ok im begining plans for the new tank to house my oscars.
they are hapiily living in there 5fter at the moment but i dont want to add any more fish to that tank and overstock it.
ok about the fish i currently have
female oscar 9 inch
male oscar 10 inch
these mesurements are true to this date as close as i can get them as they move haha. they do show breeding sighns and have had a few batches of eggs.

right the new tank is going to be 7x2x2 as it the only length i can have and keep my 5ft tank next to it for other fish once i move the os out
7x2x2 calculates to
174 imperial gallon
205 us gallon
784 litres

ok so bear in mind the size what fish could i also put with them as in how many say jd's with some plecs obviously taking into account the rocks caves ect for plecs and hiding places for other fish
also what fish go well with oscars as tankmates

i could go to say 7x2.5x2.5 which gives these volumes for water
272 imperial gallon
318 us gallon
1226 litres

would the bigger size make it hard to veiw the fish as it wider and the fish being able to swim further away from view.
could i get much more fish or probly just one or two as if thats the case i wouldnt bother unless it would realy benifit the fish in a dramatic way.
ive went over and over the idea of the huge responsibility in a tank this size and the cost which i will be doing over time as filtration is going to cost a fortune to set up. once done the running cost isnt much of a problem

i would like to get another two oscars in there too if i could with a veriety of other fish including two plecs of around say 7 inch sop they dont get munched. is this possibly and a understocked which ide like to be so as if need be i ca rescue a oscar from a lfs if i think its needed as ive seen alot of mistreated recently ect

sorry for all of that but i need as much info as possible so i can comit a size and get craking
many many thanks in advance for all info

drew

Aaww, planning on a new tank Well if you have the room and money, I'd always say the bigger the better. With cichlids and fish that live on the bottom, a bigger footprint is of advantage anyway, plus the additional height means more water, hence cleaner water with the same amount of fish, or just room for more fish (now who would've thought).

I don't think that a wider tank would pose a problem with watching the fish, guess you're gonna have tank lights anyway? I got a corner tank and no light really in the corner but it's still not dark there, and it kinda looks cool when the fish come out of the corner into the lit area.

As for additional fish, there are *plenty* of possibilities. One of course being other Oscars, so if you're planning on rescuing one or two somewhen, I wouldn't add too many tankmates from the beginning. Another thing to consider is if you want to breed the O's and raise the fry. Plecos have a tendency to make eggs disappear over night. If you want to raise fry, you may need a growout tank additionally. Breeding O's might get somewhat aggressive so any possible tankmates should have enough places to hide away. Besides plecos you could put in some non-cichlid tankmates like a few Silver Dollars and/or other cichlids, where you want to consider again they might breed themselves and possibly cause trouble. Like one convict would be fine most likely, a pair might be difficult. No experience with JD's, still there are plenty possible species anyway, like Severum, Firemouth or other Thorichtys species, those jade-eyed cichlids Penn got, Blue Acara, Nicaragua cichlid ... too many to name, basically mildly to medium aggressive medium sized cichlids or rather peaceful bigger ones. Always depends on the individual personality as well anyway.

So depending on the size and species you want, you could add quite a few single ones or just a pair of something when it comes to cichlids, best to post some ideas of yours. With two additional O's AND other cichlids, I'd go for the bigger tank since at least in breeding mood they will claim a territory and you need room for the rest. They might claim i.e. 4' of the tank length (no clue), no matter if 2' or 2.5' wide, but the bigger water volume is still a plus.

i just completed the construction of my new tank(6x2.5x3)about 850 l and from what i can see the depth has no noticeable affect on the ability to see the back of the tank. i found the only difference in material costs was the price of the glass panels (i used a plywood glass combo) for the front and sides.(where i live live glass panes are fairly expensive i spent over $200 cdn on the front pane alone). i was restricted in size only due to the placement of the tank and if i'd had more room i would have made it bigger. i think go as big as you can then your only problem would be having an understocked tank(if thats possible). and good luck on your project i had a blast building mine.

thanks for the coments cleared a bit up going to e loads of caves and stuff for oscar and keeping the cave to one side so as they should hide there and keep out the way i know about the reeding thats what i was worried about as the plecs eating them but ive deised a plan and have lighting on one side which i can keep on and moon lighting near other sied could help keep the plecs in home. also another tank will be spare with small fish like bettas angels ect so i could use that to move the plec if i get good eggs

good info for me there and thanks it realy helps me alot

cheers drew

depth and width wont mak viewing difficult it would just look nicer as it will shoe yr oscars in big open spaces of water.

keep in mind that 4 fully grown oscars need a min of 200g(uk)

Go for the biggest tank size your can, you wont regret it. Dont worry you will be able to see your fish fine

The only problem i see with tank mates is if your oscars start beeeding, they will make any other fish in with them miserable. I think you need to decide whether to have a breeding pair of oscars (and what do you do with the babies) or decide to have tank mates. If you decide on tank mates you may have to separate your 2 oscars if they keep breeding

ide never seperate the o's the tank desghn is built around the fish having a sort or stream on one side which stops halfway when it hits the 'pool' wall

basiclcy inlets are going on one side only with say 5 jets at the top and 5 mid depth which produces a steam effect some fish will benifit fromt hat but the stream will be broken to calmer water by a wall half way full height and just a inch or two from surface and half the width or 3/4s. the bottom will also have a wooden baracade between the wall and inlets to break the bottom sooner which will atracct the plecs away from the calm area the oscars will preffer. and lighting will also help keep them from eggs as im having the lighting set up so as i can light there end 'Pool area' keeping the nocturanal foragers away abit. just going to have to trial and error for the tankmates which im not getting attached to untill there established and safe with the o,s ill still have my o's old 5ft tank running for incase they wont allow tankmates in here new home. best i can do realy and just going to have to hope they allow me to have more fish. if not its going to be a loss of money sumwhere as lfs will not give me the price i pay him for them.

as for the o's breeding im not realy fussed on if they produce a nice batch or not as im not bothered about babies anymore if they do its a bonus. i may leave them no where to produce eggs on for a week see how they react. or i may also put the caves in there side for there spawning ie one big cave which allows both to fit in and turn around ect so insde size of that will be say foot and half by foot and half. nice big cave for them

thanks fo your adivse and ill keep it in mind woods coming on wed so i can get started