my tank is smaller than this (55gallon us). I have been searching for a fish to clean up a little bit of the huge mess the chiclids make. I saw that people say that pictus cats can grow to ONE FOOT LONG and clown loaches not far behind at TEN INCHES LONG!
i have in that tank
one oscar-I had two when i was asking if my tank was ovestocked but the black one didnt make it. All my equipment is fine. It is the fish stores tank that is haveing problems. I hate to say this but i have had 3 black oscars die but the albino tiger stayed alive!
2 J.Ds
2 Blood Parrots-If any one can also help. I have gone up to my room to see or feed the fish and i have found them stuck to the filter.It is a hob and they get stuck to the intake tube where the plastic sponge thing is?
THANKS VERY MUCH,
MATT

Hi madmax666. I'm a newby in Os keeping (2 month project), so double check anything I state with the experts in this forum. With all my respect, after reading your title, I would change it to Cleaning Water, which in my opinion is your real problem.

It might be that the only reason one survived -the albino- was that it was the one genetically stronger (a random thing) to survive stressful levels of toxic ammonia, and/or nitrites and /or nitrates in your tank water. Is your tank cycled? Are you going through a new cycle? You are definetely way overstocked.

Your equipment can be fine for community fish but for Os and large fish as JDs it might not be fine at all. How's your tank water quality? This is essential info for anyone to help you in this or any serious fishkeeping forum. Also what's your filtering capacity? Is your tank planted? What substrate you have if any? What's the actual size of every fish you have now? What's their estimated adult size?

In a 55USgal tank you might get away with being able to provide propper care for a single Oscar, but please check your water parameters and if needed, attain the minimun filtration in terms of filter media -you need a colony of bacteria large enough to handle their bio-load- and a flow of volume of water per hour of at least ten times your volume: 550GPH. Another thing, at least while in that tank: forget about tankmates at all, leave the Oscar alone in there. Do you have other tanks allready cycled?

As for the Blood Parrots, they are human made hybrids -don't happen in nature- and there's some fragility in them. Their anatomic/morphological design is, to say it in a word, flawed. On top of that, if you have ammonia and nitrites values that are greater than zero, and/or nitrates values above 20ppm, what you are describing might be that these fish are showing signs of poisoning.

Don't give up. Just be honest about being able to provide propper care for this type of fish. If you are willing, and have passion, commitment, and means for this, you would need more than usual freshwater maintenance. Begin with daily partial water changes and setting up a larger tank, as you rethink your stocking options. I've read mixed reviews about keeping JDs and Os as tankmates.

PS. Please use a liquid reagent test kit for measuring water parameters, strips are unreliable.

Pepe
Santo Domingo

i agree with everything pepetj has said...

i do my water changes once a week and some times twice a week. I also do tests often and my water is perfect for all the types of fish. I know you said my tank was over stocked but i am a bit confused because the fish stores have the same size tank as me with like 10 full sized oscars.
Oscar -2.5in
J.D's-3in
Blood Parrots-3in
Im not saying that anyone is wrong i am just a bit confused on the overstocking thing.

they normally stock there tanks up as the fish dont stay to long normally and they will usually have a very big filter system on these tanks...

i have a 90g tank with 1 oscar and 1 common pleco and i consider this a full tank..my pleco is 12 inches though and growing

I also asked every one at my fish store and other fish stores if this was ok for having these fish in this size tank. They said J.D's and Oscars are fine and Blood Parrots are a toss up. They are fine in my tank.

i do have another tank but it is my brothers.Its only a 30 gallon. But i can figure this out i have my ways.

sometimes jds and oscars mix very well other times its a disaster waiting to happen. i know people who have jd in their oscar tank yet i have a jd that tries to kill anything in the tank with him. he even had a run at my younger oscars. i think its a trial and error thing sometimes it works sometimes it doesnt.

as for tank size they recommend a 50 gallon tank for a pair of jacks and the same size tank for an oscar. if your fish are small they should alright for now but when they reach full size oscar 14 inches jd 10 inches and bps at 8 inches i think youll have a problem if you have them all in a 50