Hello,

New to this forum, and I did research, but I just have to ask

I have a c.87 gallon tank (c.336l). I have placed one young oscar (2-3inches or so) in as of two days ago. I have not cycled the tank (I was advised it wouldn't be necessary due to the size of the oscar compared to the size of the tank).

1) What could I keep in the tank with him? I was thinking of three silver dollars - is that too many? Should I wait a while for the tank to cycle before adding the dollars? Or would their impact be low? I liked the idea of the SIlver Dolars eating a bit of his waste, hmmmmmm yummmy hmmmmm.

2) He hasn't eaten yet (feeding him some kind of standard cichlid pellets). How long without eating before I worry?

3) The temperature fluctuates between 24 (overnight) and just under 26 (during the day). Do I need to buy better heaters?

4) I will be doing the water changes with an aquavac - so the water hoses straight into the tank. Do you put in enought stress coat to dechlorinate the 25% water change, or enough to dechlorinate the whole tank (which has obviously been dechlorinated before)? I have received a lot of contradictory answers to this question. I think you may need to dechlorinate the whole tank, because the new water will have diffused throughout.

5) Is one, 2 minute, feed a day enough for an Oscar? It is what I feed my other fish.

6) How much of a concern is high pH to an Oscar? Mine comes out of the tap at about 8. I got it down to 7 before adding the Oscar (not wanting a sharp change from shop to home), but was hoping to let it creep up with the water changes. I do have logs in there. I am waiting to see their impact on the pH. I suspect the pH will sit around 7.5 (unless the logs have a big impact).

Thank you very much - your help is apppreciated!

Cheers

BoBo

Hello and welcome to OFL!
Since your filter is not cycled yet adding to your bioload at this time is a bad idea.
When your filter is cycled, which will take 40 days, then you can upgrade with the silver dollars.
Your O will start to eat when he sarts to feel at home.I fed pellets in the morning and bloodworms at night, with 2 min rule.
You may want to try some frozen bloodworms, baby o's do like them very much.
Please do not feed to much and remove any remaining food for thats left.
Temp is OK.Dechlor is only added for the amount of water changed, IMO.
Ph between 6-8is OK for Oscars.
As long as it's stable, it's allright.
Keep up with the waterchanges until your tank is cycled.
Did you add beneficial bacteria when you started out?
And do you have a test kit to test your water?

Welcome to the site

In order to cycle a tank, you need ammonia present. Ammonia is very toxic and will kill fish, or damage the immune system putting them at risk from disease later in life if it gets too high. Now you have got your fish you will have to cycle the tank with it. You will be able to do successfully but it will probably take a few weeks and your fish will be exposed to ammonia, but hopefully if you keep it low enough, it won't cause long-term damage. So even a baby Oscar normally needs to eat a lot, I'm going to suggest that you limit the amount of food going into the water, if you feed the amount of food we normally recommend a young Oscar, you're going to end up with serious water quality problems.

Please forget about having any more fish for the time being, it's going to be a couple of months before you can even consider adding more fish.

Keeping your pH level at 7.0 or below will mean that ammonia is not as toxic. There is a change in ammonia which I'm not going to go into because it's quite complicated, but just trust me that the lower the pH, the less problems you will have if you ammonia does get high. Having said this, if your pH in your tap water is quite high, you may have a problem keeping it low because it will obviously change every time you carry out a water change, I certainly would not recommend you start using chemicals at the moment, nice lump of bogwood can help bring the pH down.

Your temperature is okay, oscars can live in water as low as 21°C. But remember other tank mates may require warmer water.

When I do a water change, I always put enough water condition in to treat the whole tank. Some people say that a water conditioner is not necessarily a necessity if carrying out very small water changes but I always prefer to use it however big the water change.

Just my two cents anyway

firstly, welcome to the site.

i agree with the what both noddy and ofl have said reguarding your inquiries. the only thing i can add is since your oscar is still a juvenile i would feed him a small amount 3 times a day and remove any uneaten foods as soon as he is done eating. and give him a varied diet to ensure he gets all the nutrients he needs for good growth and colour.

hello and welcome, can't add more its all covered.look foreward to your posts in the rooms.)

Hey guys - thank you for all the replies - much appreciated!

I have been adding stress zyme to help the cycle, and I do have a water test kit (everything is 0, pH 7.1 currently), but I wouldn't expect any ammonia after three days or so.

I have no problem waiting until the tank is fully cycled before I add the silver dollars - when I do add them, how many? I would like to add 3, because that feels somewhat like a school, but is that too many?

Hopefully he eats soon

CHeers guys! You have been awesome

BoBo wrote:


You will need to wait until your tank is fully cycled. This could take 50 days or so... The water test kit will tell you when your tank is cycled. When you have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and have a nitrate reading, you will be cycled.

But in order to cycle with an Oscar in the tank you will need to do 30% water changes EVERYDAY!! until your tank is cycled.. Also DO NOT clean your filter at all for that time..

After all this Add your Silver Dollars! And I think 3 would be ok!

Good luck!

Thanks for the reply Nick - I am fairly assiduous about my water testing and changes, etc.

He/She (currently Henrietta) started eating... I think... takes the pellet in and then it comes out in a big puff...

Cheers

The advice given is good.

You can add some ammonia detoxifier, prime i think its called, not sure but im sure someone will chime in with a name. It detoxifies ammonnia into a less toxic form and will hopefully stop your fish getting ill from ammonia exposure

correct delboy "prime" it is. made by seachem