well i have a 30 gallon long tank with 2 beautiful Oscars in it. one is a lemon Oscar long fin and the other an albino long fin tiger. these 2 fish have lipped locked for the last 2-3 months and dug a whole in my gravel for the last month.
what i need help with is what are they doing, breeding i imagine but is this normal.

my tank setup is as follows

30 gallon long
new hood with a 5k light
filtration is plenty i have a 60 gallon whisper filter and i have a 30 gallon whisper filter as well
i have a 300 watt heater and the tank stays at 80-85 at the heaters lowest setting
i have a large flat rock that the Oscars like to dig out and uncover

i also have 2 other fish in the tank:

8" tiger shovel nose catfish
13" pleco
and my 2 Oscars are about 9" a piece


can you please let me know whats going on and let me know about my tank setup

well, the first thing I must inform you is that your tank is nowhere big enough for two Oscars, in fact, it's not even big enough for one Oscar. You also have two other fish that get fairly big, you are so overstocked, I'm surprised you haven't got water quality problems already.

The behaviour your Oscars are showing could well be related to breeding.however, the last thing you want at the moment is Oscar's breeding, that will bring you nothing but problems.

you really need to get a much bigger tank ASAP. It's all very well having good filtration, you need to have the right size tank to keep big fish.

i agree with ofl, if you plan on keeping your current fish list you will need a tank in the 125 gallon range to house them comfortably for life.

also if your o's do breed they will make life miserable for the rest of the fish. as for the temp it might be little on the high side. i keep my tank set at 78 degrees and they seem to be fine with it.

I have to agree with what has been said, your tank is way too small

a single oscar needs 55g and 2 need 75g

If you think oscars get big you should try the tiger shovel nose catfish, if my memory serves me right i think they get to 5ft in length (or something like that)

your temperature is too high, about 79 is ideal

Can you get your water tested and post the actual results or even better get your own test kit

Either rehome your fish or get a bigger tank asap

yeah i know i need a bigger tank was looking at a 150 gallon


my thermometer is at its lowest setting and that warm

i tested ph lvl and its at a basic lvl 9.2 i belive

i do water changes and such so i keep the tank really clean.



its hard with me to get a bigger tank because i am only 17 and my mom does not want any bigger of a tank so i have to persuade her.


also money is an issue cause im saving for a car



if my oscars are feeling like they are in a closet i would be more then willing to give them to a nice home if i cant find a tank but i would like to try to keep them

150 gallon would be great.

I am confused with what you are talking about regarding the pH. If indeed your pH was above nine, that is way too high. I don't think an Oscar could live in that for a long time. What about the rest of the readings, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? have you tested them at all?

The downside of keeping large tropical fish is they must have a suitable aquarium. I'm sure you won't take this the wrong way and it is not meant to be said in anger but if you cannot afford the correct size aquarium for your fish then that you really should think about scaling down the sort of fish you keep for the time being. I'll be the first person to say that tetras or guppies for instance are not exactly an Oscar, however your tank would be perfect for some small community fish. You could keep them very healthy and enjoy them. And then when you can afford a large aquarium, keep your Oscars. I am sorry if I sound like I'm patronising you, I just want people to be realistic when it comes to keeping fish that can exceed 1 ft in length.

I would just like to discourage you from trying to grow an Oscar in a very small tank, it will end in tears, I absolutely guarantee it