so i have a 125 gallon tank and two hob filters an emperor 400 (rated up to 80 gallons), and a penguin 350 (rated up to 75 gallons) with 5 baby oscars. i am trying what ofl said on breeding get 5 to 6 oscars and pair them up. so there will eventually only be two. my question is if i added a marineland c-360 (rated up to 100 gallons would i have enough filtration for all five oscars

To a point yes but once the fish reach 6" it will be the amount of water you will need to change(every few days)just to keep nitrates at a reasonable level that will get you. And the fish may not have paired off by this stage. OFL knows his fish and this is not the sort of thing you should take lightly. He also had a 300g tank waiting to move the fish once needed. I dont know the filters you mention but the amount per gallon you quote is ok for 2 full grown oscars but more would have been better,keep a very close eye on your water conditions or you may end up with an empty tank.good luck

the c-360 is a solid little canister filter however when combined with the hob you have i would have to say that in the long run it will probably be not quite enough filtration for your needs. for a few dollars more you can get fluval fx5 off ebay and this will much more efficient in handling the amount of waste from your setup.
personally i would use the hobs you have and go for the fluval and later on(in 4-6 months) maybe pick up a second fluval and get rid of the hobs at this point.
i know its sounds like a lot of filtration but when keeping oscar you will find that the more filtration you have the less water problem and maintenance you will end up having to deal with. remember you can never over filter an oscar tank.

you're going to be waiting a very long time before you see any pairing off activity. It'll be at least 15 months, by this time, the Oscars are going to be anywhere between nine and 11 inches. Five Oscars of that size in your size tank is going to create an incredible amount of waste. Even though you've got lots of filtration, I think you'll still get water quality problems. You would probably get away with it if you had a sizable sump filter, however the filtration you have got doesn't increase the amount of water you have in your system.

I had six Oscars in my 125 gallon tank and I was having water quality problems,even though I've got two canister filters. Luckily I had my 300 gallon tank to take some of the Oscars, actually four of them, I have now only got two Oscars in my 125 gallon tank and I don't have water quality problems anymore.

so i got rid of three oscars and got one big one and so i have three oscars in my 125 now one is 12 inches and the other two are about 4 inches and are getting along perfect so is my filtration good enough for the three

you will need to carry out weekly water changes of at least 25%. My advice to you would be do a water change and then test the water on the seventh day. I feel filtration is working properly, your ammonia and nitrite will be Zero, you'll be looking to see how high the nitrate is. This will give you a very good indication of the sort of water changes you will need to carry out.you should also have a good look at the filter and see how much dirt has built up inside it. Once again, this will give you a good idea of how efficient your filtration is. If you find that the filters are getting dirty very very quickly, you'll probably have to get some more BT filtration, all clean them out more often. Just be careful that you don't clean the biological filtration to much, if you've got mechanical filtration, this is what will become dirty very quickly[

i see u always tlaking about the fluval fx5 my local shop which im in everyday and pretty much the number one custiomer and very close with owner say the fluval 5 isnt all made out to be but for some yeah but not what im looking for i like the hob filters only because ive never had a canister this is the biggest tank ive owned and i was told that three oscars and the amount of filtration is more than adaquete but i did get rid of htree oscars and got one adult and two juveniles about 5 inches

I dont know about HOB filters as we dont have them in England but i can say that cannister filters work well. Hopefully someone who knows about HOB's will chip in. What i can say is that i have used Fluval 204, 404's and 405's and they are very easy to use and clean. They are also good value for money

not that im disagreeing with your buddy at the fish store but i use hob filter and the ones i have are more practical in oscar keeping than anything marineland makes and from experience i know that hobs alone are not enough for oscars. you can do what you like but i really do beleive you will run into water problems if all you use are the hob filters. however if you were to add a canister or a sump to run with the hobs you will probably be fine. when you have 3 14 inch oscars in your tank the mess they can create will be pushing your present filtration to the limits.

and your right the fx5 isnt the best filter on the market that honour probably goes to eheim but for the money fluval makes good solid dependable filters

ok so i have 1 14 inch and two 5 inch oscars and have diagnosed the big one as a female but yes the hobs and the marineland should be way more filtration than ill need in the future .. ill only have two full size oscars but im tryin to find a male for the female.

Hi,

I have a 55 gallon tank , with 2 baby albino oscars. One is 3 inches and the other is 2 inches. I am using 2 under gravel filters and one power head. Also I change about 1/3 water ever week. I want to know if this is ok , or I should go in for external filters.

Also I have had these 2 oscars for the last 3 months. I can notice a very small red spot on each side of the Oscars between their mouth and eyes. Is this something to worry -- start of something ??.

Please do advise.

your tank is not really big enough for two Oscars, although they probably look ok at the moment because there are so small. However, you might want to consider upgrading at some stage.

You're definitely going to need better filtration that you've got at the moment. External filtration is definitely the way to go in my opinion. Having said this, you might struggle to keep those nitrates down once the Oscars reach adulthood.

I give you an example, I have two Oscars, some clown Loach and a small Central American Cichlid in a 125 gallon tank and my nitrates are normally between 30 and 40 at the end of a seven-day period. The Oscars are around 9 inches at the moment.