i just rescued 4 6-10 inch blood parrots 1 7 inch green texas and a 6 inch oscar. unfortunetly i was forced to take them by my aunt because she is moving into a new house and her son is taking the tank and hes a douche bag who doesnt want the fish...anyway i know it is overstocked but i have a 55gallon with a hagen aquaclear 110 and aquaclear 70 and some cheap 10 gallon filter the hagens are both rated for over 60 gallons i was just wondering if the fish all get along and dont fight over territory is it possible to keep them or should i try to find someone else who can take some of them? and is haveing two large filters to much current or anysort of problem
over stocked aquarium i need ideas
- Thread starter almsk8s4life
- Start date
a 55 gallon tank is not large enough for a single oscar let alone the additional fish you'[ve got there.
the number and size of the fish you keep in your tank should be based on several factors. it should not be based solely on the chemistry of your water nor on the magic of the inch per gallon myth. it's more than simply a matter of successfully keeping the ammonia and nitrites at zero or the fact that you may have "great filtration". certainly these are important issues, but one of the most important factors is almost always overlooked. the number and size of fish that one maintains in a tank should be predicated on the "biology" and behaviour of those fish.
this means that the interraction of a mixed community tank and/or the behaviour of a single species is the single most important factor to consider. you want the fish you're keeping to have the ability to exhibit "normal" and functional behaviour. normal behaviour is important. abnormal behaviour results in stress. stress leads to disease. disease can lead to death. for example:
1. if species (A) does not get along with species (B), then these fish don't belong in the same tank no matter how few fish you have or how large the tank. "getting along" is based on the visual and behavioural Q's that each fish species is genetically programmed with.
2. if species (A) has specific food or water chemistry requirements which are completely different from species (B), then these fish don't belong in the same tank no matter how large it is.
3. if species (A) is aggressive and defends a territory of 2 square feet, then you cannot expect to successfully keep more than one of these fish in a tank which is smaller than 2 square feet. convict cichlids are an excellent example of this ... this little fish aggressively defends territories of about two square feet give or take. if you have a tank which allows only that much room and no more, the convict will defend the entire tank to the detriment of any other fish (no matter how large it is) in that tank.
fish need room to swim without having the rest of the tanks inhabitants "in their face" continuously. when crowded, fish exhibit stress syndromes that result in poor color, improper fin form, insufficient metabolic development, do not exhibit proper musculature, do not develop properly functioning organ systems and most importantly slowly lose their inherant resistance to disease. this results in a significantly shortened lifespan and along the way, lots of diseases for which the poorly conditioned fish is a good target..
think about your local lake or river --- the fish are free to inhabit whatever space suits them biologically. if it gets crowded by their standards, some will disperse and move to other areas where they again have the space they need to exhibit functional behaviour.
it's difficult to allow for that "space" in your tank -- the fish have no escape within the confines of your tank so it's up to you to insure that the fish have that space in the first place. if your tank "looks bare" .. it's probably just right.
I don't know. I've never shipped fish before. I don't suppose you live in Central Florida do you?
A quick Google search came up with this...
How to ship fish
A quick Google search came up with this...
How to ship fish
liv2padl said:
That is SOOOOOOO untrue. a 55 gallon can comfortably hold a PAIR of adult Oscars. It amazes me how some of the posters on this site constantly harp about how a tank is too small for this fish or that fish. What's next? A 1000gal tank for two Neons? Before I moved my Oscars into the 120gal, they were flourishing in a 55 gallon quite nicely.
well, you're certainly entitled to your opinion but my opinion will likely duplicate 90 percent of the hobbyists on this forum and elsewhere throughout the internet, books, articles, magazines.
my mother kept a big (13-inch!) adult male albino oscar that I loved very much and was the family pet in a 55g for 25 years, until he died of old age when I was 12. he seemed quite happy in his 55g, and always had room to swim. I don't think one could keep a pair of oscars in a 55g, though.