Okay I'm following your advice and going big from the start. I'm going to look at the tank tomorrow. The aquarium has turtles in it of corse I wont be getting those, but does that mean that it will be cycled when I buy it?

Also Can I put another fish in there with the oscar?

When you get the tank (CONGRATS btw!)will it come with filters?

If not then NO it will not be cycled.

If it does, I am not sure, because I am not knowledgeable about turtle poop!!! LOL

Yes, It comes with a filter and heater. Also should I go with sand substrate or no substrate?

personally i would go with sand. i have it in my oscar tank and love it! i quickly use the gravel vaccuum on it and pick up all the poop daily. takes about 15-20minutes including refilling the water that came out. do not shove to vaccuum in the sand as it will suck up the sand just keep it about a 1/2"-1" away from the sand and you should be fine

Congratz on deciding to get a decent sized tank. You won't regret it.

As far as the cycling... , like nicki-sue, I am not a turtle poop expert.

Hopefully a "turtle poop" expert will pop in and give you some better advise than me.

IMO i would fully clean out the filter as you dont know what diseases it might come with and then cycle it for a couple of weeks with cheap fish just to be sure your not sending your oscar to his death !

With other fish, my O is very socialised but he has been with other fish from a very young age (even still he has once got angry as we took his friends away, so he ate a tiger barb :angry: ), if you want other fish with your O its best to get one from a young age or find a mature O who is currently living with other fish and its best to make sure any other fish you buy cant fit in our Os mouth, just for precautions .

lastly, i LOVE sand but my O was not too keen on it so we have changed it to gravel as he can move it easier, whichever you choose (once again IMO) its best to have a thin layer as they are VERY dirty and it will be easier to keep clean !!

Good luck, looking forward to pics soon

i have about there inches of sand in my aquarium...just for the info. most people keep less sand.

i like gravvel better so they can move it i just reciently flatened out my gravvel and allready theres craters and stuff i love watching him express himself.

congratz on getting the new biggun.
Good start that is.

to give some balance to the sandlovers that posted above, i totally prefer gravel.
imo very easy to clean and vacuum upto the bottom of the tank.
plus i like the fact that a lot of dirt will sink into the gravel, and be out of sight until the next gravelvac.

what i read is that a turtle filter will act in the same way as our filters for fish keeping. Turtle ceate massive ammounts of ammonia so i bet it will be fine for your fish, capacity wise.
but i wouldn't take the risk and go with kazza's advice.
But i'm no turtle poo expert either.

Only thing I found that might be bad is that turtles can carry parasites and give the risk of salmonella.

true, i forgot about the salmonella.
if you got the time it may be best to replace all media, clean the filter and filterhouse thouroughly with a brush and recycle that baby...
better to be safe, than sorry...

I will have to see how well he keeps up with cleaning the tank. If it looks nasty chances are it has things that could be harmful to a young oscar I'm guessing.