i am new to the board but not exactly new to oscars my dad used to have some when they were babies and got rid of them before they matured. i have a 55us tank and i have two oscars. i was told that they are a breeding pair and i would love to see them breed. the lenght of both oscars has got to be at least 12 inches and altho i have not measured them i am fairly sure of that. i have in the tank two overflow filters the first is a tetra whisper and the second is a acua-tech they are both rated at 55 gallons max and seem to do ok but i am wondering if i should upgrade to something different? i know that my tank is to small for the both of them and would like to get at least a 125us gal tank but dont know where to get one without breaking the bank any help on this would be muchly appreciated thanks. oh and by the way i live in Anchorage alaska which is the northern most state in thy u.s. so anything that i get must be shipped.

Welcome to Oscar fish lover

Okay, it's good that you are aware that your tank at the moment is too small for the Oscars you've got. Try and upgrade as soon as possible. I appreciate that your location is probably going to make this difficult. However, for the sake of your Oscars health, a large tank is a must.

If you have twice the filtration for your tank, you are doing okay. Check your water conditions, if you have no ammonia or nitrite present, the filtration is doing the job it is supposed to do. However, speaking from experience, you have two large Oscars in a small tank, your filtration might not be able to keep up with them. You must check for ammonia and nitrite on a regular basis. I'd be very surprised if you don't get trace readings of ammonia and/or nitrite.

welcome to the site

ive used both the tetra whisper and the aqua tech filter in the past and i can say with certainty that neither are very efficient for keeping oscars. if you want to use hob filters the brand that is best for oscar keeping is the aquaclear series of filter from hagen. however since you are planning on getting a larger tank for your o's i would suggest a cannister filter. eheim, fluval and even rena make good cannister that come in a variety of sizes depending on how big you go with your new tank(and you should go with at least twice your tank size if you go with cannister filters).

as for getting good deals on tank because of your location you might have to bite the bullet and get it shipped in from your lfs but you can try checking sites like craigslist or kijiji to see if there are any used ones for sale in your area. if all that fails you can always build your own(if you are capable). there are sites like garf that give easy to folow instructions on tank building and really can save you money if you build larger tanks(180 gallons or bigger).

reguardless of which way you decide to go good luck to you and keep us informed