Hi, I'm new to the forums, but by the name of the site it could have been custom tailored for me. I tried getting into Malawi peacock cichlids, tried Tanganyikans, but in the end I just really wanted an Oscar and am much happier with one!

Currently, everything is rather small and in a 55 gallon. I have a 3-4" tiger Oscar, two 2" clown loaches, three 2" emerald cory cats (I hear they reach 4-5" so I'm hoping they won't become morsels) and five Silver Dollar fish all about the size of an American quarter or roughly 1" SVL. Everyone gets along "swimmingly".

My question is this: I plan on upgrading to either a 75 or 125 gallon tank in about 4-5 months. First, can my Oscar manage that long in its current tank? Also, would some of the veteran fish keepers here on the board recommend one size tank over the other, and finally, will my current mix of fish (as long as nothing is really added or taken away) be at a reasonable stocking level for that tank.

Thanks in advance!

first thing first.... welcome on board!
then in your topic: oscar grows fast in their first 6 months...
with proper water maintenance and controlled feedings, yes, your
o can overcome the tight tank situation... but if you give-in to
the capricious appetite of the o, it can outgrow every one and
your tank will become smaller everyday

moreover, some slow growing specie is also in danger of becoming
expensive food for the o....

Oh I found that out the hard way....

larch wrote:


and most lfs never told us about it... they just need to sell everything

Erp! So which species should I be worried about as the Oscar grows? Should I just remove and return them to the LFS or can I just let them go and let nature take its course?

Also, what about the 75 vs 125 for this mix of fish in the long run?

Thanks for the quick replies!

Hey there and welcome.
Paul gave you solid advice.
And if you want some advice on what size tank to get, i can only say think big and get a big as possible tank, that will save you another upgrade.
'Let nature take it's course" semms like a bad idea, because any catfishes with spines can get stuck in the troath of you oscar.
Better to be safe than sorry.
If an accident like that were to happen, your oscar might be in big trouble and may not survive it.
Same goes with smaller plecos, they do pose a threat then swallowed.

The other fish will go great with your Oscar.

Thank you. I think I'll go ahead and take those corydoras out and return them to the LFS. The clown loaches should be fine though, right? Regardless of their defensive spikes? The buggers are fast!

As far as the 75 vs 125 question, bigger IS better of course, but not necessarily for my wallet. I know people keep a single Oscar in a 75, but I was concerned about the other fish being thrown into the mix. If anyone thinks it's possible or has personal experience, I'd like to hear about it. My only other alternative would be to save up a bit longer so I can budget for a 125.

I know people shoot for a 10x turnover with regards to GPH through their filters. I've noticed that most canister filters, even those rated for 125 or higher tend to filter only 350gph on average. Is that due to higher efficiency and make it suitable anyway? Otherwise, I might go with two AquaClear 110 HOB filters for a combined 1000GPH.

Thanks for all the quick replies and for the welcomes to the forum!

Hey,

Yes, bigger is better. Also, the quality difference between a 75 Gallon and a 125 Gallon is marginally different. A 125 Gallon has 3/4 Inch thick glass, as opposed to the 75 Gallon which is much less. A 125 will last you a LOT longer.

As far as the filtration goes, canisters don't pump as much per hour as HOB filters do, but they put the water through a significantly larger amount of media. That's the important part. I personally don't have a canister, but I have 2 HOBs, and an undergravel with 2 powerheads.

The Aquaclear 110 is an EXCELLENT HOB filter. I have that, in conjunction with an Emperor Bio-Wheel 400 for my HOBs. I run about 1240 GPH total on a 125 Gallon tank. Don't worry so much about the numbers though. Quality over quantity. My filtration system does more GPH than a Fluval FX5...does that mean it's better? I'd be flamed for MONTHS on the forum if I ever said that.

Stocking. Clown loaches will be fine. Oscars CAN eat them, but it's rare that they actually do. Clown loaches grow quickly, as well as Oscars do. I've never heard of anyone having problems with Oscars and Clown Loaches together, personally. Have you considered Plecoes? I have 3 Oscars, 2 of which are RAPIDLY approaching the 1 foot mark. They could easily fit the plecoes in their mouth, but they leave them alone.

Let me know.

cshouston wrote:


Save up for the 125. What type of time frame are we talking here for the larger tank? The Loaches get pretty large themselves, so if you have 3 or 4 fish that will all possibly fall in the 7-14 inch range fully mature you definitely want to go larger with the tank. I would also perhaps add another loach to the mix as well. Generally they do better in groupings of 3 or more.



I'm just going to assume here you are more likely going to go with the 125 gallon tank with the stock you have and would recommend the fluval fx5. It's certainly more expensive than any HOB but I would recommend anything larger than a 75 gallon should employ some sort of canister. GPH is a good general guideline but like zending said...quality is more important. Besides, many gph claims are significantly overstated on the box as they often don't take into consideration changes in flow rate due to waste buildup and media.

IMO thats the only way to go with a tank of that size short of using a sump. For redundancy you can use the emperor HOB in tandem with it--which is a very nice setup that will last you a long time. A little extra money now will save you quite a bit of money, time and effort in the long run.

Thanks Zending! That was a lot of great info. I have considered a pleco, but they don't do much for me as they're usually hidden out of sight and even when they're a foot long or more and can't hide as well, they just tend to sit there from my experience. My grandfather had one in a cichlid tank that we never, ever saw. When it outgrew the tank it went into a pond and was almost never seen again, lol.

The Fluval was actually a canister I was checking out and that was recommended to me by a friend at the LFS. I'll definitely look into that more because being able to push the tank against the wall is a big deal when we're talking about 72" x 19" in the living room. Actually, a sump was the highest recommendation I received, but I worry that I would be getting in over my head with the plumbing and all that.

So, I guess that also makes Pictus catfish out of the question, despite their larger size? Pretty much avoid all catfish?

Thanks a ton!

johnnyphoenix wrote:


It would likely only be an extra month, depending. The LFS here informed me that their wholesaler tends to put certain sizes of tank on sale from time to time. The 125s are on sale NOW, so I'm hoping in 6 months they may be on sale again. Right now, they're all in a 55 as I said. The clown loaches are about 2-3" and the Oscar, upon further review, is actually a bit smaller than I thought and probably only about 2" now. I've had him for about 2 or 3 weeks and he was sold as a small. I'm starting to think that an extra month or two of wait for the larger tank won't be such a big deal after all.

cshouston wrote:


You should be fine with the timeframe. As for the plecos I can definitely understand what you're talking about. My common plec tended to hide most of the day and grew to massive size in a very short time span until he was rehomed to a pond. Generally as we all know most people get commons from the LFS as a 'cleaner,' without any true understanding of the size they reach, and the amount of waste they 'contribute' to the tank. Some of the smaller, more unique species really are beautiful additions though...and many will forego their hiding spots to forage around day and night.

The pictus catfish are much smaller and don't 'hide' like most armored catfish tend to, and I've seen them successfully integrated into oscar tanks. I think they are primarily nocturnal but will quickly adjust to tank conditions.