Hi everyone on OFL. I have been keeping Malawi mbuna, peacocks and haps here in the UK but now i want to change over to keeping a couple of Oscars as they are very intreguing, Please can you tell me if my set up is ok for 2 x tiger oscars or will i need to change anything?:

Rena aqualife 450 (450 litres) 151cm W x 51cm x D 70 cm H,

Fluval FX5 external filter,

1 x 300w heater,

1 x 200w heater,

Enough green slate and grey slate to build 2 statues of liberties (haha),

A mixture of coral sand (1mm) and playsand,

1 x 5000 litre per hour wavemaker,

Here's a pic of my set up at the moment:





(The fish in the tank will all be sold ofcourse haha, I won't be adding the oscars to the malawi's)

My water is hard and pH 8.4 at present, I can't get it to go down, I do 50% water changs every week but it remains the same lol. Is 8.4 too high for Oscars?

Thanks!

Hi, nice setup seems a shame to change it.
Ok your tank would just about be ok for 2 oscars its around 100g. 120-150g would have been a better size but with care you will manage with what you have as you have kept fish before. the rest of your kit is fine for oscars too, you may want to house your heaters in plastic covers as large oscars can and do sometimes brake them. the ph should be ok. oscars can cope with a very wide range and i would advise not to adjust it as a stable high ph is better than a changing one.

first off welcome to the site

I agree with Marcus...I would also look at taking a lot of that slate stone wall down because when oscars get big they will more than likely knock it down which could do damage to your fish and worse case crack your tank...

other than that the tank looks beautiful man...

Beautiful tank, great for Malawi's, really looks the part, I'd be very reluctant to change if it was mine. However, Oscars tend to win anyone over.

I think that your pH is a tad too high for Oscars. However, my pH never get this high so I couldn't really give you any advice based on experience. I would suggest getting yourself a nice big piece of bogwood and use it as a buffer, this should help bring the pH down.

Hi and welcome. I love your current set up (I have one of my own) maybe you should keep what you have and add a tank for the O's???

Wow that tank looks fantastic.

Love the wall of slate!

welcome and love the tank it looks way cool if i may say i say get a new tank and keep the current one running lol such beautiful fish you have

nice african tank you have there.

now for oscars i would get rid of the coral sand(it tends to raise the ph of water) and like the other have said remove most of the slate you have and add a piece of driftwood. this might lower your ph to an acceptable level for oscar keeping.


btw welcome to the site

Hi and welcome from Holland

Welcome to the site! can't really tell you anything that hasn't been said so enjoy your time here

rumncoke0482 wrote:


x2

if i didnt have my O's i would definitely get malawi cichlids, the are so beautiful....

marcus wrote:


ok, Thanks Marcus