oscar question, 38 gallon.

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Spyderbell

Registered Member
Jan 12, 2006
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Oscar question please!

I've loved oscars since around 3 years ago when my buddie got his and i now have an empty 38 gallon tank. I know this won't be big enough for life but for the next few months would a baby oscar be ok in the tank? The LFS has a few oscars around 2" and i was hoping to get one to raise and move to a bigger tank in the future. I know this is kinda a dead horse question but i'm looking for responses.

also may one suggest a few tank mates for it?

Thanks in advance!
Colin
 
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Though you may be approaching this with the best of intentions, it simply is irresponsible to aquire a fish that you cannot properly house now. A young Oscar could live well in a 38g tank for a few months, but so often fish grow much faster than people seem to expect them to, or something 'comes up' and getting a larger tank becomes out of the question. Then, a new home needs to be found in short order, which can be difficult if one becomes too attached to the fish in question.

I would really recommend that you obtain a 75g or larger tank first, and then get the Oscar . I assure you that you will find the whole experience much more rewarding this way; and so much better for your fish.
 
Growing up, my family has a pleco and an oscar in a 39g tank. As far as I can remember, we barely did water changes. Something happened to the tank (algea boom I think, but I can't remember), and we moved them both to a 5-10g bucket where they died shortly afterwards...my parents might have been euthanizing them without my knowledge. At the time of death, the Oscar was about 12-14" and the pleco was just a hair longer. Inside the tank, the oscar would take up the space from one wall of the tank to about half-way across the tank. In retrospect, they were way cramped and didn't have the freedom to do anything worth living.

Now to detail some of the events (best as memory serves) leading up to the death of our pets. First the Oscar went blind probably 6-9 months before it died. It was having problems before that, but by that time it was too blind to even hunt feeders. We ended up feeding him floating pond pellets. It was fun, because he'd run his edge over the surface of the water till he felt one, then gulp up and get it. Both fish were really "lazy" in the tank, barely moving at all. I can say now that I doubt either were happy (back then I thought a fish was a fish, and however they acted was what they were suposed to act like).

Please, do your Oscar a favor, and get a larger (65/75g) tank.
 
well with the site down i got one on the tank. We're moving in about three months and the 75Gal (at least) will be in the house before we get there. His/her name is wilson and i know he'll make it cause he's awesome. It's been about a week and he's already eating from my fingers. I would say wish me luck but he'll be ok, i promise.
 
oscars grow about an inch a month until they reach about 7-10 inches long, then they slow down. for one oscar, the absolute bare minimum is a 55 gallon, but i seriously would not suggest it. for a single oscar, nothing else, i wouldn't go smaller than 75 gallons. if you wanted to add like a small school of silverdollars, or a pleco, you'd have to bump it up to 125+

i myself intend to get an oscar when i finally buy my own house (no place to put a large tank in an appartment) and i'm going to be putting it in a 125 gallon tank with a small species of pleco (bristlenose or somesuch) and nothing else. oscars have enough personality and presance to fill a tank that size easily. i really look forward to watching the 2" long oscar i will one day buy roam around a seemingly giant 125 gallon tank and watching him grow to his full potential in an adequately sized tank
 
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i think you can have an oscar in a 39 gallon. you just have to make frequent water changes since they produce a lot of waste.
I used to house a pir of adult oscars in a 35 gallon tank .
but it would be better to have a big tank to transfer them to .
 
As long as you will get your oscar a larger aquarium when he needs it, you will be fine. Before we got married, my wife lived in an apartment and was given a 29 gal aquarium from a co-worker. Knowing that we would have a 75 gal in 6 months, she bought the tiniest oscar to grow up in the 29. He was about 6 inches long when we moved into our new home and his new 75 gal.

He now lives with a bristlenose pleco and a small school of danios to keep him annoyed. 9 months after them move, he is HUGE and would have certainly suffered had he been kept in his original home.
 
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