Hey guys, I'm Ned. I'm 13 and I live in Ipswich, I was keeping fish for a few years, I have 3 900mm tanks which I had one small Barra, 2 Oscars and a heap of Guppys, Platys ect ect. in the other tank. After a while I looked into Pythons, so I sold the Oscars and Platys and all that to a fish shop and put the Barra in my mates dam, he was 15cm when I put him in there last year, he is now nearly 100cm (approx). I now have 3 pythons, 2 Jungle carpet pythons and a Children's python and am about to get a pair of Hypo Coastals or Patternless Children's pythons.

I have convince my mother to let me us the old 50 gal, so I think I might have to get myself a pair of Tiger Oscars, yet I would like 4, Two tigers and Two Albinos, yet a 50 gal would be to small for 4. But I should be breeding snakes buy the middle of next year, so I might just get 4 and than buy a six-foot for them.

Now two questions.
What live plants can I have with my Oscars?
Is it easy to tell male from female?

Cheers,
Ned Fischer.

hi
i live in aus to and am 13.
i would say that you could only have 1 oscar i the 50 gallon but your choice wether you wnat them to just live or live and be happy, anyways i would suggest the java fern for your tank. you should know that the oscar is a very messy fish and is most likely to uproot them. hope it all goes good. and by the way the oscar are not likely to breed in a 50 gallon due to size and you cant at all tell the difference between male and female untill they spawn.

Thanks mate. Well I was thinking that I can use the 50 gal/3ft for a while, untill thet get to 22cm-25cm then buy myself a 6ft tank for them. But I may not even get them, as I am thinking of getting a pair of Mouth al'mighty or a Pair of Spangleds.

ok thats a good idea hope all goes well
cheers

Thanks.

Some member have had suscess with live plants but i have tied and with no luck. It depends largely on your fish. some will leave them others rip them up.Its a hit and miss thing and depends on your plant choice. you will not tell male from female an till around 1yr old so is again by chance that you get a pair. best way is have a very large tank and buy a few. wait an till they pair off,then rehome the ones you dont want.

Thanks. I was thinking of using fake plants first up, then see if they try and rip them up. Because they will only be small ones, I'm hopeing, by the time they are big enough to rip them up, hopefully they won't figure out if they can.
My last Oscars never tried to, from what I saw.

I am not in the interest of breeding, I mainly wan't to focus on breeding snakes. But I really want a pair of Oscars.

I am hopefully going to a Aquarium down the road, see what they've got, I'm also thinking of some Angels instead.

Hi Ned. Welcome to Oscarfishlover.com

Unfortunately I'm not 13 but 43 (laugh a bit this is intended to be a joke), and I am a big fan of Australia. What an amazing land you live in!

Consider getting just one Oscar for your 50gal. When you get the six footer, you could add another. Telling male from female is impossible by visual inspection, since these fishes are monomorphic (male and female have identical body features). The relationship you can build with this single fish will blow your mind away. I would even dare to say Oscars are among the best fish to have as a true pet.

On the other hand you could raise a school of Silver Dollars in your 50gal, get them as juveniles (cheaper) and watch them grow as you get your 6 footer. Or maybe raise a pair of Green Severums in there.

I was very lucky to get two Tiger Oscars as juveniles that ended up pairing-off. It was pure chance.

The best way to assure getting a pair is to get six juveniles, place them in a 6footer and wait. As they mature, you will likely see a pair forming, unless of course you end up with 6 females or 6 males. Just as it is done with pairing-off Angelfish.

As for plants, I have had success so far with the following: Tropical Hornwort, Anacharis, Anubias Barteri, Vallisneria.

I only try plants that grow well in low light since they don't like tanks with too much light.

Pepe
Santo Domingo

Thanks. It is a great place. I might check out Green serverums, going down to Pet city for some Snake stuff, see what Fish I might consider getting. I wanna get a a pair of Oscars, but as my tank is only a 50gal, I might get something different.

I'm gonna read up on a few fish I might want, then write down there PH levels and all that and compare them to the other fish. See what I come up with. I'll start breeding snakes next year, and then my sister will hopefully move out by then, so I should be able to put a six foot in her room.

Thanks again.