hey everybody,

I have two juvi's right now, and I'm modifying my tank's furnature so it will still work when my fish get larger. It's not completely permanent, but I'd rather not have to do it again.

More or less, I'm trying to figure out what size hole(or tunnel) an adult oscar
could comfortably swim through. The two main situation's I'm trying to avoid are fin scraping, and giving them enough room to pass each other if they both decide to cram in the tunnel at once.

So it's pretty clear that these guys will grow somewhere between a foot and fourteen or so inches long. But I can't find any measurements on width or height. Any ballpark estimations would be great, as I don't know how big mine will be anyway.

Thanks

for a tunnel to be completely safe for the 2 to pass each other and be completely safe for fin scraping it would have to be no smaler than a foot square 12" x 12"

agree with bgh, or 12" diameter tunnel will be fine
for fully grown oscar. but i am just wondering if oscar
can be a tunnel dweller.

my oscar never enter the clay pot i put inside my
tank giving me reason to permanently remove it to
give more swimming space for them. today at 15 inches
long, they have a body width of about 9 inches more or
less, and 2.5 to 3 inches thick.

I think Oscars would investigate a tunnel so maybe it's worth trying. I've got various rocks in my tanks and they are always swimming around them and the wood.

Oscars have an incredible depth to them when they reach adult size. I suppose my Oscars are approaching 11 inches and they are probably nearly 7 inches in depth. The problem is, it's not easy estimating the size of an Oscar. In many cases, people actually think they're Oscars are bigger than they are.

If you are going to make a tunnel, then I agree that 12 inches in diameter is a good idea, it will give them plenty of room and they won't rub against the side and injure themselves.

I believe oscars grow to the size of the tank, meaning, if you have a very big tank, they will grow to their full length, if the tank is on the small side it could stunt the growth.
another question you have to ask yourself, do you really think an oscar would try to swim through a tunnel which already as an oscar in it, basically, do you think oscars are stupid enough to try and swim through something they wont fit through?

Stupid? not at all. We're talking about fish that have enough sense to do a good job at managing the tank's microsword growth(apparently they are more aesthetically inclined than I am, but that's another matter). However, they also have a habit of speeding headlong into the tiniest spaces imaginable if they get overly startled. Not that it happens often, i.e. I accidentally drop something heavy on the wood floors next to the tank.

The current tunnel is really more of a hole, which is more than likely what the larger version will be as well. I'm just toying with ideas

Thanks for all input

give it a try and see how it gets on,
How wide is this hole then?
i have a large plant pot in my tank and my oscars love going through it, so YES they do like to go through holes and things like that.