Need advice on adding to my Oscar tank

I think the mentality that condition A is much better than condition B so if we don't give our fish with the best home possible is total hooey. Sorry if that too sounds harsh but I don't think a 30"x18" footprint is appropriate for an oscar, even if it has "maxed out" at 10 inches. If you can't provide the minimum tank requirements necessary than you shouldn't be keeping the fish.

To the OP...there is a lot of misinformation out there. You've already shown that you're going to try to go above and beyond the bare minimum by purchasing a larger tank than what you read was appropriate, and I applaud you for that. However, it would be best to look for a tank with better dimensions. A 75g is the minimum I'd keep an oscar in and I bet many would agree. You should not have to pay an exorbitant amount...just keep checking places like Craigslist for deals.
 
Knoxx said:
Odds are he's probably happy where he is. Sure a larger tank would be nice. I think his buddy is you and doesn't need any fish friends. I know some don't believe in feeders but I think it is mentally good for predators to keep their minds active. Just keep up the good care. In a perfect world we would all have swimming pools filled with our favorite fish.
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Just to clarify feeders are treats not his main food base. Maybe 5 a week just for his own fun. I feed him those frozen shrimp. He refuses to eat any pellet style foods. He will take them in his mouth spit them out and then rinse his mouth out several times, all of which is followed by a glare and his equivalent of stomping off mad. Rather funny to watch actually.
 
jpappy789 said:
I think the mentality that condition A is much better than condition B so if we don't give our fish with the best home possible is total hooey. Sorry if that too sounds harsh but I don't think a 30"x18" footprint is appropriate for an oscar, even if it has "maxed out" at 10 inches. If you can't provide the minimum tank requirements necessary than you shouldn't be keeping the fish.

To the OP...there is a lot of misinformation out there. You've already shown that you're going to try to go above and beyond the bare minimum by purchasing a larger tank than what you read was appropriate, and I applaud you for that. However, it would be best to look for a tank with better dimensions. A 75g is the minimum I'd keep an oscar in and I bet many would agree. You should not have to pay an exorbitant amount...just keep checking places like Craigslist for deals.
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Now that I do know better I can start saving for a bigger tank. I will keep my eyes open for deals thanks for the advice. Probably have to wait on my tax refund, but it will get handled. As far as providing for him I was laid off from my job in April I made well over twice then than I make now. Quite a shock to be out of work for 3 months but we all got by somehow. Hopefully I can get this fixed soon.
 
and once you have your oscar in a bigger tank you'll have an excuse to stock the cube tank with something else.......

i am not an MTS enabler, really i'm not! muwahahahahaha.........
 
I think you are doing fine with your O....he doesn't need any buddies...though it would definitely be nice to see it in a full 4 foot tank. Keep up the good work and upgrade as soon as you can.
 
Get him a betta buddy and put the small betta tank next to the oscar tank :) I must say, even though that tank is a bit small, i've seen many Oscars have much worse lives, and at least yours seems happy. Upgrade when you can. Goodluck.
 
I wouldn't feed feeder fish, even as a treat. Good chance he has parasites if he's heating live feeder fish from the pet store, and that could also have something to do with his growth rate.

A 55g tank doesn't automatically stunt an oscar, but you have to do sufficient water changes to keep nutrients from building up. And even then you end up with a fish physically too big for the tank. After 2.5 years, assuming he's actually not permanently stunted, he's still growing. Not all fish grow at the same rate, and it depends on how much and what quality food he's being fed. Given good water quality and quality food he should continue growing and with the right conditions his growth would be accelerated.

I would try various pellets to try and get him to switch (though at this point he's probably quite used to actual meat), because shrimp are not nutritionally complete and shouldn't be fed as his main diet. Try carnivore pellets, HBH brand foods, hikari and anything else you can find. Often it's not that the fish will not eat pellets, it's just that they don't like specific brands/formulas.
If he won't eat pellets, then at least vary it with earthworms, meal worms, crickets, wax worms, etc. as much as possible. You can also "gut load" those (especially crickets) somewhat by feeding them a high quality fish food, so he'll get a more rounded diet with more vitamins.
As far as frozen foods you can try bloodworms, blackworms, frozen fish filet, and whatever else you can find that he might like. Mainly just try to switch it up and vary it a lot, because feeding ONE meat source is not going to give him the nutrients he needs.
And try to stay away from the feeder fish from now on. If you want to give him something live to chase then try out ghost shrimp or something instead, they're much safer and less likely to transfer parasites or diseases to him. Oscars also LOVE small crawfish, and if you're worried about the shell (which they generally don't have a problem with) you can wait until they molt and feed immediately afterward.

As far as fishy friends for his tank, you don't even know if he'd get along with other fish. If he's used to living there by himself there's a good chance he's just fine and dandy with being by himself, and he might take issue with other fish being added.
 
Just to clarify, feeder fish are fine if you raise them yourself. That way you can make sure they are healthy and don't pass anything to your oscar.
Another idea to help with nutrition is to stuff the shrimp with pellets. That way he's getting more nutrition but still eating what he wants. It may help while trying to get him on pellets.
 
excuzzzeme said:
However, 2.5 years in a tank that is too small will.
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BING BING BING We have the correct answer.

the oscar should have never been added to this tank...I wish these PETstores were responsible enough to tell people this STUFF, so we didnt have to break their heart.
 
The Oscar was not at 10" for the 2.5 yrs....that size tank and short footprint is more than adequate for a lengthy time.....not all Oscars grow at the same rate.

I think the OP is more than aware of the need to upgrade and is taking advice seriously, as seen by their recent thread. Time to stop harping on what has happened and help build a better future.
 
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