Ok well let me start by saying Hello.. I purchased a 10 gallon system last week and 2 tiger oscars about 2 inches long. Well I got the tank fever. I got tired of my 10 gal tank and bought my 2 oscars a nice 55 gal tank. Well the gf feel in love with a baby lemon oscar and had to have him. Well now we have 2 tiger oscars(captain and jack) 1 lemon oscar(harold). The lemon oscar was out of the loop so the gf bought a albino tiger oscar to hang out with the lemon oscar. We also bought 2 jack demseys and 4 african cichlids. I know my 55 gal tank wont house all of them after a year so Im wondering what size tank I should be looking into getting in the near future? Would a 125 gal work for all of my babies? Man I love these Oscars they are the coolest fish. With great personalaties..

Thanks

if i read this right your looking on keeping 4 oscars 2 jacks and 4 africans.
well to start with i personally would rehome the africans as they like a harder water and sometime have different dietary requirements than south americans. also they can be extremely aggresive.
secondly to house your oscars and jacks i think you should look at a tank in the 200 imp gallon range. that is providing that the jacks don't get overly aggressive on your oscars.

of course thats just my opinion

good luck to ya

btw welcome to the site

yeah I agree, I have a 150gallon tank, 4 o's between 10&12" a parrot & two 8"clowns. I do a 50gallon water change once a wk sometimes twice a wk. wish my wife would let me have a 200plus cos I think my fish would be happier.and I would go even bigger if i could.... 4 large o's soon mess up your water.

I had a jack with my 3 o's . . . BIG mistake. I hear people say they own some that get along but I had to get rid of my jack dempsey because it constantly would attack my tiger o's and would not let up. Also I think it should be mentioned that while tank size is extremely important, filtration is a key component as well. I have 160 gallon tank with 2 cannister filters and 2 HOB and I do water changes once every 2 weeks just for the gravel to look nice.

Your 55g will only house 1 oscar. I agree on rehoming the africans

The rule is 55g for 1 and then 25g for each extra oscar. Thats 125g plus extra for the jacks probably takes it to 150g. However these are minimums and if your kept 4 oscars and 2 jacks in a 150g you will have to do lots of water changes to keep the water good so i would advise to go bigger. Then if you get a pair of oscars breeding you may run into aggression problems

When keeping cichlids its easy to buy too many of them when they are small and then you end up with too many not only for your current tank but also for any affordable large tanks. Its difficult but you must stop buying new fish unless you have the tank to house them to full size. Its a common mistake people make (myself included) and then when they start to grow you dont want to rehome them because you get attached to them and then your water quality deteriorates and your fish get problems