hi, we have just become the new owners of about an 8" oscar, we have been thinking about it for a few weeks, after seeing him in our local fish shop, but didnt have a tank for him, so we bought one last week, waited for the wter to circulate, etc. and we picked him up today, i have been reading through this forum all week, before deciding to buy him, and i have found alot of extremly iteresting info on here, so thanks. hubby is over the moon, as he wanted the oscar from the start, i will try an get some pics of him tomoroow, as letting him settle in at the mos, so dnt wana disturb him too much, i think he may be "sulking" as i have read on here, as he is swimming a little, then resting on his side. anyways. il probly be a regular user of this site from now on, oh nearly forgot, i also have another tank with mollies, guppies, danio, etc. in, so have been keeping fish for a little while now. oh and am from uk. thanks. jade

hey there and welcome to OFL!
Nice to hear you're starting oscarfish keeping.
One questions pops into my mind, and that is do you know what cycling a tank means?
A cycled tank is essential to keep your oscar healthy and cycling a tank may take upto 6 weeks.

www.oscarfishlover.com/helpful-articles/cycling-an-aquarium
Do you have a testset yet?
You are gonna need one, when you're cycling a tank and keeping an oscar.

Enjoy the site!

yea, wev had quite a few tropical tanks in the past, was quite suprised at how quick this yank was reading normal leavels, have tested it 3 times today, before we picked him up, just too make sure, and have tested twice since we picked him up about 3 o clock, just to check everything is reading ok, will keep a very close eye on it, we have another tank set up for a few months now, that has mollies and baby mollies in, so if worse comes to wose we can move the mollies back into there original tank, and put him in there, i always like to have a back up plan, lol. oh and thanks for the welcome.

Great!
After i typed that last message i allready thought: "There must be a cycled filter on the other tank, they can move to the O's tank in case of a non cycled filter...".
Be sure to test for nitrites and nitrates some more the coming weeks, to see if your filter is coping with the bioload.

I used cycled filters before, only to add a new one to the setup, and bacteria wouldt build up in the new filter in no time.
Ah, well, some weeks then.

I can see your hubby is thrilled.
I remember how thrilled i was when i finally got my wife to aggree on getting my first oscar .
When i first saw my red i fell in love and came home to tell my wife.
She asked how big it was gonna get, and i answered, that depends on how much you feed him.
And she believed me.

Not that my wife was opposed to getting an oscar, but she knew the dedication i'd make to keep a fish like that happy and healthy, and boy, was she right.

Hello and welcome to our little community.

I don't want to worry you unduly but the situation you are in at the moment is a little bit like the calm before the storm. I don't think it will be very long before you start reading traces of ammonia, this will be a very dangerous time for your fish because this is a very dangerous toxin that does kill fish if it gets too high. If you can, squeeze some water and take the little bits of debris from the filter from me at the tank and put it in your new filter, even better, take a small piece of the media and plant it in the new one, this will at least seed your new filter with some beneficial bacteria and give you a bit of a head start.

Noddy has already given you some very useful information that should help.

If I was you I would get a product called Prime, this will help detoxify ammonia so it is not as toxic to your fish, but you will still have the ammonia to cycle your tank.

One other thing, never ever turn your filters on for too long.

Good luck, we are here for assistance if you need us

glad to see u joining!! i was thinking when i was reading all the comments and everything, what kind of oscar is it? because have a red tiger oscar and who's only "1 1/2 haha, well ill be back later i gotta go feed him, he's eyeballing my algae eater suspiciously and keeps checking the surface for food and looking at me and stuff. as u get to know ur fish and he gets to know u, u'll find that they are veryyyy smart fish, most likely the smartest fish you will ever keep!... maybe too smart.....

reendragon wrote:


at least so smart to manipulate it's owners into feeding them some more, by acting like they're starving to death, time and time again.

As this thread is progressing beyond an introduction only, might as well ask how big the tank is and what kinda filter you do have?
What parameters have you been testing and what were the actual results?

Hello....and welcome to the site.

The people on this site can help you a lot, so keep them informed and ask questions. I have a lot of years in keeping fish and still frequently learn things from the people on this site.

Keep a close eye on your ammonia and nitrites as Noddy and OFL have suggested, until you are sure your tank has cycled. A day or two may not tell you what is really going on...so be careful.

Good luck and again..welcome

Hey there and Welcome

welcome to the site

Welcome to OFL

welcome to OFL i am keen to see pics =]