A.thomasi: Oscar care

Oscars (Astronotus ocellatus)

Oscar Oscars are possibly one of the most widely known and most popular of the cichlids. Many people who are not even into fish know what and oscar is. Their popularity is due to their great personality and their great appetite. Oscars quickly learn to recognize their owners and are more than willing to just about anything they think will fit into their mouth. Oscars are a member of the cichlid family that get up to 18 inches long and live to be 15 years old. They are native to south american and can be found along the Amazon river. They are normally found in slower moving areas of rives, tributaries and drainages.

Tank Size
One of the first things to consider when you are thinking of getting an oscar is the tank size they will need. These large fish need a lot of room. Many people try to keep them in 55 gallon tanks, however long term this size tank is inadequate. Oscars regularly grow to be 15 inches long, a standard 55 gallon tank is only 13 inches wide. Not only do the oscars get large, they produce a lot of waste. This means they need a lot of water to dilute the waste. For one adult oscar, by itself, a minimum tank size is 75 gallons. If you want to keep multiple oscars together you will be looking at tanks well over 100 gallons in size. Generally when concerning oscars, bigger is better. Young oscars can of course be raised in smaller tanks, but they grow very quickly. Many oscars will reach a foot long by the time they are a year to a year and half old. Make sure to have a secure lid with weights or clamps. Many oscars seem to enjoy knocking the lids off of their tanks if they can, and many will also jump.

Filtration and Heat
Because oscars are such big, dirty fish they require some heavy duty filtration. Large canister filters, overrated for the size tank, work great. Make sure to clean them out monthly or they will produce a lot of nitrate. Many people combine a canister filter with a power filter. Under-gravel filters usually do not work well with oscars as they tend to like to dig up the gravel and may even go after the gravel plate. A comfortable temperature range for oscars is 75-82*f. It is highly recommended to either put your heater in an external filter or put a heater guard around it as many oscars have destroyed their glass heaters shooting rocks at them. This can be dangerous for the fish and you. To determine the size heater you need, using 5 watts for every gallon of water is usually the recommendation. However with large tanks you can usually get by with a bit less, as a large body of water is less likely to change in temperature very quickly. 3 watts per gallon for large tanks usually works well. I find it best to use 2 smaller heaters, putting one heater on each end of the aquarium for an even temperature throughout the tank. For example. for a 75 gallon tank, using two 150 watt heaters usually works well.

Feeding
While many people like to feed their oscars feeder fish this is usually not a good idea. Feeder fish are lacking in many nutrients the oscar needs and they can bring in a lot of different problems including parasites, bacteria and fungal infections. If you really want to feed your oscars feeder fish, breed your own. Using convicts or mollies usually works. Make sure to feed the feeder fish a high quality food and keep them healthy so your oscar is getting healthy food. A better way to feed your oscar is with a large variety of pelleted and frozen foods. Feeding a few different high quality brands of pellets, along with krill, blood worm cubes and seafood from a grocery store will help keep your oscar healthy. One of the pelleted foods should be a plant based food to insure your oscar is getting his vegetables:) Baby fish under 4 inches should be fed 2 to 3 times a day. Adolescent fish, between 4 and 8 inches can be fed 1 to 2 times a day. Fish 8 to 12 inches can be fed once a day and adult fish 12 inches and large can be fed every other day. Feed until the oscars belly looks slightly rounded. The oscar may appear to keep eating even after this point, but most of the food will end up coming out the gills and dirtying the tank even faster.

Decorations
Decorations should be minimal as oscars tend to like to move things around. Avoid heavy object that could fall on them as they move gravel around and avoid large stones they can pick up as you may come home one day to find your tank shattered and your fish and water on the floor. Generally, a piece or two of driftwood and some well made fake plants work well. Remember that oscars are big fish so do not take up a lot of room with decor. When cleaning, make sure to clean under and around all decorations and debris tends to accumulate there.

Cleaning
As stated before, oscars are very dirty fish and also need very clean water. Dirty fish need to have their tanks cleaned often. For an appropriately stocked and filtered oscar tank (ie: a 75 gallon, over-filtered with 1 oscar) you should change about half the water weekly. This may seem like a lot, but oscars really are dirty fish. They are also sensitive to poor water a quality. If your tank is over stocked, twice weekly or more change half the water. Having a test kit will help you determine if you are changing enough water. Ammonia and nitrite should both be at 0 at all times. Nitrates should be kept, ideally, under 20ppm. The pH is not of much concern as long as it remains stable. When doing a water change make sure to vacuum the gravel well. I find it easiest to do one half at one water change, and the other half the next, alternating back and forth between the two sides. The filters should be cleaned at least once a month, sometimes twice a month, depending on how dirty they get.

Tank-mates
If given a large enough aquarium there are many fish that are compatible with oscars. Some include bala sharks, tinfoil barbs, jack dempsys, pacu (if you have a very, very large aquarium), Green Severum silver dollars, larger clown loaches, most larger catfish, severums , chocolate cichlids and more. To keep oscars with other fish, especially if they are cichlids, a 150 gallon tank or larger is recommended. Make sure the fish are close in size to the oscar so they are not viewed as a potential snack. If you want to keep oscars together, keep either a pair, or keep 6 or more. Often if you only have 3 or 4, the dominant ones will constantly harass the weakest one until it dies, and then the next weakest and so on until you are left with only one or two oscars. Because a tank large enough to keep 6 adult oscars together is not usually feasible, it is best to keep them in a pair, alone or with other compatible fish.