the fish that are best in your water is a good place to begin!
In a tank that size your options are pretty good. If you go with an Oscar, there are some personality issues to be aware of, and always remember if it even looks small enough to eat an Oscar will attempt to do so. aside from the fish in my sig, I have kept blue gourami's with oscars, several types of larger pleco's, green severums etc. With large cichlids, aggression is always a concern, Oscars are not usually as aggrssive as most folks think providing there have room and good conditions. If you add other Large cichlids to the mix choose them carefully. I have had good luck with Dempseys, but they are about as aggressive of a fish as I would try to put in a tank with an Oscar. Green severums are IMO an awesome fish that is big enough to hold it's own, but not at all pushy. Or you could skip the Oscar idea and go with a big community of smaller fish. As said lots of options.
Dave