Hi All,

My tank is 117UK gallons and I have two oscars around 7". I know as a rule of thumb, my tank is probably stocked to capacity. However, since I have a good filtration system, ie: Eheim 2317 thermofilter and a Eheim 2217 (combined,they circulate 2000litres per hour)I was wondering if I could get away with adding another fish. I have seen on ebay a lovely green severum 6". My 2 oscars are doing really well and although my heart wants to buy the new fish,my head says no. I was wondering what opinion anyone had on this.

Many thanks,

Nigel.

117 gallons? That's a bit of a strange figure. I've had a 125 gallon tank that contained two Oscars and a couple of quite large clown Loach and I was able to maintain the water quality by using two eheim 2028 filters so I would probably say you would be okay. However, what type of tank is it?

Hi,

I may have done my sums wrong! I have a Seabray tank measuring 1500mm x 600mm x 600mm, although by the time you take into account gravel etc, the height( for capacity purposes is about 550mm.

Regards

Nigel

I would say that your original estimation on tank size was near enough okay. Your tank is probably 5' x 24" x 24" however, the water normally comes up to around 22 or 23 inches which can make quite a significant difference to the capacity. And also you have already mentioned substrates and any decor, this will cause water displacement this also reduces the amount of water the aquarium holds. Anyway, I still think he would be okay, from my experience Severum's do not grow anywhere near as quickly as Oscars and they are not quite as well built as them either so they won't produce the same bioload. I have got three actually, two greens and one red gold spotted.

Get a Gold Severum instead - a little brighter!

117UKGal is about 140 USGal.. but looking at ur tank dimensions, it should be a 160. so i think with 2 filters, u should be alright.

I adore my little severum - I got her (I have no idea what sex it is - but I call it a girl) about a month after the O's. In my limited experience with them, they do grow very slow - maybe an inch in the past three months (?). mine is a calm, nice fish that gets along great with the O's. Seems to beg like the O's do too at feeding time.

they originate from the same regions as the oscar - so they like the same general water parameters as the Os.

Go for the sev, they are lovely fish and make great tank mates for oscars

Thanks for all the imput and advice. Anyway I won the fish on ebay and collected him today. He is lovely and the oscars don't seem to mind him. One thing I'am slightly worried about is I think he may have early stage HITH behind one eye. There is definately a small hole there. When I got the fish home, I did an API test for nitrites and ph and they were fine. Mayne I should have tested the nitrate and ammonia as well. The poor thing was in an overstocked tankg about 120l along with malawi cichlids and alsorts. I hope he will recover as I know my water parameters are very good,maybe it will take time. I don't really want to add chemicals unless I really have to.

Many thanks again,I will keep all posted to how he does!!

glad u went for the green severum!! iv had gold ones before but def prefer the green, i av a baby one atm tht im growing on to go in2 my oscar tank.

hope its not hith and prob sorts itself out soon

hann1245NATHAN wrote:


The fact that he was in an overstocked tank would probably mean poor water quality which a cause of HITH. As long as your tank water is good the HITH should heal up ASAP. Nothing wrong with doing extra water changes to keep your nitrate as low as possible to speed the healing up. Could you post a pic so we can be sure its HITH

x2