Well I am new to the oscar fish so any help is really appreciated.

I bought the little guy a few days ago and he is only 2.5" long, very pretty with bright orange all over him. I have since purchased a 36 gallon tank and as i have read on here need to set it up to be cycled before i add him to it. What all is necessary to have the tank "cycled" and how long should i leave it unoccupied? I have to buy the hood for the tank as I bought the tank from craigslist and it didn't come with one. I found one online for 45 bucks and will probably get that next week.

I know the ideal size tank for him to live in is 55 gal minimum but I cant afford that just yet so i went with the next biggest size i could afford. I actually got a heck of a deal. Originally the tank was 145 bucks and its brand new, the lady said she was downsizing and had too many tanks. So she sold it to me for 45 bucks!

I know i will need to get a different filter and heater. Any suggestion on size of filter or brand?

I bought the cichlid flake food which i haven't really seen him eat and some sun dried baby shrimp that i see him eat more of. What diet should i be giving him, should i go purchase pellets too? I read that if you give them a variety that they wont be picky eaters when they get older. I also read they grow about an inch a month so I am excited to see him grow up.

Just realized i keep calling the Oscar a he... is there a way to tell if its a female or male?

Well i know i have tons of questions and hopefully you kind folks can answer them for me

Oh lol btw im Danielle, i got all excited talking about the fish and forgot to introduce myself like the topic states Hi!

hello. Welcome to ofl. yes you will need a 55 gallon min. you could get away with a smaller one for a few maoths since your o is still small but an upgrade is needed in the future. You can read the article on cycling and it will be helpful to you as it was to me. Do you have your o in the tank now? Did you cycle it before you put it in? Also if you dont have one get yourself an water testing kit. It will be your best tool in maintaining water quality and vital for making sure you are cycled. You are in good hands on this site so no worries

welcome to the community Danielle

I think you have already realised that your tank isn't big enough for a family sized adult Oscar. However, we'll deal with that later on. Your fish will be okay for a little while yet. You said that you have got the Oscar,but I am a little confused because the way you are talking, you haven't got your filters yet. Could you please confirm exactly what you have got.

If you have a look at this page it will give you all the information you need on how to recycle your tank. However, it probably will be quite confusing for you to begin with so we will be here to answer any questions you may have

www.oscarfishlover.com/helpful-articles/cycling-an-aquarium

As for filters, you will need a lot of filtration. Because your tank isn't big enough you will find that the bigger the Oscar gets, the quicker dirt will build up in your tank and filtration, and you'll find that all the changes will be necessary on a very regular basis. If you are serious about keeping oscars that you really need to start thinking about upgrading ASAP because a 36 gallon tank is nowhere big enough for an Oscar. Even though your fish is still quite small I would still recommend that you put a lot of filtration, you need a filter that basically does to voice your water volume, in other words, if you find a filter that is rated for a 35 gallon tank, you should have two of them running on your tank.

If you could clarify a few things, that would be great

I have a 10 gallon tank right now that the oscar is in for about a week. I bought the 36 gallon tank today and need to get a hood, all the filtration systems and stuff for it. It happened that I got the oscar, and then an emergency trip to texas has me heading out of town for a week. I know a week wont harm him but i want to have the water going in the tank for the week i am gone and maybe one additional week so it will be suitable for him. and then when i get back i can place the oscar in it and he can have a much larger tank.

a canister is the best filter to get, mainly because you can take it to larger tanks and its much more efficient with media capacity. I currently use 3 rena xp3. on your tank you could use the the smaller rena, but you need to be sure it has at least 180 GPH turnover rate.

Heater wise, one will do just fine, it will say on the box how many gallons you need. I dont use heaters during warm months since it is usually a stable temp in the tank.

for cycling, you can use pure ammonia or use a hardy fish like zebra danio to cycle it. Dont use goldfish, many recommend it but its not really that good of an idea. Goldfish are super dirty and I used zebras and didnt have any issues.

Pellets should be the main diet with other things sprinkled throughout the week. I use hikari gold (color) or hikari staple (growth), but if you want the best get omega one, it uses whole fish not fish meal. Even new life spectrum is very good! But if your budgeting, use hikari for now, still great food!

cant tell until its adult size and lays eggs or not.. actually you can tell by looking at the genetalia when its older and has a full belly, males are skinny and pointy, females are wider and more rounded.

yes you do need at least 55 gallon for him, your water quality will be horrible in a little tank, especially if you have bad filtration.

Most of use on here dont use carbon for anything but to remove meds and toxins, so you would be fine filling up a canister filter with something like ceramic rings or othe bio media, and also mechanical filtration such as the rena microfiber pads at the store.

welcome and good luck..ask away!

There is quite a lot more to just filling up a tank with water, waiting two weeks and then putting your fish in. You can put your fish in the tank straightaway, you don't have to wait. However, it takes approximately 6 to 8 weeks before the tank is properly set up for any fish. Because fish produce dangerous toxins, you need a way of removing these, this is what your filtration system does, it doesn't just remove solid waste.

What worries me is that if you are gone for a week, who is going to look after the fish? Is the 10 gallon tank already established? If not, and there is nobody to look after the tank for you, your fish is going to be dead when you come back. At the moment we haven't got enough information about your situation. Please clarify how long the 10 gallon tank has been set up and what sort of filters it has got.

you will be away during the cycling of your tank. Your ten is going thriugh the cycle right now. It takes a month or more to properly cycle a tank without using any type of booster. I use a product called stability when i have to speed up a cycle and that cuts the time down to half(2-3 weeks)

The ten gallon tank has had a goldfish in it for like a year, constant water change and the filters that came with the tank set up has been updated every month... so that one is fine... im more concerned on the bigger tank... I have someone coming over to check on and feed the fish while i am away.

OK so the Oscar is in a 10 gallon CYCLED tank! That is a good thing! But had it not been cycled you would have had a SERIOUS problem when you came back...

Now on your BIG tank... You need to get it set up with the hood, and light, and right filters and heater.. Throw 10 feeder goldfish in there and leave it be for 5-8 weeks... This will cycle the tank.

You do need to get a water test kit, (The liquid kind) So you can test your water.

Hope this helps.. And Welcome to OFL!

Thanks... the hood and light will be bought when i get back and the filters and heater are the next thing to purchase... because i know the 10 gallon tank filter and heater wont really work on the 36 gallon one lol

Welcome to the site, im only brand new as well, i had all these intentions of getting a tank and throwing him in, until i read all the info on this site, very very helpful!!! ive had my 55USGal tank runnin for nearly 3 weeks now and i can tell u its painful!!!! that and the shop i buy off has only got reds and albinos now when i wanted a tiger, lol anyway. welcome and enjoy the endless amounts of information this site has to offer!

Tobey

welcome, the other members got you covered.
enjoy the site.