I am coming to the unpleasent conclusion that I am going to have to get rid of a few of my oscars. I have 4 babies and 3 (6") oscars and my 160 gallon tank sprung a leak and is actually fixed but cycling but there is no way I can take care of 7 adult oscars no matter how much I would love to. Now I come down to which ones to get rid of. I have a lemon and and a lutino that are the prettiest of my oscars but then I have my 6" tiger and 2 albinos which I have had for a few months and they eat from my hand and rub against it when I clean their tank. I do have 2 "lemon oscars" I ordered online and they arent really yellow but I still like them. I would like to get rid of one of them for now but don't really want to give it to my LFS and don't know anyone I trust to take care of them better then me. In the end for the sake of my fish I will have to get rid of some but really would love to find a breeding pair fist. Geesh if I would have known i'd be this attatched I don't know if I would have got oscars. This is the worse part of owning such an adorable fish!!!

man i know exactly what u mean and thats why ive got multiple tank sundrome ive got 7 O's and i knew from day one that no tank big enough would house them but i really wanted to get a breeding pair.my O's r still only small and hv a while to go b4 they pair off but all ready im worried about giving them away as im 2 attached.

in saying that ive acumalated enough tanks all around my house so that i can split the ones that dont pair up if i cant find a good home for them.

i dont know yr sutuation but most people dont have the space for this size setup.

good luck on yr desicion.

if i were you i would keep the more mature ones.

Put all the oscars in the 160g along with the filters from the tanks they are in. bingo 1 cycled tank. Then wait till you have a breeding pair and then rehome some

If you get rid of some now keep what you think are the best looking ones

Well now I have a larger probem. The kit that I used to fix my seal didn't work and I came home to a big mess, luckily it was only 6" from the top or I would have been in a lot more trouble. I am getting it fixed now but will need to cycle again. Now here is my new concern. The (3) 6" 0scars are in my 55 gallon tank with 160 gallons of filtration. I started feeding them hikari cichlid gold large pellets but I think they may be too big because I end up with a lot of debris in my gravel. Also after a day most of the feces and left over food ends up in one corner of the tank. I am cleaning it every single day to keep the nitrates down untill I can get my 160 gallon tank to the best conditions. Would it help to go back to the medium pellets and is there away to keep the feces/left over food from building up in that corner?

I'm looking for a new filter what do you guys think about this one! www.petsolutions.com/Filstar-XP4+I17100723+C19.aspx

The amount of filtration you needs depends on the amount of fish you have. More fish means more ammonia which means more biological filtration needed. If your filter was enough on the 160 it will be enough on the 55

The problem you will have is that the end product of the filter (nitrate) will now be diluted in 55g instead of 160g so to keep your nitrates good you will need to do more and bigger water changes. As a guess i would say 3 times more often. so if you were doing 20% once a week i would say do 20% 3 times a week. Test your water regularly to make sure your water quality is good. If your nitrates get too high do either more or bigger water changes

Feeding less will mean less nitrates, making it easier for you to control and they are less likely to soar out of control. Usually you should be feeding what they will eat in 3 mins, i would half this until they are back in the big tank. I would also scoop out the large waste that sits on top the gravel (or sand) daily. Its good that all the waste goes into the one spot, it makes it easier for you to remove. Its not unusual for waste to settle in one spot especially in small tanks- its due to the flow of water in the tank