The 24th of December i popped in the LFS just hv a look whats new since ive been really good and hvnt bought anything for a while and as i walked in i walked into a 250 liter tank with three of the biggest oscars ive ever seen in my life.

two red tigers and an albino red tiger approx 40cm each.
the two red tigers have a serious case of fin rot and lost alot of their color.

and the albino red has a mild case of fin rot and odly enough all white scales is light green,seems like the algae has permanently grown onto the oscar.

I asked the owner and he told me that they found these boys in a pond at a house that sumone was renovating.

this really pissed me off coz through all the damage these idiots have done to these oscars they are still so beutifull.

i almost feel like i have to rescue these three but if i bring another tank into this house ill have a devorce case on my hands garenteed.

im going back there after x-mass just hv a look at how these boys are doing then ill take sum pic's and post it for u guys coz im sure most of you think im talking crap about their size.let alone the fact that they are 40cm in length they are really wide aswell.
but ill get sum pics just to show u guys in what state these guys are and how huge they are.

I definantly believe the size. Six months ago I walked into a pet shop and they were friends looking after two oscars for someone else who worked there and couldn't look after them while he went on holidays. Anyway, I nearly fell over backwards because the albino oscar was about 40cm and the tiger was about 30cm.
Isn't it discusting how people can treat animals! Someone I know has two 30cm oscars in a tank that is only a bit bigger than them both!!! I was discusted and am going to call the RSPCA, even though they probably wont do anything about it.
I even offered them my old tank a three foot, even though that is still way too small for them both, but much better that what they have. They said no, as I said they need a bigger filter etc!!! GRRRRRR..... I felt like kicking them.
People can be so cruel.

yeah i know i get really pissed off with people handling their fish lik this.

but im a sucker for punishment thats why ive ended up with so many fish

Wow, a pic would be great!

I heard of Oscars that big occasionally, but seeing some again would be cool for sure

Know what you mean about feeling like having to save them, I consider it everytime I see someone wanting to get rid of theirs, especially if they haven't been treated well. Better not risk a divorce though

Im going to work 2day so ill pop in 2 the LFS and see if i can steal a few pics

You often see things written on forums about people who reckon they've got 15 inch Oscars. When you actually see the Oscars, they are nowhere near this big, more like 12 inches. There's one on the Internet, I think it is an albino, there's no way it's 15 inches. Measuring fish is not easy, unless of course you take out the tank. What I normally do is get a piece of black tape around 10 or 12 inches long and stick it on the top left hand corner of the tank. If you can entice the fish to this part of the tank, you can often get a rough idea of how long they are.

Oscars do actually have the potential to reach 18 inches, probably more. However, I think they would only reach this size in large environments, like a 300 gallon tank;)

Oscarfishlover wrote:

Hahaha, we talk in 2 years again then!

Well, about Oscars that were living in a pond I could imagine it though. According to fishbase the biggest one measured was something like 45 cm if I remember correctly - boy, that must be a sight.

When I got mine, almost everyone told me "You'll see, in a year you got a 12" monster", but I can run around the tank with a measuring thingy as much as I want, he's only about 11" in total at age 4.5 years now. I'm not sad though, the tank looks small enough with that fish in it, and I prefer to be careful with feeding, the nitrates tend to be high enough anyway. Wouldn't do such a small tank again (~66 Imp gal).
Here in DE, they normally recommend a tank of at least 6' for keeping Oscars, along with a sufficient width of course (not like 14" or even less), so about 100 gal and up, and I think that's no bad idea.

45 cm, that's 18 inches isn't it?

I would just love to see an 18 inch o, can you imagine how big that would be? Not just the length, the size of its body, the girth, the height, absolutely immense. I reckon that thing could eat something around six or 7 inches long

Gee, yes!

Just thinking that possibly some wild caught Oscars of that size might end up on someone's plate themselves .. well or on several plates? Of what weight might one like that be:unsure:

If an Oscar was to reach 18 inches (45 cm) it could weigh anything up to around eight pounds, maybe even a little more

I wish I had my camera there when the oscar was in the pet shop. It was AMAZING!! Mind you the tank was about 8 foot and apparently the owner had him in a 12 footer!!!

AS promised here are the pics of the huge oscars that i told u about.
unfortunatly my camera skills are really bad so these photos dont do the O's much justice.

what the photos do prove though is the bad condition these boys are in especially the albino. have a nice look at him and u will see that he is almost completely green instead of white and red.

as for the size u will just hv to believe me.

the lfs also has a 4meter x 1meter x 1meter tank this thing is huge with a giant gourami thats 28years old.

sorry im battling to upload the photos so please bear with me.