Ok well i will start of with a little intro, my name is jason and i am a new to keeping an oscar, i did some research before purchasing an oscar but know seems i did not do enough.

i have a 42g tank with one external filter, 1 heater, gravel, 2 ornaments and plants, i have cycled my tank and then had to make the decision of which fish i wanted to put into my aquarium, i have allways liked the oscar fish and decided to go with 1, at the moment i have one tiger oscar he is about 3 1/2 inches and very lively.

know onto my problem, after much research after i had purchased the fish i then relised that alot of people, this website in particular, says that you must have atleast 55g tank for 1 adult oscar, as you can see i have a 42g tank, it is very wide and also rather tall, i wanted to know what to do, i do not want to keep the oscar if i am going to do him harm or anything like that, all though i love him, i also was going to ask the question of tank mates.

as he is small at the moment i was thinking of maybe a pair of severums and also a Pleco, is this way to much strain to put on the tank and also the oscar.


Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and i hope the replys come flooding in soon.

Thanks again,

Jason1991

since you seem to know an upgrade will be in your future i wont get into tank size for an oscar.
now when it comes to tankmates this is an issue that unfortumetly is directly related to tank size and since yours is small for only an oscar then obviously it will be too small for an o and some mates. but if you want to have mates and you are going to upgrade then for the stock list you mentioned i would recommend at least 100 gallon tank for everything at mature sizes(assuming the pleco is not a comon or sailfin). along with this will be the need for adequate filtration.
if you are not in a position to upgrade your tank size soon then i would strongly recommend not getting tankmates until the tank size issues is resolved.