| Oscar Fish tank setup |
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There is one thing every new Oscar owner should know. Oscars love moving things around inside the tank. You can bet your bottom dollar that if you arrange the tank in a way you like it, they will prefer it completely the opposite way, and boy will you know about it. Oscars are very powerful fish, they can move just about anything in a tank, even large rocks. Don't be surprised if you wake up to find a large pit dug out in the substrate, heaters detached from side of the tank, plants ripped to shreds and you thinking "I'm sure I didn't put that rock there" If you want a pretty tank that looks nice, don't bother getting Oscars. There really isn't any point in you putting things back to where you like them, I can promise you that you will give up before the Oscar does when it comes to rearranging the tank. And to be fair , why shouldn't the Oscar be allowed to do what he wants in the tank? After all, it is his home, not yours. Anyway, how would you like if your next-door neighbour walked into your house unannounced and uninvited and started rearranging all your furniture, let the Oscar get on with it.
Tank - the bigger the better
Oscars are big fish, they need big tanks. Tank size is a very contentious issue on many forums. Many people agree that 55 UK gallons is the absolute minimum to house one Oscar. Like I said, this is contentious and not everybody agrees. I am one of those that recommends a larger tank than 55 gallons. My personal opinion is that for one Oscar, you should be considering a tank of around 75 UK gallons (350 L). If you are looking to keep two Oscars, seriously consider going for a tank that is over 100 gallons. 6 x 2 x 2 aquariums are readily available. These normally hold around 125 gallons of water and are perfect for two Oscars and a few tankmates.
What you have got to remember is that you need plenty of water to cope with what we call the bio-load. Basically this means the amount of waste the fish produces. A good way of describing how this works is if we create a scenario where we let a stink bomb off in a telephone box, one of the old ones with a door. You know for sure that within a a few seconds, it is going to be absolutely unbearable inside that small amount of space. Now imagine letting that same stink bomb in a very large room. Okay, you are still going to smell it, but the smell won't be half as pungent because there is that much more space. That's how it works in a fish tank.
If you house an Oscar in a very small tank, you will find that the water will become contaminated that much quicker than if you have a lot of water. As the fish gets bigger, it produces more waste and that's when you have problems with water quality. Not only will your nitrate levels build up a lot quicker, you could also start having ammonia and nitrite present which is really bad news.
Just remember that if you go for the minimum tank size, you can only have an Oscar, you can't start adding tankmates to the aquarium, I'm afraid you're stuck with one Oscar. That is why I always think it's a good idea to think this through properly. Once you have got your tank set up with fish, it's a huge convenience having to start again with a larger tank because you realise that you wished you'd had done it in the first place.
2's company, 3's a crowd
Think twice before putting three Oscars in together. If two of the Oscars pair off and start breeding, the third Oscar could be in for a pretty rough time. Cichlids can be very aggressive during their breeding period. Oscars are no exception, they are extremely protective towards their eggs and young. The only time you might get away with having three Oscars together is if you had a very large aquarium.
Check the level
Before you fill your tank with water, get yourself a spirit level and check that it is completely level with the floor. If it isn't, you may run the risk of broken seals or cracked panel. You can use foam board or thin pieces of wood to get the level right. You may also want to consider putting a very thin layer of padding between the tank and the stand. This wil help prevent the tank cracking if there is any debris left on top of the Cabinet. A piece of polystyre cut to the surface area of your tank and around a quarter of an inch thick is often a very good material to use. You can obtain these from builders merchants. If you choose not to put anything under the tank, you must brush the top of the stand thoroughly, you may have missed some debris, or there may be a slight flaw that could crack the bottom of the tank.
You also might want to consider filling your tank up in three stages, especially if it is a large one. This will allow the base and floor to settle.
Click here to read one of our members articles on levelling your aquarium properly
I better finish of this section by mentioning just how heavy a fish tank is when it is full of water. A 55 gallon tank will weigh in excess of 460lb (quarter of a ton). A 125 gallon tank will weigh in excess of half a ton (1000lb+) So taking this into account, be careful where you put your tank. It's always best to put these large tanks against a supporting wall. If in doubt, contact a reputable builder. The last thing you want is a tank crashing through your floor. If you have a nice solid concrete floor, then you have nothing to worry about.
Filtration
You may well have heard of different kinds of filtration. Mechanical, biological and chemical, I will try and explain as briefly and simply as I can what these three types of media do, and how they affect your filtration system.
Look after your bacteria and they will take care of your tank
Different kinds of filters
There are many filters on the market, I'm not going to talk about everyone that you can buy, we will be here forever, anyhow, many of them are not suitable for Oscars in my opinion. I will however mention a couple that would be suitable for Oscars. Let's start off by talking about external filters. As their name suggests these filters are housed outside of the tank. They normally sit under the tank in the cabinet. You may also see these referred to as canister filters. They are actually canisters, the lid comes off and you can remove the trays which contain the media as well as the internal workings. These type filters are very easy to maintain and they work extremely well. They contain a large amount of biological filtration which is always beneficial when you are dealing with lots of waste. You can buy external filters that are rated for different size tanks. It's always a good idea to use a filter that is rated higher than your tank. This way, you increase the amount of water that runs through the filtration system and it should remove toxins from your water a little quicker than using a standard filter.
Canister Filters
You may well have heard of filters that are referred to as wet dry, or trickle filters. The picture to the left shows a typical example of a commercially available wet dry filter. Wet dry filters use oxygen to make them more efficient at dealing with ammonia and nitrite. The bacteria that inhabit your biological filter need oxygen to survive. If you can increase the oxygen that your bacteria receive then they will work harder at removing the toxins from the water., The filter will draw water from your tank and it will trickle through the trays of media (hence the name trickle filter) now, this is where wet dry filters differ from normal canister filters. The wet dry filter will not be full of water, the trays of media whilst always being wet, will not be submerged in water. The reason being is that the media needs to be exposed to oxygen . if the media is submerged in water all the time, it won't get as much oxygen The wet dry filter will have a pipe attached to it which draws oxygen into the filter. The filter will continue filling with water. The commercially available wet dry filters do have a small sump but they are nothing to write home about. Once the filter can hold no more water, it releases the new cleansed water back into your tank. The only drawback with wet dry filters is they need cleaning more than a standard canister filter. If you let the media clog up, the trickle process will be slowed up dramatically. Personally speaking, I think the commercially available wet dry filters are very much a compromise. Probably the best wet dry sump filter would be made out of an old aquarium. These type of sumps are fantastic, you probably can't get a better filter.
Canister filters are very popular with Oscar hobbyists because they are made to be used with large tanks. They are probably one of the best type of filters for removing waste from the tank. However, you must not become complacent and forget to clean the filter. Canister filters will work against you if you neglect to clean them properly. The problem lies with the waste that builds up inside these filters. If there is enough waste then the filter could start producing nitrate which will reduce the quality of your water. Whereas some of them don't need cleaning every week, it's probably not a good idea to leave them for more than one month without rinsing the media out in existing tank water, NOT tap water. Doing this will ensure that any waste that has collected is removed . Obviously if you have a very heavily stocked tank, you may have to clean them more often. Just keep an eye on your water quality and it will indicate just what is going on.
If you can afford it , and have the room, you might want to opt for two canister filters. There are various advantages of having two filters running on your tank. Firstly, you are actually cleaning the water a lot quicker than you would if you only have one filter, this is especially advantageous if you have a heavily stocked tank. If one filter was to malfunction, you would still have a back up. Finally, depending on what filters you are using, It can actually cut down your maintenance time. My tank is 125 gallons. I have two filters, each are able to handle up to 130 gallons. I am able to leave my filters for over two months in between cleaning, and even then they are not too dirty. I prefer to do this because I'm not disturbing the bacteria colony. I really do think having two filters is a good idea, If you are setting up for the first time, I would seriously consider it. They don't necessarily have to be canister filters, If you've got the space, you can have more than one underwater filter. Many people have more than one hob filter. Obviously the advantage of canister filters as you can't see them because they're housed in the cabinet.
One very important thing you have to take into account when using canister filters Is that the pipework will normally run through a hole at the back of the cabinet. There also needs to be somewhere for the pipework to enter the tank. A lot of tanks come with a corner section taken out of the glass. before purchasing your canister filter, make sure you are able to fit it on your particular tank. You can always have your tank altered so canister filters can be fitted. When you have set your filter up, make sure that all the pipework is completely straight. If you leave a kink somewhere, it will restrict water going from the filter, or going into the filter which will affect the filters performance.
Hob Filters/Bio Filtration
HOB filters are also used by many people. They are particularly popular in the United States but not so much over here in the United Kingdom. HOB stands for hang on back and it does exactly what it says on the packet, it hangs on the back of the tank. These type filters aren't always very efficient because they contain disposable cartridges which may not cater for biological filtration that well. Some Hob filters will allow you to add a bio filter which greatly increases the efficiency of the filter. Alternately , purchase a Hob filter with a built-in bio filter.
Tests show that BIO-FILTERS are extremely efficient when it comes to biological filtration. The only drawback is that a lot of tanks can't house these type filters properly because of the way they are constructed. Also, I'm yet to find a HOB filter that is rated fot the larger tanks, I've seen them up to around 110 US gallons (if anybody knows of some real beefy ones, please let me know and I will mention them on here) so if you want to use one of these filters and your tank is quite big, you may need more than one filter. As I have already mentioned, there are various other filters on the market, personally, I wouldn't use any of them, they are just capable of dealing with the amount of waste that Oscars produce. Until you have actually kept Oscars for a while, you will not appreciate just how messy these fish are.
Underwater Filters
Underwater filters like this Fluval 4 are located on the inside of your tank and are submerged under the water. They have an inlet near the bottom, and an outlet near the surface of the water. These filters tend to be designed for reasonably small tanks which is why there are not really suitable for keeping Oscars long term. These type filters normally utilise sponge as the media. If you neglect to clean them on a regular basis, they can easily become clogged up with waste. This could restrict the water flowing through the media which could result in your bacteria dying off through lack of oxygen. However, one of these filters would be perfect for a hospital tank. If you didn't want to keep a fully cycled tank running all the time, you could keep one of these filters running on your main tank and then use it if you needed to isolate of fish. It would fit perfectly in the corner and wouldn't look out of place.
If you suddenly found yourself in the position where you needed to isolate your fish, all you would need to do is take some existing water from your main tank and then transfer the filter and you would basically have a fully cycled hospital tank without having to wait four weeks. When the is treatment has finished , you could just put the filter back in the main tank, or alternatively, give it clean, media and all, put it back on the main tank and it shouldn't take long to cycle again.
Sump Filters
You have to bear in mind that fitting a sump filter to a tank is not quite as straightforward as most filters. There is a little bit of pipe work involved and modifications may have to be carried out on both the tank and the cabinet/tank base. it's probably fair to say that it's easier to fit a sump to a tank that is being constructed, especially if you are talking about extremely large tanks.
more info on the sump filter......
Final word on filtration
Oscar fish are incredibly messy
Good filtration is so important when keeping Oscars
Heating
Remember to turn your heaters off when you are doing large water changes.
Whereas Oscars can tolerate water temperature down to 21°C 70°F, other fish may not favour these conditions. Keeping fish in water that is too cold for them can sometimes result in diseases such as Ick, so you do have to think carefully about heating your tank properly.
Lighting
Oscars don't require any special lighting. Remember that lighting is really only for our benefit. If you were to go swimming in the Amazon, it was certainly not be as bright as what it is in your aquarium, in fact it would probably be rather dark most of the time, especially under all those mangrove roots. However, it is nice to see what is going on in our tank so you probably will want some kind of lighting.
If you have live plants in your tank and you want them to grow and stay healthy, you are going to need bright lighting that is on for most of the day. In the tropics, the natural photoperiod is around 12 to 14 hours. Basically this means the period of time per day that an organism is exposed to daylight (or to artificial light) During the summer months, I don't tend to turn my lights on until the evening, around six or seven o'clock. There really isn't any need since it is quite bright. During the winter time, I leave leave my lights on for around 12 hours. I have a small planted 20 gallon community tank that I also illuminate for around 12 hours a day. This really shows with the plants which are doing extremely well. If you are going to leave your lights on for quite a while, I would strongly advise you to give your fish plenty of dark places where they can hide away. This could be thick vegetation, lots of rock or large pieces of wood. Remember that a lot of species of fish, especially South American fish come from dimly lit habitats. You should research your chosen fish and find out what sort of environment they live in. If they come from very shallow streams then they will probably be exposed to more light than fish that inhabit mangrove swamps etc.
If you keep both diurnal and nocturnal fish together (diurnal meaning fish that are active during the day, nocturnal, fish that are active at night) you have to remember that you have to give both fish their time of both lightness and darkness. Fish do sleep and will do so not long after the tank is in darkness.
We must mention algae, if you combine bright light and water, I'm afraid you're going to develop algae, there is absolutely no way around it, unless you want to keep your tank in darkness all the time, nobody really wants this. I would just suggest keeping up with water changes so nitrate levels are low and keep an algae cleaner at hand. If your tank is near a bright window, put some backing on the back or the sides, this will make a massive difference to algae build up.
When you turn your tanks on in the morning, don't do it if the room is completely dark, this can be very stressful for fish. Open the curtains and let natural light into the room and then turn your tank lights on.
When you first introduce a fish into your aquarium, especially if it's a baby, turn the lights off. Doing this is much less likely to stress the fish out. Once you've done this, turn the lights on gradually. In most cases, baby Oscars are more interested in food than anything else. My baby Oscars are not put off by anything when it comes to feeding. However, if you have only got the one Oscar, you may find that it is a little more timid than being in a large group. You must also remember that lights generate heat. Having a lot of lighting very close to the water could raise the temperature of the water so be careful.
It's quite common for Oscars to be frightened when the lights are turned on. If this is happening with you, you could try Introducing them to the light gradually over a period of time. Anothor method which may work is to place a coloured perspex on top of your condensation tray changing the colour of the light.
Ornaments, plants and substrate
It's nice to have a tank that looks nice, after all it is normally situated in the living room where it can be seen by most people who visit.. However, when keeping Oscars, you have to bear in mind that these fish like excavating and moving things around. If you want a pretty tank with lots of nice plants then don't bother with Oscars. Every Oscar owner will tell you that plants don't last very long in an Oscar tank. For some reason, Oscars love uprooting and destroying them, it is very common so don't be surprised if this happens to you. If you don't want the hassle and expense of having to keep replacing plants, you could search around for some fake ones. There are quite a few very nice looking fake plants on the market that should stand up to a destructive Oscar. Obviously with fake plants, you won't have the benefits of them helping to reduce nitrates in the water, they are purely there for decoration and nothing else. Fake plants will never look as realistic as live plants either. There are advantages though, algae will grow on plants, at least with fake plants, you can take them out and give them a good clean. It isn't so easy to do this with live plants as they get broken very easily. If you want to try plants, you will probably be better off planting them when your Oscars are babies. This will give your plants a chance to put some good sturdy roots down, this least give them half a chance of staying up. of course, the Oscars will still rip pieces off so you may still end up giving up with plants. You also have to bear in mind that keeping plants healthy is a task in itself. many people start off with a planted tank, six months down the line, they go to fake plants. Many plants need lots of lights, lots of light means lots of algae in many cases. Some plants also need nutrients to keep them healthy. If you want my advice, don't even bother with real plants, try some fake plants and see how you get on. Get some pebbles and put them around the base so the Oscars can't uproot them that easy.
Two examples of artificial plants that are available. These are located in my 300 gallon tank and up until now have not been destroyed or pulled up by any of the fish
Most people like to put a bed in the bottom of their tank. This is known as the substrate. You don't have to have a substrate in your tank, it just looks nicer, after all, you are trying to replicate an aquatic environment . There are various substrates that you can use. Gravel and sand is probably the most common substrate used. Remember that you don't want too much substrate in your tank. Around 1 1/2 inch is perfectly okay. Having too much can make cleaning more difficult. You have to bear in mind that there are advantages and drawbacks of using sand or gravel. Let's start off with gravel. What are the advantages? Well, apart from disguising a lot of the dirt, waste also tends to work its way under the gravel so that tank doesn't look so dirty. You can remove the waste with a gravel vac. The disadvantage of this is that waste can get missed if the gravel isn't cleaned properly. This could have a detrimental effect on the water quality. Now let's look at sand. The advantage of using sand is that waste doesn't get trapped underneath, it sits on top. This means that the filtration tends to remove it more efficiently than if you're using gravel. If you are using a light coloured sand, you can see the waste a lot easier when you are cleaning. The disadvantage of using sand is that because the waste sits on top and doesn't go underneath, the tank can look a little dirtier than if you were to use gravel. So I suppose it's six of one and half a dozen of the other. Personally I prefer sand. I'm more confident that the tank is cleaner because the filtration removes dirt quicker.
One important thing that you have to bear in mind when using sand is dangerous gas pockets can build up so you should try and move it around a little bit when cleaning. You do have to be careful because the finer it is, the easier it is to suck up. It is very important to mention that our substrate will be a haven for beneficial bacteria, just like what is inside your filtration. For this reason, you don't want to clean the substrate too much. What you are trying to achieve is removing waste, that's all. A little bit of dirt is good, you don't want a spotless fish tank.
Before you put your substrate in the tank, make sure you give it a clean. The easiest way to do it is to use a bucket. Fill it half full of substrate and then add water and just swill it around until the water starts clearing. Some substrate is a lot dirtier than others. Black sand for instance can be a lot more dirty than white sand so you might find yourself using a little bit more water and spending a bit more time cleaning some types of substrate. I will say that with all the will in the world, you are not going to clean your substrate to the extent that when you put it in your tank and fill it with water, it will be crystal clear. The chances are it will become quite murky and cloudy and may stay like this for a day or two, maybe longer depending on how well you've cleaned it. It really doesn't matter, you could even put your fish if you want, they won't come to any harm.
If you want ornaments in your tank, make sure they are clean and free from paint that may contain lead or impurities. You can normally find plenty of purpose made items at the aquarium store . If you are unsure in any way, you are probably better off buying from somewhere that supplies aquatic equipment. I often get pots from garden centres. One of my catfish has made a large pot his home. I have even seen one of my Oscars sleeping in the pot at night.
Rock and slate always look nice in a tank, especially if you arrange it properly. Oscars do sometimes like to hide behind things occasionally. They probably sleep where they feel safe as well . In the wild, predators come out at night so fish find safe places to go and sleep. Arrange the rock so the Oscars can comfortably fit behind without being too cramped.
You can also get various types of wood for your tank. Two common types you will see is bogwood and mopani. Both these look lovely in a tank. Mopani is the sort of wood that you would find in the Amazon whereas bogwood isn't. You have to bear one thing in mind when introducing things like bogwood into your tank. You will find that it will probably stain the water and make it look like tea, minus the milk and sugar. Putting activated carbon in your filtration will often remove a lot of the staining. If you do this, make sure you change it every few weeks.
Before you pack your tank full of rocks, wood, pots and other fancy objects, let me explain a few things that may save you a lot of work. These additions may look very nice, after all a tank resembling an underwater desert is pretty boring. However, underneath all these objects is a haven for muck and debris. This could be uneaten food or just plain waste. When you carry out tank maintenance, lift up any old shape rocks and make sure you clean underneath. You'll be amazed how much muck collects underneath objects in the tank. I often find a nice big flat rock pressed firmly into the substrate stops any debris getting underneath.
If you do happen to have a lots of rock in your tank, I would strongly advise you not to take it all out at once if you are arranging your tank. Any object that is in your tank is going to have beneficial bacteria living on it. One day you might decide you want to rearrange everything. I would advise against taking everything out of your tank and replacing it with new. Under certain circumstances, this could upset the stability of your tank. You may start noticing slight readings of ammonia or nitrite. If you have a very good biological filtration, you shouldn't really have anything to worry about. Just be aware.
I just want to touch on something that most people don't even think about. Wood and rock can certainly make a tank look stunning. However, what you have to bear in mind is the more you put in your tank, the less water you will have in there, commonly referred to as "water displacement" To put it simply, for every 50 lbs of decoration substrate, rocks etc. you will displace 2.2 gallons of water. This is probably more critical if you are using a smaller tank.
Changes in the tank
The Oscar could quite rightly be described as quite an intelligent fish. However, we mustn't confuse an Oscars intelligence with that of a dog, or maybe an octopus. An Oscars brain is still very primitive so their intelligence shouldn't be compared to animals that to some degree, can think for themselves. Oscars are very inquisitive fish and will notice changes in their environment. For instance, they can sometimes show what people would class as an annoyance when things are moved around in their tank. I have observed my Oscars investigating a large crater that was formed by water coming from the hosepipe during a water change. It wasn't there before and they were obviously well aware of this. If your Oscars do show signs of stress or anger when things change, just give them time, they should settle down except and get used to changes.
Treatments for new Aquariums
There are products on the market that claim to aid the development of the biological filter, as well as protecting the fish against harmful toxins which will be present in an aquarium that has just been set up. It is a very contentious issue to whether these products actually work. However, many people do use and swear by them. I have used Stress Zyme on a 20g community tank and it really did work. So when you are setting your aquarium up for the first time, it may be well worth your while using one of these products in your new aquarium. Two such products are called Stress Zyme, and Stability.
So as you can probably understand now, you have to put a little bit of thought into setting up an Oscar tank if you want to do it properly. Setting up an Oscar tank, isn't quite the same setting up a small community tank. You have a lot more to deal with than your average Tetra.
Watch that electricity bill
As we all know, keeping fish can be extremely addictive. I am certainly not alone when it comes to having multiple tanks in my home. However, there is one very important thing to bear in mind if you are ' thinking about having several aquariums,. can you afford all the electricity that will be needed to keep them going? Believe me, it is not cheap. Okay, small community tanks aren't going to break the bank, on the other hand, very large aquariums that require lots of filtration, heating, and lighting could increase your yearly electricity bill by more than you think. I recently got a hell of a shock. I changed electricity providers and received a bill for what I owed , it was around £500 for just a few months. I put this down to having various filters, heaters and lighting on large tanks running all the time. Believe me, I love this hobby but it ain't a hobby for somebody who hasn't got the money to spare. |
So you are thinking about getting an Oscar? I would suggest that you read this page very carefully as it could save you a lot of hassle, inconvenience and most importantly for a lot of people, money. If you know anything about the Oscarfish, you will know that they get very big, and they get big in a relatively short space of time. They are also very messy fish, both in their eating and toilet habits. For this reason I would suggest that you set yourself up with the right equipment at the very beginning. I know that a 2 inch Oscar doesn't look anything in a big tank, but believe me, that 2 inch Oscar won't stay 2 inches for very long. Far too many people think they have got time on their hands when purchasing Oscars. They think they can house their little friend in a 10 gallon tank for a few months while they think about getting a larger tank. I am afraid that is not the case with Oscars. Oscars need big tanks and they need very good filtration. If you can't provide these two vital components then please don't even consider buying an Oscar. 
Let's talk filtration. The filtration is the lifeline of your tank. Oscars are incredibly messy fish, you must have good filtration or your water quality will deteriorate rapidly. Basically, the majority of filters will perform three functions. They will deal with all the dangerous toxins that fish produce, they will remove solid waste from your tank, and finally, will help to oxygenate the water. Without a filtration system, your fish would be swimming around in a toxic soup , not for long though, because they would all die very quickly. Many people just don't understand just how important filtration is on a fish tank. They buy a tank set up, fill it with water and then just plonk the fish in. Then they wonder why the fish start dying off. It would be lovely and convenient if that's all you had to do. Unfortunately, there is little bit more to it than just filling the tank with water and putting the fish in it. You have to establish a biological filter before you can safely house your fish. This may sound complicated but honestly it isn't. To explain this in its simplest form is to look at your toilet. Why do we clean our toilets with disinfectant? To kill all the horrible bacteria that feed off all the horrible stuff that goes into a toilet. This is basically what goes on inside your filtration system, although we don't want to kill the bacteria, the bacteria are our best friend when it comes to keeping a healthy aquarium. In an established filtration system, you have a huge bacteria colony that live on your media, whether this be sponges or little ceramic balls. These bacteria feed off fish waste. So what happens is that the water gets sucked into your filtration system. It passes through the media inside your filters and the bacteria start processing fish waste. First of all they get to work on the ammonia, this is what the fish produces first. Once the ammonia has been processed, this is turned into nitrite. The bacteria then start gorging themselves on nitrite. Once the nitrite has been processed you end up with nitrate. The bacteria can't eat nitrate, this is why you have to do water changes, to reduce the amount of nitrate in the water. Nitrate is not a toxin and is not harmful to your fish. It does however have to be kept under control so it doesn't get too high. 
Sump filters are more commonly found on marine aquariums. However, because they are so efficient, many people use them on their freshwater aquariums. A freshwater tropical sump filter is simplicity in itself. You basically have a large receptacle (ideally a smaller fish tank) underneath your main tank. All your media is contained in this tank along with heaters and pumps which eliminates the need to put anything in the main tank. Sump filters enable you to use more media than you can normally fit in most commercially available filters. You're also not governed by the type of media you can use. This is a huge advantage because having the choice to choose from such a large variety of available media means you can tailor your sump filter to the sort of fish you are keeping. They also allow you to increase the amount of water you have to play with. So for instance, if you are using a 60 gallon tank, you can increase that to 80 gallons if you have a relatively small sump filter. Having said this, If you haven't got many fish and your tank is relatively small, then you will probably be wasting your time setting up a sump filter. Sump filters come into their own when you have a very heavy bio load, or have a very large aquarium. If you've got a small aquarium then yes, you can increase the amount of water you have got, what you cannot do is increase the amount of space you've got. So at the end of the day, you still can't keep any more fish, so a sump filter would be a complete waste of time. You might as well just go and get a decent canister filter that is rated higher than your tank.
Oscars come from the tropics so they need to live in a heated environment. However, if you happen to live somewhere where it's warm all year around, you may not necessarily need a heater but in most cases an aquarium heater will be necessary. The temperature of an Oscar tank should be between 21°C and 28°C although Oscars will be okay with water up to 30°C. Just remember that the hotter the water, the less oxygen there will be in the water so it's important to watch out for signs of oxygen depletion, especially in summer. A telltale sign will be fish opening and closing their mouths a lot. When choosing a heater, make sure you opt for quite a robust one. Most of the time, heaters are placed on the inside of the tank in a vertical Or slightly angled position. A large Oscar is more than capable of cracking a flimsy heater if he feels like it. It is very important that you know what the temperature of your waters at all times. Heaters have been known to malfunction which could render the water too hot, or too cold. Various companies sell digital thermometers. These are very accurate and easy to read, you don't have to bend over trying to look at a tiny little red line. The digital readout can be stuck on the outside of the aquarium so you can put in easy view. The sensor has a sucker on it so you can put it on the inside of the tank somewhere where the Oscars can't get at it, in the corner is a good place.
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