Hello all. Excellent site here, tons of good info.

I have a question about moving an Oscar to a new tank. Almost a year ago I deployed to Iraq (5o day left ! ) and while I was gone my wife and kids bought a Oscar for our 30 gallon aquraium. The fish is now alittle over 8" long and the tank maintenance has become almost too much. The fish has basically become part of the family, so we are going to get a new tank when I get home for it. I am looking at a 60 gallon at a local store and then either 2 small canister filters or one large one and I will be using sand at the bottom I think. When I get the new tank up an running, what all do I need to do to try to ensure the fish survives the change? We also have an algae sucker that we have had for almost 3 years, it's about a good foot long. My boys had bought the Oscar for my wife as a b-day present, so it means alot to us. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Hey there and Welcome!!!

First off with the 2 fish you already have I would suggest 75 Gallons... And then you need to filter the tank with enough filtration for a 150 gallon tank... So 1 big canister, or 2 smaller (fluval 405's are great) would be your choice....

As for moving him, set your new tank up, wash the sand(REALLY WELL) get everything in place, then drain the old tank into the new tank, move your old filter to the new tank, add fish to new tank... The good bacteria in your old filter will help get your new filters going... Make sure and test your water everyday for a while to make sure you don't run into problems. Keep your old filter running for a month or more. Then you can disconnect if you want.

After all this work is done (and trust me it is work) Have a beer... You'll need it!!!

BTW... Thank you for your service!

Welcome to our little community

Okay, where do we start? Firstly, you are going to have problems with maintenance because you have got one of the messiest fish around, I would imagine you have probably got a common, or Sail fin Pleco. Both of these can easily grow out even a 60 gallon aquarium. you're not going to be able to keep one Oscar plus this fish in a 60 gallon aquarium so it's time to decide what you're going to do with this large fish, because obviously we can only give you advice based on the proper way to do things. If you do choose to keep the fish and run into water quality problems then the first thing we are going to say is you are overstocked. Anyway, enough of the lecture

You're going to need to get the new aquarium and cycle it properly before you transfer the Oscar. What you could do is take a small amounts of media from the filter in your existing tank and seed the new filters. Obviously you want to be careful how you do this because I would imagine your 30 gallon aquarium has got pretty much inadequate filtration already, please forgive me if I am wrong.

You could try doing a fishless cycle which only takes an absolute fraction of the time cycling with fish does. You will need to obtain pure ammonia to do this. There is a section on the website which explains how to carry out a fishless cycle. Obviously if you do not go down this road then you will probably need to get some more fish. However, you could possibly use the plec to cycle the new tank.

See what other people say

I agree with Nicky about running dual filters. That way if one craps out, then you have a backup. This is what I am doing with my 125 gallon at the moment and hopefully doing with my 90 soon.

You definitely want to run the old filter along with the new one. What I did when I moved fish from my 90 into my 125 was completely drain the 90 into the 125, top off with fresh water (basicly like doing a water change) and moved the old filter over along with the new filter. Old filter was already cycled and helped to seed the new filter. Your other option is to buy already seeded media from an LFS but you pretty much have an hour or less to get it home and into the filter. It's very tricky but can be done with planning. Just make sure the filters are cycled and transfer most, if not all of the water from the old tank.

Im with Nicki on this one. move the water from the 30g to the bigger tank and move the filter over too.

Sorry to repeat but 60g isnt big enough for your 2 fish, you need at least 75g but got for bigger if you can

WOW, thanks for all the awesome info. I would like something bigger than 60 gallons, but looking online the biggest Petco has is a 75. We are stationed in a really small town in south NM, so my options are limited I think, but I will keep looking.

I did a tank upgrade a while back and this post may help you think through some things


www.oscarfishlover.com/oscar-fish-advice...-to-a-new-tank-steps

welcome home - glad you returned safely:)