Hi ive been keeping tropical fish for a few years, now looking at getting a oscar, I took the calculate my tank size test and it came in as 46.7G my tankm, i use an under gravel filtration with a gravel subtrate, the only other fish i now have is a 6" rusty pleco...

Does this setup sound right to you???

Any advice or tips welcomed.

Regards tinca:)

Ummm..... you want my honest opinion? your tank is too small. At the moment, you have a fish that will reach at least 8 inches, I certainly wouldn't recommend putting an Oscar in there as well. I think you would struggle with keeping the water conditions good, plus I don't think the filtration you got on that tank with the any good at coping with large fish such as Oscars

Ok thanks for advice, could you recomend a tank size and filter setup for 1 red tiger oscar and my rusty pleco.

Regards tinca

What kind of money have you got to spend and how much space have you got for an aquarium?

Wouldnt really want to spend more than £500 on the setup but i might look to buy 2nd hand.

Regards tinca

tinca wrote:


I don't no wich is worth more £500 or $500 but if their the same you don't have to spend 500 dollars on a tank and stuff if you look around and get the best deals

£500 approximately 1000 US dollars.

are you looking for a complete set up including cabinet? If you were to forget the cabinet and just go for the tank and filtration,lighting etc you could get a fabulous set up for £500. The Cabinet is probably one of the most expensive part of the setup. If you used breezeblock or something similar to support the tank then you could save yourself a lot of money.

However, if you want a complete set up, you could definitely find yourself a 125 gallon tank, or something similar for £500 second-hand. I always tell people to try and view the aquarium before they buy it. If an aquarium has been sitting around for a long time without water, it might well perish, which might mean and very wet carpet

£500 is ample for a large set up for an oscar. Try looking on ebay there are always some good bargains to be had especially with large set ups. They are always good value for money because the bigger the tank the less people there are to buy them as large tanks are not so popular.there are a couple on there at the moment that are really cheap, just type in large fish tank. You could also try your local yahoo freecycle group to see if any of them have a large fish tank to give away.

You could always make your own cabinet, veneered chipboard will do, a simple box, a top, bottom 2 sides and 2 uprights, a back and some doors. You can either cut it yourself of get the timber merchants to cut it for you

If your are not worried about looks, use bricks for uprights and a piece of 3/4 good quality ply board on top

Beware of buying second hand tanks, i wouldnt buy one that is much over 4 or 5 years old, tanks do deteriorate over time