As I said in my intro post...ive been fish keeping for a number of years now...have gotten into the routine of weekly 25% water changes along with a light vacuuming and a monthly 40% water change with a complete vacuuming/cleaning of decorations/ along with filter maintenance...my new Oscar tank will be my 8th tank...so...needless to say...a novice I am not...LOL

That being said..I AM a novice when it comes to owning an Oscar though...so this is what I am planning on doing.

I will house my Red Albino Oscar in a standard 55 US Gallon tank...with no tank mates...not many decorations...a few rocks, a piece of driftwood and a fake plant or 2...my filter will be a Rena XP3 (rated at 175 Gallons and a flow rate of 350gph)...at the moment the Oscar (Rosie) is only about 2.5" and is being temp. housed in a 30 Gallon cycled tank for the next 3 weeks all by herself...when I feed her...she only gets what she can eat...there is never any food waste...without saying...this new 55 gallon tank will get the same care as all the other 7 tanks....if it makes any difference...I own a RO unit thatI bought just for the fish...so I only use RO water.

Question: Will I succeed in my Oscar endeavor ? And am I on the right Oscar path ? LOL

Thanks in advance for any comments and help guys !

your planned setup seems fine. the only change i would make is to use a test kit to determine when and how much of a water cahnge is needed based on the nitrate reading. after one week test your nitrates and if they are 40 or lower you should be fine with your once a week plan. if there higher you might look at either a larger amount of water changed or more frequent water changes. as for vaccumming this will be based on the amount of waste your fish generates and how clean you want your tank to look.
as for ro water im not entirely sure but i think there are minerals in water that oscar need so using just ro water might not be the way to go. im sure someone with experience in ro water will be alble to answer that part of the question for you.

Sounds like sound advice...on the RO water side of things...I occasionally add RO Right to my tanks...and that keeps things just right.

Well guys...will be moving Rosie the Red Albino this weekend...the cute little thing she is...LOL...I'm sure she will like her new home...will keep you posted with some pics.

Well...a little update...Rosie is doing great !!! See a couple of recent pic's below...but I'm having a little trouble with her..a couple of weeks ago she absolutely refused to eat ANY of her pellets at all...I even let her go hungry for 3 or 4 days...still no go...the only things that she will eat now are feeders, freeze dried krill and raw fresh frozen salad shrimp..is it OK to keep her on this diet ? If not...does anybody have any suggestions ?

your o is looking great.

the only thing i would change is the feeders. they hold little nutritional value and unless you raise them yourself there is always a possibility of disease.

also i would continue to try to get her to eat pellets. they hold the vitamins that are needed by your oscar. maybe you can try a different brand of pellet or perhaps a sinking pellet to entice her.

Tried the sinking pellets and a different brand also..it was a no go..it's like all of a sudden she want nothing to do with pelleted food of any kind..I don't get it...LOL...can you recommend a way to get her the vitamins she needs that don't involve pellet food ??? You've got me worried now...btw...she also likes bloodworms.

adult oscar can live without a food for a week. perhaps
she is just in the state of adjustment to her new home.
giving her the bloodworm from time to time will help. in
no time she take everything you throw in the tank once
become hungry.

I wouldnt worry to much at mo as you have moved tank. if your fish is eating other food but not pellets i would suggest you stop feeding for a few days say, 2 or 3. oscars are well known for becoming fussy if you give to much treats( nice food) and a few days of no food will get them eating what you give them. you need to try and give a mixed diet to stop them becoming fussy. I have heard from some members that once they have used feeders there oscars will only eat these. This isnt good as feeders dont have the right content for a oscar diet. starvation should work and will do no harm as a oscar can live many wks with no food. I would also consider missing a day or 2 on your feeding once your oscars is over 9 month to a yr old. This is as it would be in the wild as feeding wouldnt take place everyday. If your oscars not eating at all and hasn't done so for a wk or longer then start to worry and check your water condition other than that i think its got used to treats.

This is something I noticed from personal experience. During the summer, I took out my heaters to save on the electric bill. The tank temp dropped down to around 70-72F on my 2 tanks. My oscar and my male jd stopped eating pellets during this period, but would still go crazy over shrimp and worms. I even starved the JD for a week to try to get him to eat pellets, but it was a no go. Recently, I put the the heaters back in for the winter, so the temp is now up around 80F. Both now will eat anything I put in the tank, including the pellets. When you changed tanks, did the water temperature change? Is it as warm as it was in the little tank.

ive never had any problems with os refusing to eat. mine eat anything. in fact, i had to catch it and pull part of a plastic plant outta one of their throats a few weeks ago. like i said, they eat anything.

try raising ur temperature alittle if its low. fish are usually more active in warmer water, but u dont want them cooked either hahaha. you got 2 very nice o's there and it looks like youve set up your tank very nicely as well. good luck with it!!

Well it's been a while...Rosie is 10 months old now...about 8 inches...and healthy as heck...here's a little vid of her playing with the ping pong balls that we have in the tank for toys to keep her amused...she plays with them for hours at night after feeding her and we are watching TV...she's a trip boy !!! LOL...the picture is kinda dark cause of the tank lighting and it's dark in the room...but is watchable....enjoy !!!